Hi All,
I bought the Lexus IS200 in february 2012. It had done 49000 miles and is a 52 reg. The first signs of problem appeared in March when I had the check engine light come on and was feeling the shuddering feeling on idling. This continued without much problems till i successfully completed a 00 mile trip to Birmingham. the car ran smoothly and gave no problem
Then a few days later, on a local journey, the car lost all acceleration. i showed it to a local mechanic and he diagnosed it as coil pack failure . 3 of the 6 coil packs had gone which i promptly got replaced,A few days later the engine check light came on again and then he repaired something he called the butterfly valve which he suspected could be leaking fluid on the coil packs causing them to die. After getting the car back, i made a few trips to London ( 70- 80 miles round trip) and was worjking fine. In the middle of June, I took the car on a trip to Stonehenge about 50 miles from my place. On my return journeyy, I felt the car was not accelerating enough. The engine check light had not gone off and I was fairly relieved to see there was no failure. As soon as I reached Reading, the TRC off light and the engine check light came on and the car died down. it would not start after the redlight and had to push it to a nearby petrol pump. The car started after about an hour and I could limp back home and drive it to the mechanic. He then told me that 4 more coil packs had gone and one of which was new one which had melted.
He replaced the same for me and also replaced the rocker cover gasket. He also put in something callled the radseal in the radiator as he suspected that radiator was losing coolant but was unable to identify any visible leaks
After that I took a trip to Oxford which was just a 30 mile drive but the car seemed to overheat, though the gauge was fine. I stopped to fill it up . the engine chekc light had come on again.I finieshed the journey quite comfortably although i did not dare to go beyond 50 at any time. When I stopped at home, the engine temperature gauge was still showing normal but the water in the radiator was boiling with sound. The mechanic was not able to comprehend the issue and suggested that it could be that i was losing coolant/ water though gear box or head cover gasket may be blown off. He removed the thermostatic valve but the bubbling has continued. He did a smell test on the radiator and concluded that there is oil smell in it. I personally could not smell it, The oil dip stickdid not have any emulsion as has been pointed out i n the case of other head gasket symptoms and the engine gauge is not showing a heating up of the engine.
As my radiator was replaced immediately after I bought the car, could this be a problem. Do advise and let me know if there is a good place to show this near reading. I have already spent more than £800.
