briatore

Hi Jason, Just to add few of my own observations, some of which are more philosophical, rather than technical. :) You'll need premium diesel if you want to avoid the engine problems and enjoy the car. Also, it has a large turbo that needs some time and effort to get spinning, so it's not very eager at low revs. That means you can't really drive it cabbie-style and you shouldn't be trying to get the best possible consumption figures. If you do, that also could ruin your engine, let alone the driving pleasure. Actually, it being a diesel doesn't mean a thing. I've had quite a few of those, and this one is nothing like any of them. t's obviously a driver's car, not meant to be practical or frugal, but enjoyable to drive and stylishly different. If you need a car that is a sensible and logical choice, a car that you appreciate for its consumption, spaciousness or whatever other sensible reason, then this is not the car. Word diesel is there only to confuse people. It's expensive to buy, expensive to drive, expensive to insure, expensive to maintain, actually quite demanding in every way. It's very much like a high maintenance girlfriend claiming she is modest (diesel, but only premium stuff and going through it like it's water). :D You might be sick and tired of it all after some time, but until then none of this will matter, you'll be a happy man, if you are that kind of person. Right now, I'm sick of appreciating the cars and I bought the one (initially, a head gasket faulty one, for that matter) that I fell in love with. :)

Hi Naeem I'm not sure what 80k major service is. I've heard of 60k, but not 80. For a regular service (oil and filters) any garage should do. It's very simple. If you need new brake pads and/or discs, that also is nothing special, on the contrary. If you need coolant changed, that also is a straightforward job, so I don't see any reason not to go to any garage of your liking and get it done. The car has a chain, not a belt, so you don't need to do anything about that. What does your manual say? What happens at 80k? Also, you can reset the light yourself. Check this thread http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=51080 Good luck and please let us know how it went. :)

Hi Lexus-pro What you described sounds like valves not being adjusted properly and touching the pistons slightly. From your description, I'd say we are talking about tiniest fractions of a millimetre or something like that, but nevertheless it's a serious issue. The valves are self-adjusting and it should never normally happen. They are oil pressure regulated and it could be that there was not enough oil in the engine, or the oil was to thick so it couldn't reach the top of the engine where the valves are. That kind of sound can sometimes be heard if you try to rev the engine just after starting it in very cold weather (not recommended). :) That's the best case scenario, but it's still not very good. Or, it could be that the head gasket has been replaced, but someone did a poor job putting the engine back together. There are five different thicknesses of the gasket, and if a wrong one was used, there you go. If the head has been resurfaced it could also be the thing causing the sound. That's because resurfacing means taking off a bit of the surface, making the head just a little bit thinner (again tiny fractions of a millimetre) and since everything is made to the tightest possible fit inside the engine, that could make the difference and cause the piston head to touch the valves and make the sound. The timing of the valves could also be off, but you'd probably hear it in idle too, or at lower revs most probably and the car wouldn't run well. Also, that is extremely unlikely to happen by itself. It usually means the timing chain has not been put back properly. So, I'd say there has been some serious work done on the car, but probably not the the highest of the standards, but more importantly to you, it won't go away by itself and you could end up with a lot of serious repairs on your hands (unless it's the oil thing) should you decide to buy the car. You could always ask the seller to sort it out before you buy, but I'd recommend you find a different car altogether. And please be aware that it should be very quiet and vibration free at any speed, and idle too. If there is any music playing, I sometimes have to check if it's still running when I stop. I actually believe that the lack of sound is a big part of what caused all the fuss about the poor performance. You press the accelerator and almost nothing happens, except you are driving at much higher speed without even noticing. The car is that good and you shouldn't settle for anything less. :) Good luck

Well, it looks like you'll have to pay for the repairs, but before they start ask them what exactly the problem is and what exactly needs to be replaced. Good luck and be careful about it.

:D

This is wonderful. Thank you very much for the guide. It's great. :)

wow :) that explains it then :)

Steve, you are probably right. That's the most likely place to sport a leak. That part is non-reusable, so they must have had replaced it. I think it has a metal core that gets bent when the part is removed. The seal should be around 20 EUR, so it would really be a shame if they put the old one back in. Eight hours of labour sounds reasonable. What would an hour in Lexus normally service be? If it's 50 GBP, it's 400 for labour, 20-ish for the part, and probably the rest is for the oil and the filter, and possibly some coolant, but it still sounds a bit expensive. If it weren't for the pulley that has to be removed with a special tool to get to the seal, I'd say any mechanic could do it. I hope we'll get to know what the problem was and how it got solved. :)

It's the timing chain cover, I believe? Could the identify the exact spot on the housing? Is it the sealant on the cover edge or a gasket or is the cover broken? That shouldn't happen just like that. It's either the mechanic assembling the engine back didn't put the sealant right, or they reused some gasket that was damaged on removal (a new one should hold for way longer) or the cover is broken, scratched or dented (it needs to be pried off using screwdrivers), none of which is due to tear and wear or your fault. It's only moderately time consuming, for all I can tell. You can check the service manual online yourself and see what exactly needs to be done. They would have to change the oil (normally, the filter too) though, so that might make it a bit more expensive.

I think it looks just ugly. :) Nice work in photoshop though.

Thanks, mrahman. :) I guess that would be too fiddly and too much of a distraction for me. I'm planning to go for something that plugs into the back of the main unit so that I can use the car controls.

Try here http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/q.html You'll need your VIN. This is what I've got. ALE20 LUX SED LHD 2ADFHV DCR MTM

That would be great. Thanks.

Could you show us how it looks fitted? :) Any problems with the installation? Thanks

Hello The Fly I just wanted to share something. When I fist got the car, the acceleration was horrible. I had to keep it always in high revs because anything below 2k wouldn't do. It's like, you press the pedal on 1800 rpm and it chokes. It felt like it was losing speed instead of going faster, but that's not technically true because eventually, it would go above 2k and then would start picking up. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I believe it has to do with the fuel. I changed oil and the filters and started using premium diesel and, of course, I drove it a bit harder, and it gradually, over a few weeks got better. Now 1500 rpm is what 2k used to be. It makes all the difference because I don't have to do 60 km/h in second gear any more. Third works like a charm, and even the fourth when I'm cruising. Subsequently the consumption dropped for about 25-30%. I kid you not. It was around 15 l/100km and now it's around or just above 10. Yesterday, I took it for the head gasket change, finally (yes, I bought it with the blown gasket and drove it like that for just over 4.000 km.) and I'll let you know if that makes any difference. I'm not sure it will, but we'll see.

Hi Pete For integration you can use one of the Vais Tech devices, probably something like this http://www.multimedialinq.com/dev/vml.php For the touch screen, oem is impossible, or close to impossible to retrofit, but you can try the Fly Audio thing. It looks exactly the same as the oem thing. This is the one http://www.flyaudio.net/product_id.asp?id=196&xid=3 :) mrahman136, I just want to check. That basically does the same thing as the aux cable would do, only without the cable? You still have to control playback from your phone? Thanks :)

Thanks, noby76. :) On my car there is a sticker on the tank lid (photo attached) saying "low sulphur diesel". It also says "see owners manual" which I would if I could understand German. :) So, I don't have a clue what the manual says, but the sticker is enough a warning for me. This is what wikipedia article on low sulphur diesel says "The move to lower sulfur content is expected to allow the application of newer emissions control technologies that should substantially lower emissions of particulate matter from diesel engines." Now, having the engine that has gone the furthest with lowering the particulate matter in its emissions, it's quite obvious what we should do. So, top quality diesel is a must, at least for me. :) I know for fact that D-CAT engines were not offered on some markets until the regulations on the fuel quality were rigorous enough. Same with the oil. ACEA C-class of oils are intended for exactly this kind of engine (descriptions attached). Call me crazy, but I change all the filters every time I do service, and I do it every 10k kilometres, not miles, and I that's the price I pay for the top performance and reliability of the car. So be it. :D Measuring and comparing the consumption figures has obviously become a global obsession, and I can understand it if you drive a VW or some other people's car, but not a Lexus. You don't buy that kind of car and then try to save money driving it. Please, forgive me, but it's vulgar.

I'm glad if I could be of any help. As for the problem with the BMW, it all depends on what caused the failure and where it gets broken. If the head gets warped, pretty much everything goes wrong to some extent. The engine loses compression and it doesn't run well, or can't even start at all, oil gets mixed with coolant and stuff like that. In your case, there is a small, one-way gap that opens only when the pressure in the head goes up. I bet you could run your engine on idle for ages with no coolant loss. Just in case, please check that oil is fine (the level and colour/consistency is fine). Please do let us know about the further developments. Good luck

:)

IS 220d is very sensitive to the type of fuel and oil used in it. My car even has a red sticker on the inside of the fuel tank lid saying "Low sulphur diesel only". I can't see any other reason to have problems repeating after an engine rebuild. I suppose they changed the injector the first time round as well. What I do to keep my cars in good shape is 1. Put in the best diesel available 2. Have services at 10.000 km (around 6000 miles) 3. Change all filters and clean EGR every time 4. Use ACEA C- grade oil 5. Use the right foot

The Fly, it can't be done. No one has ever managed to break the encryption on Denso ECUs used in IS, so there's no way to have any modifications done to it. So, no remapping whatsoever. Some people use boxes that alter some sensor or accelerator pedal readings, but I don't think it's a good idea because the negative effects of doing it will show somewhere sooner or later. The only thing one could do with the car is to change the differential gear ratio effectively "condensing" the gears. There are only two types of differentials for IS 220d. The standard one that almost everyone has and most complain about, and the one from IS 220d Sport with the more conservative gearing, so to say. Honestly, I don't think it's worth the bother. Gears that are miles apart are a feature and a part of the car's character. I find the fact that Lexus gave us a gear that we can use only over the legal speed limit in most countries quite charming. I've never found the sixth useful anyway on any car. This car, like any other, is what it is and you love it or not. If you love it, keep it. If not, sell it. Life's too short. :)

Hi David Could it be that somehow the clutch pedal was not fully released when it happened? For the sake of simplicity I'll say that inside it looks like two discs with grinding paper surfaces touching and spinning together. One of them is powered by the engine and the other one is getting the spin from it. When you press the pedal the go apart and when you release it, they come together again. Now, if it slips it could be 1. that the pedal was slightly pressed so the contact was not good, 2. that something greasy got in there (extremely unlikely) or 3. that the grinding paper surface is worn out and there isn't enough grip between the two discs. If they were worn out, the same thing would always happen and they would never grip well, so if it happened once or twice and is ok now, it's probably the first thing, which is the best... unless you do it often in which case you would damage the plates. :) Every time there isn't enough pressure between the discs, some of the surface gets shaved off and that's the smell you felt. Good luck and please let us know how it goes

Lawrence, it definitely is the head gasket. For all I could find out, there is a portion of it that somehow gets deformed or broken in a way that it lets the exhaust gasses go into the cooling system. Basically, you'll have exhaust gasses mixed with the coolant which means added volume and larger pressure. Luckily, there is the cap that opens the gate to the release pipe when the pressure goes over one bar. You can lose up to about two litres (out of nine) of the coolant and after that the gravity will do what it does and only the gas will go out the pipe. What remains is not enough to keep the engine cool enough, so be careful not to overheat it. If you have to drive the car, just make sure you add some coolant or water from time to time and you'll be fine. If the car is under warranty, the solution is to take it to Lexus and let them deal with it. If the car is out of warranty. the solution is to replace the head gasket and that's it. Everything else on the car is fine, not broken. Now, people at Lexus and probably independent repair shops will tell you that a million things need to be replaced, but not really. The only parts you need is the head gasket (quite cheap even at Toyota/Lexus) and new oil and coolant, of course. Have a mechanic remove the head, put in a new gasket and assemble the engine back again. Even the timing chain setup is very straightforward. You don't need whatever else they say you do. For example, new bolts. There won't be anything wrong with the old ones. They are not made of dough to be damaged from removing them once. You don't even need to skim the head. As a matter of fact, it would probably do you harm. Obviously, the head is not warped or anything because if it were, you would have a myriad of other problems too and the car wouldn't run well at all. It's a labour intensive repair and would probably take up to 5-6 hours. There are instructions on how to do any repair on an IS 220d here http://bahamutcars.free.fr/workshop/IS_05-12/rm0153e/index2.html You will find what you need under ENGINE/2AD-FHV ENGINE MECHANICAL. There is one thing to be careful about that is not so obvious. You won't be able to tell what type of head gasket you need before you take the old one out. There are, I think, five different versions of it. The part number is the same for all bar from the last letter (A, B, C, D or E). For all I could tell, the difference might be in thickness and nothing else (someone correct me if I'm wrong, please), but make sure to put the same one as the one you have now. That probably means you won't be able to order the part before you disassemble the engine and that the car will have to stay at the workshop for longer. The cause of this happening in the first place could be restricted air flow and increased pressure due to clogged various parts of the engine which is basically a design fault, but it is what it is. It's not the first and not the last engine with a problem. I find this fairly benign compared to some other things on other engines I've heard or seen. What I wanted to say is that you might want to use the opportunity to clean whatever part of the engine you can and once you get your car in the great shape (whichever way you decide to go you'll get there in the end), make sure you use only the best fuel (with the least sulphur content) and the best oil (always 5w30 ACEA C1 or C2 or C3 or C4, not 0w20 or 5w40 and whatever else people use). And drive your car like it's supposed to be driven, vigorously. :) Honestly, I don't understand people who buy a car that will depreciate like crazy and then care about consumption. Now, I'm standing ready to be called whatever, but this is what I know and I'm just trying to help and if you think about it carefully, it all makes sense. Good luck