Chuckie888

Ufortunately the good news didn't last long. The pedal is heavy again and the rattle is as before. I am thinking it's the scored release bearing shaft, although most people just seem to take Lexus word for it and believe it is 'normal' for a prestige car to have rattling clutch and crunching gearbox.

Just had my car serviced, but in addition, had the transmission fluid changed to Amsoil/Honda MTF, which has made it a bit smoother. The mech also inspected the clutch squeak and said it was NOT the release bearing. The whole clutch unit was very dry and it was probably the pressure plate fingers themselves (new). He tried to lube the metal to metal contact points but cannot get to all of it or see if was the DMF or release bearing shaft which is the cause of my woes. Overall, it is now a little lighter and smoother but still has the "ker-chunk" when releasing the clutch every now and then. The rattle is now damped a little.

Hey:

Glad to hear that yours is getting a little better.

Since the clutch dearing and cover were both replaced in september, I felt the pedal is lighter than it was before.

very interesting to find that the noise is gone since, em, I can not recall when exactly, but I would say since the weather became colder.

Just had my car serviced, but in addition, had the transmission fluid changed to Amsoil/Honda MTF, which has made it a bit smoother. The mech also inspected the clutch squeak and said it was NOT the release bearing. The whole clutch unit was very dry and it was probably the pressure plate fingers themselves (new). He tried to lube the metal to metal contact points but cannot get to all of it or see if was the DMF or release bearing shaft which is the cause of my woes. Overall, it is now a little lighter and smoother but still has the "ker-chunk" when releasing the clutch every now and then. The rattle is now damped a little.

Just had my car serviced, but in addition, had the transmission fluid changed to Amsoil/Honda MTF, which has made it a bit smoother. The mech also inspected the clutch squeak and said it was NOT the release bearing. The whole clutch unit was very dry and it was probably the pressure plate fingers themselves (new). He tried to lube the metal to metal contact points but cannot get to all of it or see if was the DMF or release bearing shaft which is the cause of my woes. Overall, it is now a little lighter and smoother but still has the "ker-chunk" when releasing the clutch every now and then.

Shaft is integral with gearbox casing I'm afraid.

TSK = Transmission Sleeve Kit. It is a stainless steel sleeve which fits over the shaft but means you'll need an oversized bearing to fit over it. I have not tried this as yet, but there is a TSB from Toyota which basically discards this theory saying that scoring on the shaft is NORMAL! They advise change of pivot support and clutch release(slave) cylinder.

http://www.pdf-archive.com/2011/02/19/clutch-bearing-tsb/clutch-bearing-tsb.pdf

Shaft is integral with gearbox casing I'm afraid.

TSK = Transmission Sleeve Kit. It is a stainless steel sleeve which fits over the shaft but means you'll need an oversized bearing to fit over it. I have not tried this as yet, but there is a TSB from Toyota which basically discards this theory saying that scoring on the shaft is NORMAL! They advise change of pivot support and clutch release(slave) cylinder.

http://www.pdf-archive.com/2011/02/19/clutch-bearing-tsb/clutch-bearing-tsb.pdf

The shaft is an integrated part of the gearbox unfortunately.

Transmission Sleeve Kit. Is a stainless steel sleeve which fits over the shaft, but you will then need a an oversized release bearing.

Toyota have a TSB out in the USA for cars with this gearbox(AISIN RA60 series) and problem.

http://www.pdf-archive.com/2011/02/19/clutch-bearing-tsb/

The Release Bearing SHAFT! IS uses the Aisin RA60 series transmission and is known for chattering problems amongst others. I'm tired of repeating myself so do your own research folks, you have the info necessary. A TSK may solve it, but the an oversized bearing is necessary.

Hi chuckie888:

Thanks for your reply, and i am that sorry I missed the key word "shaft".

Well could you be more specify in how to sovle the problem? shall I ask the Lexus dealer to replace the clutch bearing shaft? or what do you mean by a "TSK"

Thank you

Andy

The Release Bearing SHAFT! IS uses the Aisin RA60 series transmission and is known for chattering problems amongst others. I'm tired of repeating myself so do your own research folks, you have the info necessary. A TSK may solve it, but the an oversized bearing is necessary.

This is the DMF or a scored clutch release bearing shaft. Lexus dealers are morons - they are telling us all that this is normal like we are idiots. Puts me right off and leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. Don't know how they keep winning Customer Satisfaction Awards - must be a lot of gullible pensioners driving them, or the petrol autos must be awesome.

Sounds like the clutch Release (Slave( cylinder, although Lexus will probably tell you that you are the first person to experience it and it's probably not covered by your warranty.

Is it just the pedal or the clutch Release (Slave) cylinder which is attached to the gearbox?

All 3 parts were Toyota parts, but the pressure plate that was taken out has LUK F37 14 stamped on it.

I think the clutch rattling maybe because of the bearing shaft being scored. Toyota Tacoma and FJ Cruisers with the RA60 gearbox suffer this too. There is a fix/TSB in the States.

http://honda-tech.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209172&d=1305381857

I think that the clutch release bearing maybe different because when I had mine changed to try to cure the crunching gearchange and rattling release problems (which it didn't) the bearing was a Toyota part whereas the other two were LUK (OEM). This would make sense due to the different geardboxes (RWD/FWD). I'll post the part numbers when I'm next in my garage (away at the min)

Don't do it! A 220D engine is considerably more vibration prone that a 250!

Get a DMF for an Avensis with the same engine - it'll be a lot cheaper than the Lexus one but it's the same part!

The whirring noise could be a separate issue with the release bearing/shaft and clutch fork/pivot.

Hi Matus,

Thanks for your feedback.

I have a quite loud whirring noise when on standstill/neutral i release and depress the clutch, it is louder when the clutch pedal is released. This is getting much worse when the car gets warmer.

It is slipping almost on every gear but it is worst when on a slight uphill with 3rd - 4rd gear. I bought the car with 95k miles 1 year ago. Even though the car has full Lexus service history before me it was driven by a woman. Women do love to give a nice bit of excersise to the clutch....

With 1000 -1100 euro I'm planning to do everything, flywheel, clutch kit and labour. 400 USD for flywheel, 500 euro for the clutch kit and the rest for labour.

There are many people on the US Lexus forum which they change for lighetend flywheels and stage 2 or stage 3 clutches and they notice some slight vibrations. I just want to get a lightened Non DM flywheel which will help with the poor take off of the first - second gears and a standard clutch. I don't want to go crazy with racing clutches or anything. A lightened flywheel will help with acceleration which our cars suffer from due to the weird gear ratios.

The flywheel I'm looking is made by a very well known and reputable Japanese company.

Whoever knows PLEASE let me know if the 250 clutch and flywheel will fit a 220d?

Cheers

G.T.

Indeed there seems to be 2 EGR valves. The first one is connected to an EGR Cooler and it is the second one which we all clean as it is easily accessible. I bet that EGR1 is clogged if EGR2 was! I haven't looked at the engine to see how this works, but they are presumably connected in series "through" the engine.

Hi,

I was looking on toyodiy.com and I saw that on my lexus 220D have 2 EGR ( I've attached the pic ) . Last time I've cleaned only EGR no 2 ( I don't know about EGR no 1) and now I have big fuel consumption ( 12.5 l/100km in town ) . Do I have to clean both EGR s ( no 1 and no 2) ?

Thanks,

Claudiu

Ah ha! I had a look at my lever the other day - there leather gaiter has been removed at some point and not put back on correctly as it now rests on the plastic which causes the rattle. Undo the stud and pull the gaiter down until you can re-fasten the stud so that it is resting on the foam surround. If you are feeling brave then take off the plastic covers and then undo the four bolts which hold the metal plate over the rubber gaiters (there are 2 of them, one on top of the other!). No clean the ball and socket and spray some silicon oil before re-greasing. This has made my gear lever much lighter and smoother. There is still too much lateral play in the lever but that is an under the car job deferred to another day!

NOTE: The thick metal plate which is exposed after removing the rubber gaiters is the lever stop for selecting 1st and 2nd gear. You can adjust this too if you are brave! Smear some grease on it though!

I have started up in EGR pure air from turbo. To use Mini filter it is impossible because at movement with constant speed EGR opens and will lose pressure from an inlet collector.

How do you get pure air from the turbo (which uses exhaust gasses to drive it)?

If diverted to a separate intake, there will only be air when the EGR is open? But I guess there is potential for a vacuum problem on the intake. We need to know the definitive answer to DTC error codes being thrown if the EGR is port is blanked. I suppose the only way to find out definitively is to try it!

I think the characteristics of the engine don't help - it behaves more like a petrol in that you have to have a decent amounts of revs for the car to move at a decent lick. Peak power seems to come in at > 3500rpm. Everyone who goes in it can't believe its got 175HP (+ chip) as it feels more sluggish than their Focus, Golf, Mondeo ..... People who buy diesels assume they can 'lug' it around at low revs, but the engine and tall ratios on the gearbox mean this is not effective. The gearbox is another story! :-(

I'm still confused - if you have blocked off the exhaust gases to the EGR and re-routed to the exhaust gasses from the turbo, you are still using exhaust gases? Wouldn't it be better to connect to fresh air via a mini filter?

Switch the heater fan off and it will idle as normal, otherwise it tries to get the warm up the coolant enough to fulfil your heating request, e.g. 19C in the cabin when ambient air temp is 13C

The engine is used in many Toyota products and I believe was rushed into production at the new plant in Poland.

This what I do :

TAKE OFF

1st - slip it from 1200-1300 rpm. Take it to 3000rpm or a little over because when you get it in 2nd, the revs will be just over 1500rpm so the turbo will be working. (big 1-2 gap)

2nd - change at 2500rpm to get revs at over 1500 rpm in 3rd.

3rd - change at 2200 rpm to get revs at over 1500 rpm in 4th.

GENERAL DRIVING

use 3rd for speeds 30mph-40mph (so around 1700-1800 rpm min)

use 4th for speeds 40mph-50mph

use 5th for 50mph or over

use 6the @ 75mph or more.

Basically keep it in the turbo range (generally 1500rpm or more). 1800 rpm is probably best.

I get 42MPG on my 10 mile dual carriageway but stop-start (lots of traffic lights) journey to work. Because I also know the traffic light sequencing, I can use Intelligent engine stop-start technology (left index finger!). LOL

Exactly.

My VSC and traction control lights came on intermittently a few times last month when going around corners, so I checked for a gummed up EGR but that was clean as I did a thorough job (unlike the lying M@nsfield Toyot@ dealer). Then one day I noticed that my NSR tyre was almost flat. DOH! Pumped it up and voilà, no lights till now.

Low revs DO strain the DMF.

'Learning' is just Long Term Fuel Trim.

'Idling uses fuel, but if you are >=1200 rpm with foot off the gas pedal, no fuel is injected/used.

I prefer stock, but I admire the workmanship and drive.

They need cleaning and lubing regularly.