Help With This 'car Recall' Thing

pills141079 · July 7, 2008

Hi

first of all, please excuse my poor terminology for car parts and names etc. Its my hubby who usually deals with this sort of stuff but he's on operational tour at the moment.

Anyway, since he's been gone ive started having some quite major problems with the car (IS220d).

Its started off like this..... The first time i would try and start the car each day the engine would chug and it basically sounds like its struggling to tick over.

Then this morning the car wouldnt start at all. It took me 5 attempts to get it going and i had to rev the engine to keep it going. The Battery light was on and even though i knew i needed to fill up with diesel, the warning light was not on (there was only 54 miles left in the tank). Now i know this is not normal but is my problem related to this car recall thing what your all talking about? And whats the problem with the 5th injector? Is that part of my problem aswell? We havent heard anything about this because we live in Germany. But obviously explaining our problem is quite difficult, especially since i dont speak german!

PS: our car is now 18 months old - not sure if that makes a difference to your replies or not!

Thanks in advance, JEN

Scarlet Pimpernell · July 8, 2008

JEN,

firstly I doubt that the smaller amount of diesel in it is likely to be causing an issue. I have run mine down to 0 miles in the tank and it would still start no problems (!).

The fact that the Battery light is on could be due to the fact the Battery has no power in it, and hence you struggling to start the car. If there is a filling station close by take it for a drive and fill up, then take a scenic route back to give it tim to gt some charge back in. I am here of course assuming that the Battery is flat - and it may not be. So if you have been driving the car around daily for anything other than short journeys, then apologies.

There is also a LED type thing on the Battery itself. I can't remmber off top of my head what the colours should be, but If you peer down onto it, it will be blue crescent rings with a red dot in the centre I think IF the Battery is OK. If not, it might show a small red dot.

The 5th Injector thing is to do with the car going into "Safe mode". This is when the engine electronics in the car decide that it needs to just get you to a Lexus garage as someting has gone wrong with the emissions handling within the car. "VSC Check" might appear on the dash, and you wouldn't be able to go very fast at all.

You may well find that your local dealership has an English speaker there, especially if you are in a town close to a US/UK airbase.

PS - the fact that t is 18 months old could mean that it needs the 5th Injector thing sorting out. The fix is that they install a new 5th injector and associated bits and bobs, plus re-programme the electronic control unit with different software. This should stop the safe mode problms that some of the earlier cars were plagued with.

06G220D · July 8, 2008

Hi,

Does your car have the 3 year Roadside Assistance service. It is standard here in Ireland so I assume it is standard where you are.

If it has call them, they should come out and do whatever diagnosis is necessary.

It sounds like the Battery might just be flat but they will sort it out.

Hope this helps.

pills141079 · July 8, 2008

JEN,
firstly I doubt that the smaller amount of diesel in it is likely to be causing an issue. I have run mine down to 0 miles in the tank and it would still start no problems (!).

The fact that the battery light is on could be due to the fact the battery has no power in it, and hence you struggling to start the car. If there is a filling station close by take it for a drive and fill up, then take a scenic route back to give it tim to gt some charge back in. I am here of course assuming that the battery is flat - and it may not be. So if you have been driving the car around daily for anything other than short journeys, then apologies.

There is also a LED type thing on the battery itself. I can't remmber off top of my head what the colours should be, but If you peer down onto it, it will be blue crescent rings with a red dot in the centre I think IF the battery is OK. If not, it might show a small red dot.

The 5th Injector thing is to do with the car going into "Safe mode". This is when the engine electronics in the car decide that it needs to just get you to a Lexus garage as someting has gone wrong with the emissions handling within the car. "VSC Check" might appear on the dash, and you wouldn't be able to go very fast at all.

You may well find that your local dealership has an English speaker there, especially if you are in a town close to a US/UK airbase.

PS - the fact that t is 18 months old could mean that it needs the 5th Injector thing sorting out. The fix is that they install a new 5th injector and associated bits and bobs, plus re-programme the electronic control unit with different software. This should stop the safe mode problms that some of the earlier cars were plagued with.

Hi, thanks for the response.

The car started fine this morning which threw me a bit, although i did use it yesterday evening, something which i dont normally need to do ( i tend to only use it in the mornings then its parked up til the next morning usually).

Anyway, i forgot to mention yesterday that the engine chugs after first starting when its been really hot weather 26deg +. I really cant imagine that the heat would have anything to do with it so maybe its just a co-incidence???

My local Lexus dealer is in Hanover (over 90 mins drive away). They do speak english but its very limited. We had to have the car serviced there in march and they wouldnt give us a courtesy car so we had to sit and wait with 2 young kids - and they didnt even clean the car! Also, they looked at me stupidly when i told them about a problem we have with our alarm. Consequently, we have to park our car about 50 meters away from our home because the frequency was being interefered with and we couldnt gain access to the car without setting the alarm off 3 or 4 times each day!. So if i'm honest, i'm not that keen on going back there.

Please god dont let that 5th injector thing and the safe mode thing happen to us. It takes us 90 min to get to the dealer and that on the autobahn doing over 100mph! It would take me all day to get there slowly! lol

pills141079 · July 8, 2008

Hi,
Does your car have the 3 year Roadside Assistance service. It is standard here in Ireland so I assume it is standard where you are.

If it has call them, they should come out and do whatever diagnosis is necessary.

It sounds like the battery might just be flat but they will sort it out.

Hope this helps.

i honestly have no idea if we have or not. It is a UK reg car though, collected from Reading so i would presume we have the UK standard???

Bollox, trust things to go tits up when hubby's away!

I'll keep you updated :winky:

Ullevi · July 9, 2008

Hi,
Does your car have the 3 year Roadside Assistance service. It is standard here in Ireland so I assume it is standard where you are.

If it has call them, they should come out and do whatever diagnosis is necessary.

It sounds like the battery might just be flat but they will sort it out.

Hope this helps.

i honestly have no idea if we have or not. It is a UK reg car though, collected from Reading so i would presume we have the UK standard???

Bollox, trust things to go tits up when hubby's away!

I'll keep you updated :winky:

AFAIK UK lexus cars have 3 yrs Lexus RAC Roadside assist from new-you should have a card with the details-this gives full European coverage,so if it fails to start or breaks down you could call them(number to ring should be on a sticker on the windscreen.They should then send an affiliate out to you in Germany and get you started.You also get 3 year/60,000mile warranty which should be honoured in Europe(you may have to pay for repairs in Germany then claim the cost back from Lexus UK).

Either way,if you have problems and not sure how you are covered,it may be worth ringing Lexus UK and finding out.

Hope you get your problem sorted out soon.