Urgent help with my lexus is200

[el_chilubi]

Hellow everyone,

I am new to this forum so may be i posted this on a wrong category but i need help. I have lexus is200 and i am experiencing problems with the engine. For information i live in Tanznia where emmission is not an issue at all. They dont check cars for emission in our country.

This is how it started. The car was just fine in the beginning, imported from Uk. One day i went to do a general service, and when we open the top cover we found oil turned into muddy stuff, the mechani cleaned and it surprisingly he used water to wash away the stuff! i had to ask him why he did that because i believe the internals should not be washed by water, i have seen mechanics sing kerosene or diesel to clean the internals. But he said it was ok! the car drived normally no issues at all. I bought an aftermarket muffler, and install it, now we removed the first cat from front and left the rear one because i didnt want it to give out loud noises. after few drives problems started, having a constant CEL even after servicing the car. I started experiencing misfire, we check on which cyclinder and we found out 2 of the coils were not working properly, so we changed them. after a few drives then it started again, i changed the rest. but that didnt fix anything. I noticed the misfire occurs when i am idling or when i turn on the AC. Could this be caused by not removing the rear cat which results in gases not going all out but returning back to engine?

 

 

The second issue is like this. I know 1gfe is not a perfomance car ( i love speeding and to feel the power). Most of the time i drive fast when i go to work. Putting the engine to test. and it was just fine until yesterday. One of my friends owns Avensis (i think the one with 140 something HP) and wanted to race. I decided to give it a go to see how its compared to avensis ( i tried with mark x knowing i will loose but just wanted to see how i can keep up with it). The avensis seemed to match but cant not pass me, finally i passed avensis and left it behind quite a distance, but it took time like a minute or so. We did it twice, the second time i let him stay infront of me and sill managed to pass him. but when i come to stop, i started hearing a very serious loud knocking sound from the engine, i stopped to check it, and it was really scary, i could still drive it but the sound gets noisier, so i parked it and check under the hood trying to trace the sound, i could tell it was a piston, and sounds dry, as if its not lybricated at all. Also i noticed a little bit of smoke (not much that if you close the hood you wont see it nor smell) coming out around the coils, but i am not sure if it was from the coil or from a small tube which was connected with airbox from engine top cover. Can you guys help me why there is such sound, my mechanic tells me it could be the engine was out of oil, how is it possible while its not even a week i replaced the oil and oil filter? ( i didnt check the oil level after this because i was late at work so i left it there). Any ideas? You think the engine is done? (it has 170,000+ miles on it).

 

Now what i am considering after the dissapointment of a six cylinder 1gfe struggling agains a 4 cylinder avensis is to do an engine swap. Can you guys recommend to me which engine should i go for? (the labour costs here are not expensive at all considering what i have seen in forums what people pay for a swap) I am looking for a decent reasonable power a lexus should have. I want an engine that will not mess up other functions of the car, like heated seats and other electronic stuffs. 

But before recommending the engine, also enlighten me on my first 2 issues.

 

Thank you very much guys