Why does my '02 ES300 forget how to run right?
 

OK I'm really perturbed that a high profile company would build a vehicle with this problem. I replaced the starter about a month ago. What was a 2-1/2 hour job became a 7 hour job as we took everything apart and reassembled several times because the engine ran but would not idle and would die. So I take it to my mechanic and he troubleshoots a little, hooks up his diagnostic unit and repairs one of the plastic nipples that got broken in our frenzied repair saga. For my $100.00 fee for all of this I get this nugget: The ECU forgot how to idle and since the A/C is disabled because of faulty idle, I'm driving around Houston for 5 days with no A/C and both feet on both pedals to keep the engine going. I was told by a dealer that the car would re-learn how to correctly operate. Didn't happen for 5 days. So I called a 2nd Lexus dealer in town, the first one was the one that told me to keep driving, the second one told me to drive for 15 miles. So I drove without turning the engine off for 18.5 miles. No improvement. Finally someone in the household took the car for a long local trip and the car remembered how to operate, and the A/C came back.

Now my problem is that I had to replace the battery today and I'm back where I was, in 100 degree heat. Question: has there been a campaign to remedy this problem? Why is there no instruction in the owners manual about this? I have to live with this again and do not know what I have to do that my car can rehabilitate itself. I'm going to post a warning on my blog to people considering this vehicle and I'm not going to reveal the year model. Maybe BMW would be a better choice. That is unless there is a remedy to fix this for good at no cost to me.