Major Problem

[ldavies7]

Hi

I had a major incident yesterday and was wondering if anybody could help me.

I have owned 2 lexus' in the past and currently own an IS 220d. Ive never had a problem with any of the previous but this one just scares me. I have had it 4 months and it had a new engine in Sep 2012. I have recently had problems with it starting to accelerate by itself, first i thought it could just be me maybe touching the resume on the cruise control and never really thought much of it. However yesterday whilst driving back from Manchester (a 50 mile drive) i was about half a mile from home, traveling around 70mph and all of a sudden my car just shot off on its own and started to rev up on the limiter at max revs, i was in 5th gear at the time. I had to swerve narrowly missing a tanker by about a foot at into the hard shoulder. I put it into neutral and was still revving, pedal was loose as i tried that so had to switch it off immediately! After taking into account what happened and calming down (I also had a baby in the back seat!) I tried to restart the engine, it tried turning over then nothing! wont even turn over now! Does anybody know what could be wrong or its possible cause? I suspect that fuel could have gotten into the oil causing it to over rev? The front wheels are also locked in 2nd gear when trying to bump it which suggests to me it is seized. I'm now worried that the engine has seized or a con rod has bent. I phoned Lexus but they are not interested whatsoever. And i thought there customer service was top notch, well this is not what i experienced! I have had it on auto data and no pending faults are present. The engine warranty ran out 11 days ago which is just typical. They said i have to send it to a dealership to find out the problem but this could run into hundreds of pounds if it is a strip down job! and that is just to find out if what is wrong. They will not entertain any sort of good will towards the repair until this is done. My only Gripe is paying to have it checked out to only find out the engine was not fit for purpose! This could have caused a major accident and risked lives. I hope its not a serious problem tho and not sure if anybody else has experienced this

Thanks for reading any help would be appreciated

[steve2006]

Firstly welcome to the LOC,secondly sorry to hear of the incident you've experienced.

I'm assumming the car was recovered off the motorway, did the recovery company not give any idea as to the state of the engine?

I've heard of cases with diesel engines where oil is sucked into the engine due to worn turbo bearing oil seals and then burns with the diesel in an uncontrolable manner similar to what you have described but when this happens turning off the ignition fails to stop the engine as it still continues to run of the oil fumes until it revs to complete destruction.

The only way to possibly stop the engine is to run it up the embankment and then stall the engine.

This may have still happned in your case and although it did stop possibly destroyed the engine by over revving.

Unless my understanding of the IS is completely wrong the vehicle is rear wheel drive so the front wheels should still turn if the engine is seized and the transmission should still be capable of being put into neutral.

I think the 1st step is to have the car examined at a decent garage, not necessarily Lexus just to accertain the level of damage. Checking for a seized engine is as simple as putting a socket and bar on the crank pulley bolt and then trying to turn the pulley, if it don't budge it's probably seized.

Not sure if the throttle is cable controlled or drive by wire but that is another easy check for a garage.

[ldavies7]

Thanks for your reply and the welcome Steve. Was quite a hairy experience. Your correct it is rear wheel drive just went into auto pilot and put front ha. The oil level has not risen and there is no oil coming out from the exhaust or anywhere. Is there a way i can check there is diesel in my oil or is it noticeable? The uncontrollable revving started when i was driving and i tried to cut the engine out before i came to a complete stop but would only stop when i was stationary. I'm not sure whether there is a safety feature with the Lexus that does not allow you to turnoff the ignition whilst still moving. My friend came to toe me away as i was literally less than half a mile from my home and my break down package only covers a mile or more away from the house. Am i right in thinking the model is chain driven? And if this is the case will i have to remove the casing to access the crank pulley bolt? As for the throttle i know a man who is really good with cars and hes going to help me maybe diagnose the problem. Just need to find the route cause before i make a case with Lexus for a failed engine that's just 12 months old.

Thanks again for your reply

[steve2006]

You're welcome.

The crank pulley is the lowest pulley at the front of the engine it is secured by a large nut on which a socket can be attached to a bar, there is no need to strip anything off to access it.

If your mate can check the throttle this job will be a piece of cake for him.

[ldavies7]

Thank you for your advice Steve will let you know how i get on