IS220D 5th injector recall

[Love my IS220D but...]

Hi, after suffering an issue for YEARS with my Lexus IS220D (I just couldn't bear to part with it), I came across the diagnosis to my problems in this post on this brilliant forum (should have joined earlier!!)... https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/107523-potential-fix-for-is220d-white-smoke-smells-of-diesel-poor-mpg/?&page=3#comments

I spoke to a Toyota specialist about looking into this (this is way above my mechanical knowledge, wouldn't know where to start) and he mentioned he thought he recalled a 5th injector recall.  I've also seen it referred to on this forum, by an IS220D owner.  

However I have called Lexus and they say nothing is showing as outstanding on my car (56 plate IS220D).

Would anyone know anything about this please?

If not, I think I just need to get the 5th injector replaced and pray, but any more info around this that I can share with my mechanic would be great if anyone has any experience.  I don't think it's the wiring, as I've tried disconnecting the Battery for a while so it 'unlearns' but the problem (smoking, smell of diesel) is immediately apparent, and from what I've read it would take a little while to return if the wiring was the issue.

Thank you!

[Miles Simmons]

On 2/28/2023 at 11:55 AM, Love my IS220D but... said:

Hi, after suffering an issue for YEARS with my Lexus IS220D (I just couldn't bear to part with it), I came across the diagnosis to my problems in this post on this brilliant forum (should have joined earlier!!)... https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/107523-potential-fix-for-is220d-white-smoke-smells-of-diesel-poor-mpg/?&page=3#comments

I spoke to a Toyota specialist about looking into this (this is way above my mechanical knowledge, wouldn't know where to start) and he mentioned he thought he recalled a 5th injector recall.  I've also seen it referred to on this forum, by an IS220D owner.  

However I have called Lexus and they say nothing is showing as outstanding on my car (56 plate IS220D).

Would anyone know anything about this please?

If not, I think I just need to get the 5th injector replaced and pray, but any more info around this that I can share with my mechanic would be great if anyone has any experience.  I don't think it's the wiring, as I've tried disconnecting the battery for a while so it 'unlearns' but the problem (smoking, smell of diesel) is immediately apparent, and from what I've read it would take a little while to return if the wiring was the issue.

Thank you!

Hi there 

Sorry to hear of your issues. Are you 100% sure that your car has the fifth injector? I too have a 2006 Lexus IS 220D and mine doesn't have the fifth injector. 

All the best 

Miles 

[Shahpor]

3 hours ago, Miles Simmons said:

Hi there 

Sorry to hear of your issues. Are you 100% sure that your car has the fifth injector? I too have a 2006 Lexus IS 220D and mine doesn't have the fifth injector. 

All the best 

Miles 

Hi Miles,

Are you sure about this?  As far as I am aware, all IS220d's had a 5th injector.  It should be located here:

As for the original post, I don't believe there is or was a recall for the 5th injector, so a replacement might be the only option I'm afraid.

It might be unrelated, but have you tried cleaning the EGR valve?  There is a video of how to do so in the thread you posted.  Failing that, you would need a copy of TechStream to really help diagnose the issue if a new injector doesn't work.

[Miles Simmons]

8 minutes ago, Shahpor said:

Hi Miles,

Are you sure about this?  As far as I am aware, all IS220d's had a 5th injector.  It should be located here:

As for the original post, I don't believe there is or was a recall for the 5th injector, so a replacement might be the only option I'm afraid.

It might be unrelated, but have you tried cleaning the EGR valve?  There is a video of how to do so in the thread you posted.  Failing that, you would need a copy of TechStream to really help diagnose the issue if a new injector doesn't work.

Yeah Shahpor

It should have been located on the fuel rail by the fourth cylinder. But it simply wasn't there 🤷🏽‍♂️

[Love my IS220D but...]

Hi chaps, thanks for the responses.

Must admit it didn't cross my mind that I don't have a 5th injector - I've read quite a lot about them on IS220D's so they must be quite common I guess, but maybe not on every car, which seems odd.

I had really serious running problems / smoking when all this started, which was helped by cleaning the EGR valve - at the time I really thought this might sort it completely, but the MPG was still down, and the fuel smell / smoking didn't go away entirely (though at least the car would drive).

I've had a Toyota specialist guy plug his machine in a while back and he said all the injectors looked fine, but when I spoke to him last week he admitted he was only looking that the four main injectors.  Would one of these machines (I guess that's what a techstream is?) tell me if the fifth injector is at fault (and if I even have one, for that matter!).

Thanks again

Ian

[Shahpor]

16 minutes ago, Miles Simmons said:

Yeah Shahpor

It should have been located on the fuel rail by the fourth cylinder. But it simply wasn't there 🤷🏽‍♂️

Apologies for being pedantic, but the 5th injector isn't actually on the fuel rail.  As per the picture I posted, it is located on the back of the head and has its own separate fuel feed.

So, with that being said, are you sure you don't have one? 🙂

[Shahpor]

5 minutes ago, Love my IS220D but... said:

Hi chaps, thanks for the responses.

Must admit it didn't cross my mind that I don't have a 5th injector - I've read quite a lot about them on IS220D's so they must be quite common I guess, but maybe not on every car, which seems odd.

I had really serious running problems / smoking when all this started, which was helped by cleaning the EGR valve - at the time I really thought this might sort it completely, but the MPG was still down, and the fuel smell / smoking didn't go away entirely (though at least the car would drive).

I've had a Toyota specialist guy plug his machine in a while back and he said all the injectors looked fine, but when I spoke to him last week he admitted he was only looking that the four main injectors.  Would one of these machines (I guess that's what a techstream is?) tell me if the fifth injector is at fault (and if I even have one, for that matter!).

Thanks again

Ian

Hi Ian,

Assuming for the moment that you do have one, then the Toyota specialist should be able to diagnose it as a problem if it indeed the case.  They should certainly be using TechStream, which is software that can run on any PC's with the right cable.

As far as I am aware, there is only one test that can be run on the injector itself, which is:

This does require removing it from the car though, so considering the cost of replacement (e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232810780762), it might be worthwhile just changing it whilst its out.

Best of luck.

[Miles Simmons]

2 minutes ago, Love my IS220D but... said:

Hi chaps, thanks for the responses.

Must admit it didn't cross my mind that I don't have a 5th injector - I've read quite a lot about them on IS220D's so they must be quite common I guess, but maybe not on every car, which seems odd.

I had really serious running problems / smoking when all this started, which was helped by cleaning the EGR valve - at the time I really thought this might sort it completely, but the MPG was still down, and the fuel smell / smoking didn't go away entirely (though at least the car would drive).

I've had a Toyota specialist guy plug his machine in a while back and he said all the injectors looked fine, but when I spoke to him last week he admitted he was only looking that the four main injectors.  Would one of these machines (I guess that's what a techstream is?) tell me if the fifth injector is at fault (and if I even have one, for that matter!).

Thanks again

Ian

Hi Ian 

I'm a complete novice when it comes to tech advice, but my car definitely doesn't have a fifth Injector as far my garage and the technician who remapped it, confirmed.

I would definitely get your Toyota technician to inspect the engine bay and confirm your model has all five injectors, providing it does, he can then retest. The issue as I understand it with the fifth injector, is they get coked up and the flap gets stuck open, which results in a constant pumping of fuel into the catalytic converter, obviously that would explain poor mpg and smoking. I would highly recommend using some Archoil Ar6400-D before you employ the Toyota technician, it's a treatment I've been using religiously with my previous 3 diesel vehicles, nearly 300k miles in total, it has solved all manner of issues from problematic EGR's, flat spots, lumpy idle, poor mpg and its only £25 a bottle approx, which would be a very cheap fix. It's a fuel additive in essence, you just pour a whole bottle in a full tank of diesel (make sure you add to an empty tank before filling to properly dilute the additive) https://www.powerenhancer.co.uk/product/archoil-ar6400-d-max-professional-diesel-engine-turbo-dpf-cat-cleaner-concentrate/

[Miles Simmons]

9 minutes ago, Shahpor said:

Apologies for being pedantic, but the 5th injector isn't actually on the fuel rail.  As per the picture I posted, it is located on the back of the head and has its own separate fuel feed.

So, with that being said, are you sure you don't have one? 🙂

Hmm, now I'm not sure, I took that advice about it being located on the fourth cylinder from another post on this forum and no need to apologise, I will stop in at my indy garage and ask them to explore again. 

Thanks Shahpor 

[Love my IS220D but...]

35 minutes ago, Miles Simmons said:

Hi Ian 

I'm a complete novice when it comes to tech advice, but my car definitely doesn't have a fifth Injector as far my garage and the technician who remapped it, confirmed.

I would definitely get your Toyota technician to inspect the engine bay and confirm your model has all five injectors, providing it does, he can then retest. The issue as I understand it with the fifth injector, is they get coked up and the flap gets stuck open, which results in a constant pumping of fuel into the catalytic converter, obviously that would explain poor mpg and smoking. I would highly recommend using some Archoil Ar6400-D before you employ the Toyota technician, it's a treatment I've been using religiously with my previous 3 diesel vehicles, nearly 300k miles in total, it has solved all manner of issues from problematic EGR's, flat spots, lumpy idle, poor mpg and its only £25 a bottle approx, which would be a very cheap fix. It's a fuel additive in essence, you just pour a whole bottle in a full tank of diesel (make sure you add to an empty tank before filling to properly dilute the additive) https://www.powerenhancer.co.uk/product/archoil-ar6400-d-max-professional-diesel-engine-turbo-dpf-cat-cleaner-concentrate/

 

Thanks for the additive suggestion - I'm a fan of these having saved my ageing Ford Galaxy from the scrap heap when the turbo started sticking, eventually so badly that it would go into limp mode most journeys.  It's still sticks a little bit, but stays out of limp mode - I've been using this as it's good value https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B079GY9XQV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Have used it in the Lexus as well, on top of a couple of these https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-and-fluids/fuel-and-oil-additives/wynns-xtreme-diesel-system-cleaner-325ml-616924.html

I'd be happy to try the Power Enhancer version if you think it's a lot better of course, though as I've been using additives for a while in the Lexus with little effect, I'm thinking it may be too far gone? I do remember the first time I tried an additive, for a few miles the MPG shot up to c. 40, so soon drifted back down to 27 and that's where it's stayed - I think it did it just to get my hopes up!!

[Miles Simmons]

5 minutes ago, Love my IS220D but... said:

 

Thanks for the additive suggestion - I'm a fan of these having saved my ageing Ford Galaxy from the scrap heap when the turbo started sticking, eventually so badly that it would go into limp mode most journeys.  It's still sticks a little bit, but stays out of limp mode - I've been using this as it's good value https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B079GY9XQV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Have used it in the Lexus as well, on top of a couple of these https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-and-fluids/fuel-and-oil-additives/wynns-xtreme-diesel-system-cleaner-325ml-616924.html

I'd be happy to try the Power Enhancer version if you think it's a lot better of course, though as I've been using additives for a while in the Lexus with little effect, I'm thinking it may be too far gone? I do remember the first time I tried an additive, for a few miles the MPG shot up to c. 40, so soon drifted back down to 27 and that's where it's stayed - I think it did it just to get my hopes up!!

I would try the Archoil Ar6400-D, Powerenhancer are the retailer and a brilliant company to deal with. I've tried many additives over the last 15 years (Forte, Wynns, Redex to name a few) all claiming do the same thing as Archoil and none come close. It's got to be worth a shot for £25 and if it does work, then continue to use Ar-6900D which is a fuel conditioner that increases the cetane rating of standard diesel, in effect turning it into premium diesel (10ml treats 10ltrs of fuel) and a 1ltr container costs £27 so for a full tank of diesel it costs you about £1.80, which is about £6 less than it would cost to fill up with premium diesel. I hope it helps mate. 

[Love my IS220D but...]

8 minutes ago, Miles Simmons said:

I would try the Archoil Ar6400-D, Powerenhancer are the retailer and a brilliant company to deal with. I've tried many additives over the last 15 years (Forte, Wynns, Redex to name a few) all claiming do the same thing as Archoil and none come close. It's got to be worth a shot for £25 and if it does work, then continue to use Ar-6900D which is a fuel conditioner that increases the cetane rating of standard diesel, in effect turning it into premium diesel (10ml treats 10ltrs of fuel) and a 1ltr container costs £27 so for a full tank of diesel it costs you about £1.80, which is about £6 less than it would cost to fill up with premium diesel. I hope it helps mate. 

Thanks Miles, I'm going to order some right now - may as well pop some in the Galaxy whilst I'm there.  Will let you know if it sorts it!

[Miles Simmons]

1 minute ago, Love my IS220D but... said:

Thanks Miles, I'm going to order some right now - may as well pop some in the Galaxy whilst I'm there.  Will let you know if it sorts it!

Fingers crossed it does Ian. And remember full bottle for full tank and dispense additive before filling up. I know this may sound a bit stupid but what kind of drives is your IS220D used too? Short journeys, long journeys, mix? Have you tried giving it a real good thrashing? Sometimes accelerating to just below the redline in 1st, 2nd and 3rd two or three times can clear any unwanted blockages and help with excessive smoking. I would also consider doing a few good 40-50 mile motorway runs keeping the car in 4th gear at 65mph or 5th at 80mph (if you don't mind taking that risk) that will certainly help with DPF regeneration and get rid of excessive coking on inlet and EGR valves. Gotta be worth a shot 🤷🏽‍♂️

[Love my IS220D but...]

To be fair, it does mainly do short journeys (the problems in the first place started during lockdown), but I've driven a number of long journeys since, sometimes in at least a gear lower than I would do normally as you suggest, so I don't think it's am EGR blockage / DPF issue.  The EGR was spotless after I've finished with it too!

The problems I have so perfectly match what the guy posted, who ended up fixing it by replacing the 5th injector, I do think that's the issue, though as you say it's probably worth chucking another £23 at it before I get the 5th injector changed, as it's a fair bit of labour I think.

[Miles Simmons]

6 minutes ago, Love my IS220D but... said:

To be fair, it does mainly do short journeys (the problems in the first place started during lockdown), but I've driven a number of long journeys since, sometimes in at least a gear lower than I would do normally as you suggest, so I don't think it's am EGR blockage / DPF issue.  The EGR was spotless after I've finished with it too!

The problems I have so perfectly match what the guy posted, who ended up fixing it by replacing the 5th injector, I do think that's the issue, though as you say it's probably worth chucking another £23 at it before I get the 5th injector changed, as it's a fair bit of labour I think.

Well that's fair enough my friend. Fingers crossed Ar6400 settles it down, if not then as you say maybe a fifth injector replacement. Have you tried contacting Lexus to see if they can help? Apparently there was a fix for this issue, a modified part I assume. 

[Love my IS220D but...]

Apart from calling my local Lexus dealer to enquire about a recall (with no success), I must admit I didn't think to ask them about the issue as I assumed they would just tell me to bring it in and starting charging me £XXX per hour!  Do you mean I could try contact Lexus the company?  Happy to try if you think worth a go... just call the number on their website and go from there?!  They wouldn't just direct me back to a service centre?

[Miles Simmons]

10 minutes ago, Love my IS220D but... said:

Apart from calling my local Lexus dealer to enquire about a recall (with no success), I must admit I didn't think to ask them about the issue as I assumed they would just tell me to bring it in and starting charging me £XXX per hour!  Do you mean I could try contact Lexus the company?  Happy to try if you think worth a go... just call the number on their website and go from there?!  They wouldn't just direct me back to a service centre?

I would personally call them, explain that you know the fifth injector is a generic problem with IS220D'S and what can/will they do about it? What's the worst that can happen. 

[Love my IS220D but...]

Fair point, will do, thanks again

[Love my IS220D but...]

Hello All

Quick update on this one in case anyone has any final words of wisdom, as my beloved Lexus is close to going to 'live on a farm.

To recap, my IS220D gets c. 26 mpg. It smells of diesel whilst running, and occasionally smokes very heavily (white).

Based on some of the advice here, I have (since the last post) had the 5th injector swapped out. Twice. Despite an initial positive increase in mpg, it soon dropped back down again and I'm back to where I started (except a bit poorer obviously, though found a great value Toyota specialist that works from home in Guildford, so not too bad).

But here's the thing - when the mechanic disabled the 5th injector entirely, and I drove it around the block / up the A3 for 20 mins or so, I was hitting well over 40 mpg. So surely it IS the 5th injector, or something to do with it.

The only other thing I can think of is to replace the wiring, as per the advice in this thread, comment from 2016...  https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/107523-potential-fix-for-is220d-white-smoke-smells-of-diesel-poor-mpg/?&page=3#comments

Not sure how I will do that - the clever chap sounds like he remade the cable himself, which is far beyond my skillset!

Any further advice, please, would be so much appreciated.

Ian

 

 

[Shahpor]

Hi Ian,

When you say the mechanic disabled the 5th injector, how so?  I would assume the dash lit up like a Christmas tree when he did!

It is very odd that a replacement injector didn't fix the issue.  Did he verify that the injector was working outside of the car?

[Love my IS220D but...]

Hi, I'm not sure exactly - he unplugged it somehow I think, does that make sense?

He didn't test the 5th injector off the car, but as I say it was replaced twice - once with a genuine old/new part he happened to have in a pile of parts he bought from a closed down Lexus garage, and (when that didn't work and I was convinced it must be the injector at fault) it was replaced again with a generic / Chinese one I got off eBay.  When that also didn't work, he disabled the injector and I drove round, with a much improved mpg, which still left us scratching heads.  Trying to remember if there was a light on the dash - quite possibly, I'm not sure now tbh.

He was extremely helpful - only charged me an hour to replace injector (I've seen people post on here they've been told it's a massive job - it isn't from I've seen, if you know what you are doing and have the right tools!).  Toyotatech in Guildford - highly recommended.

Any further opinions / ideas very welcome!  Thanks

[Shahpor]

To be honest, everything you have said points to it still being the 5th injector, so if it was me I would test one of them off the car to confirm it is working before fitting it.  I certainly wouldn't trust the cheap Chinese one until I knew it worked.

Other than that, if he can disable it without the ECU throwing up an error, then that is an option.  You would need to be careful with the DPF getting clogged but regular longer journeys or a trash up the motorway at higher RPM would help with this.

 

[Love my IS220D but...]

I know what you mean, but as the car behaved exactly the same with 3 different injectors, including the replacement genuine Lexus one, I'm not sure about spending more on that angle, and was trying to work out what else it might be. Do you think the cable is a contender?

Anyway I found this video on testing... but it seems to talk about testing for a blockage, which obviously can't be the issue for the two new parts. What would you recommend testing for please?  And how?!

I did ask about leaving the 5th injector disabled, but the mechanic was very against it - plus I inevitably end up doing a lot of local driving.

Sorry for more questions, really appreciate the advice

  

[Shahpor]

You're right, I don't think it is a blockage.

For testing, I would suggest the resistance test I posted previously:

Failing that, the wiring is certainly  a possibility but difficult to pinpoint.  An auto electrician would really be required at that point.