Lexus Repair: 94 Lexus ES 300- Engine light, lexus es 300, w 134

Question
Hello there,

I have a 94 Lex ES300 w/ 134,000 miles and my check engine light came on about a month ago. I have only had the car since May. The guy I bought it from said he had a tune up done.   I was on the freeway going up hill and I noticed my car started sputtering.  I had about thirty miles to my destination, so I thought I would just baby it.  On my way home, I kept it at about 55 mph.  IT starts, runs ok, but runs really rough.  When you put on the gas it sputters.  It hasnt died on me yet and I still drive it locally, until I can get it into the shop or my husband has some time to take it apart.  I put some gas treatment in it and some carb and fuel injector cleaner and it helped a small bit.  Some people have said that it might be the fuel filter?  What do you think?  We would rather try and fix it on our own instead of paying $110.00 to hook it up to a machine... if that is possible.  If you have any ideas... let me know.

Thanks a lot!
Jennifer

Answer
Hello, In order to find out what the reason is for the check engine light being on, you have no choice but to hook it up to a scanner. This could be more than one problem. As far as how it runs it could be anything from a spark plug to a ignition wire to a fuel injector. Not a fuel filter. Chances are fuel cleaner will not fix it either. My recomendation is to only let a factory trained Lexus tech work on it so you do not create more expenses.