Hey guys, i had a big problem. Once in a while my IS220d, during idle after short run with 1st & 2nd gear, it gives out quite alot of white smoke. My first guess was the turbo. I thought it has leaked. But during driving on the highway, on the 6th gear and then back to idle, the smoke has gone. I've monitored this situation will only occur when i'm stuck in traffic, when in in the 1st gear. Can anyone explain to me why/how does this happen? And the countermeasure pls.. Thanx guys.

Hey guys, i had a big problem. Once in a while my IS220d, during idle after short run with 1st & 2nd gear, it gives out quite alot of white smoke. My first guess was the turbo. I thought it has leaked. But during driving on the highway, on the 6th gear and then back to idle, the smoke has gone. I've monitored this situation will only occur when i'm stuck in traffic, when in in the 1st gear. Can anyone explain to me why/how does this happen? And the countermeasure pls.. Thanx guys.

Unless it is just normal moisture collecting in the exhaust overnight etc. and then "burning off" as the exhaust heats up enough; sadly this indicates a possible head-gasket problem which I understand is common enough to be covered by Lexus extending the warranty on the IS220D engine - so should be fixed FOC. I would get it checked by a Lexus Workshop for exhaust gasses dissolved in the coolant (a 5 minute check) before it gets worse.

Yep, I second the head gasket theory, had the same problem myself but had the work covered by warranty. I understand that Lexus will resolve this even if your car is not under warranty as this is such a common issue on the early 220D, check with your local dealer to confirm. either way you will need to resolve fast. Lexus Poole wouldnt let me take my car home for fear of doing more damage so I would get it looked at ASAP!

Smoke white (steam), or a little blue?

Sorry guys, but have to disagree on this one. At this time of the year it is quite normal for some steam to appear from the exhaust. I think you should only be concerned if you are loosing coolant, or notice a creamy residue under the engine Oil cap.

Look around you will see lots of cars blowing steam from their exhaust. If it's smoke not steam , then it needs to be looked at. White smoke usually indicates a head gasket problem and blue smoke indicates valve stem leakage.

Just dropped back into the forum having got rid of my 06 22d a couple of years ago. Just before I did I got Lexus Bristol to clean out the EGR and that significantly improved MPG (back up to 45mpg). Pity I did not get it done earlier! I would strongly recommend getting your lexus dealer to clean out yours and see what happens (do not allow them to replace as that is expensive). It also cleared up the clouds of black smoke under accerelration and white smoke pouring out when stooped. A WW2 destroyer would have been proud of the smoke screen it left!

Last year, I had all sorts of smoke from my car in the winter. Mostly white and bluish, but some times a bit grey as well. The smoke disappeared as the temperatures rose, until this winter that it started again. Some think its due to the additives added to diesel to keep it from gelling in the winters.

Anyway, if you don't see loss of coolant and not white stuff in the Oil cap, then there is high chance its NOT head gaskit related.

Get EGR valve cleaned on every service, and use injector cleaner additives once in a while. If you are driving mostly in city, a motor way journey at highish RPM is needed to clear out the DNPR in the exhaust. Blue smoke usually means burning Oil so keep and eye on Oil usage and keep it topped up. This is information collected from this forum, I am no expert.

Hopefully, summer will be here soon and all will be fine.

Good luck

I've had my 220d since 2006; new out of the box. It's now done 84k, and had the usual issues, including an engine rebuild at 52k. Over the last couple of years, and since it's warranty expired, I'be been seeing increasing amounts of whitish smoke as the engine temperature approached normal, and sometimes when the temp was normal. It didn't happen on every journey, bit seemed to be about every 12 miles or so, this corresponded with my daily grind through heavy traffic, rarely getting above 30.

I did ask Lexus to take a look, and they tested it and could find nothing amiss, in fact commenting that it was running really well; it did, apart from the clouds of smoke!

To cut to the,chase, two weeks ago I decided to clean the egr valve myself; I was shocked when Itook it off, the inlet.manifold aperture was probably less then half of what it should have been, and the egr itself had a high build-up of carbon. I cleaned this.as.best as I could, as I had forgotten to get some carb cleaner first!

Result...

No smoke since, and increased. Mpg by about 10%.

Wish I'd done it sooner.