dr j

Withing the range of Lexus vehicles you made the right choice. That´s why they killed the diesel. If you value comfort over MPG and handling, it is an excellent choice. But even in the gasoline vehicle world, there are better options and far easier to maintain in Europe. European love for diesels only to remove DPF´s, put in tuning chips and squeeze out laughable horsepower with overburdened engines thanks to turbos has always confused me. A naturally aspirated V6 running on gasoline vs a four banger running on diesel and spewing black smoke is a no brainer. In my case, gasoline is not an option due to the taxation in Portugal. Hybrid is probably the only sensible option, unfortunately the CVT gearbox is causing major issues and the new line of vehicles is hideous. As long as you´re happy you made the right choice. I made the wrong choice and have been lucky.

Because the diesel version of the car was hideous by Lexus "perceived" standards. The build quality was basically ok - shell of an IS 250 - fair enough. But the engine was shoehorned into the car from an Avensis, then mated to an obsolete truck transmission (2005 Tundra) to account for the RWD and amount of torque. Added with the hideous gearing ratios on all cars except the Sport as well as the added weight (upwards of 100 kilos compared to a 320d or a C-Class) and you had: Good looking car as is the IS 250 (but lacking the dual tailpipes, making the rear end bland) A slow car off the line due to the long gear ratio Mileage that easily topped 9 litres/100 km without pushing the car. Upwards of 10 and 11 litres if in a Sport version and driving hard. Expensive DPF issues due to the DPF being welded to the Cat converter, and easy blockage. Constant regeneration via 5th injector with a horrible sooty smell and extreme quantities of smoke generated. Noisy, clunky gearbox with reports of gearbox slippage. So basically a Lexus made for Europe in which all the adaptations "made for Europe" were horrible. I imagine Peugeot or Citroen attempting to make a muscle car and selling it in the US lol. I know. I own an IS 220d. It has been chugging along and I have high mileage, but no enjoyment whatsoever. It´s not fun, it´s not smooth, it does nothing particularly poorly yet is not really good at anything either. The gasoline version is by no means a massive hit. In the US it is average at best. Europe doesn´t have the 350 or the 250 awd. When I asked my mechanic what he thought of the car - "Depends on what you want". If you want to keep driving a diesel, you could do worse. Lexus - "Pursuit Of Perfection" Lexus IS 220d - "You could do worse" Hardly a glowing endorsement. Cheers

I have just passed 300 000 kms, and my dpf is fine. The pressure differential sensor as stated clogs easily. There is a dpf cleaner from wurth that works well as far as the dpf itself, but once the metalic tube leading to the sensor clogs, the error appears. The car may or may not go into limp mode. A substitute was made for the outlet tube as it had a bend that was exaggerated and led to easier clogging. But regular maintenance ie, disconnecting the hose and applying compressed air to the metallic section leading towards the dpg usually unclogs it. Any questions feel free to ask. Cheers

It´s a 2006. Overall I haven´t had any major problems, but I just prefer the petrol version. I bought the diesel version because I would have been taxed to death here for the 250 (60000 euros base price).

Hello all, Just to report that my IS 220d has just passed the 300 000 km mark. Pretty much the only issue is my Check VSC goes on (without the car going into limp mode). Apparently the tube going to the DPF pressure sensor gets easily clogged and I have to clean it every once in awhile. The DPF is original, as are all mechanical parts. Fuel mileage is poor, I can get about 8 L/100 km driving softly, stomp on it and it goes above 10. It´s the Sport Version with the truck transmission but I think most oilburner owners already know the flaws with this car. That said, I anxiously await the day when I can purchase a real Lexus (petrol) and never look back on diesel again. And congrats Lexus on having the balls to dump diesels for hybrids. Cheers, John

I had mine looked at, it was never cleaned, but I´ve had the oil breather going to a catch tank since about 150 000 kms. It took about half an hour to remove, but needed no cleaning. If you have your car stored for a while or being worked on you can remove it but you won´t find much more than the expected and that will need no cleaning.

I had mine looked at, it was never cleaned, but I´ve had the oil breather going to a catch tank since about 150 000 kms. It took about half an hour to remove, but needed no cleaning. If you have your car stored for a while or being worked on you can remove it but you won´t find much more than the expected and that will need no cleaning.

I havent had my DPF removed but: Does it effect the emissions for MOT? - No - As far as I know the dpf is gutted out so it will still be there if the MOT tester checks (which it isnt a requirement as yet AFAIK) Does it improve performance/mpg? - not sure about performance, but you should be an increase in mpg due to the car not regenerating Does it damage the car in any way? - No, definately not - all the emulator does is emulate a healthy working D-CAT system, its not like the cars ECU is changed in any way - the dpf will be gutted out, but chances are its already scrap if you are going down the road of DPF removal. If you ever decided to get a DPF fitted down the line, all that would need to be done is remove the emulator from the car, disconnect the battery (to clear information stored the ECU) and follow lexus service procedures with regards to fitting the new DPF (can be found on ebay or lexus website, think access is like 3 euro per hour). Do I have to take the car to a specialist? - definately, you will need to find someone who has done this before and knows what they are at. Cheers Agreed. The removal however will be a pain in the "#" because the cat converter and the DPF are in the same unit. It won´t be long before emissions testing include particulate testing and only DPF equipped cars will pass. Here (Portugal) they have discussed using the OBD port for vehicle analysis. That in itself will be a problem. In Australia vehicles with detectable smoke in their exhaust are fined. DPF gutted vehicles have disgusting black smoke on acceleration. My advice - go for a petrol car. Diesel is dead in the long run.

It´s not a system that´s exclusive to French cars, German cars use the same system in general. The fifth injector also isn´t exclusive to Toyota/Lexus, Alfa Romeo also use it. The DPF cleaner is basically a detergent/combustion mixture that increases the exhaust temperature and attempts to clean the DPF. The vehicle also adjusts the injection for a higher combustion. It sounds decent in theory, but most French cars have their DPF´s replaced at about 100 000 kms or they are simply removed as Mercedes owners and BMW owners do with theirs. The system isn´t failsafe and DPF saturation occurs earlier than planned. The Fifth injector causes a DPF burn until the temperature reaches about 800ºC (not sure about the exact temp). This system is also eventually insufficient. Dousing the DPF with a cleaner as used in the French cars isn´t a solution, as it must be mixed with fuel and has to go through the combustion process. For the Lexus, the DPF cleaner foam made by Wurth is probably the best option. It´s a foam that fills the space ahead of the DPF and basically sticks to the soot. When the car is taken for a run, the soot is released. The only problem is that the nozzle doesn´t fit the hole for the temperature sensor that is used to inject the foam. My solution was using a smaller nozzle, like that from a WD 40 can. It doesn´t spray it as well, but it does the job. Most cars have their DPFs removed and their ECU´s remapped. The DPF/FAP has been around since about 2005 and really no DPF is as long lasting or problem free as advertised. My cousin was head mechanic at Citroen and the DPFs last about 100 000 kms. He studied the fifth injector system on my car and said that it was the better of the two systems. The best solution? Buy a petrol car lol. But seriously, after some headaches my car is running fine and I´ve just passed the 268 000 km mark.

It´s not a system that´s exclusive to French cars, German cars use the same system in general. The fifth injector also isn´t exclusive to Toyota/Lexus, Alfa Romeo also use it. The DPF cleaner is basically a detergent/combustion mixture that increases the exhaust temperature and attempts to clean the DPF. The vehicle also adjusts the injection for a higher combustion. It sounds decent in theory, but most French cars have their DPF´s replaced at about 100 000 kms or they are simply removed as Mercedes owners and BMW owners do with theirs. The system isn´t failsafe and DPF saturation occurs earlier than planned. The Fifth injector causes a DPF burn until the temperature reaches about 800ºC (not sure about the exact temp). This system is also eventually insufficient. Dousing the DPF with a cleaner as used in the French cars isn´t a solution, as it must be mixed with fuel and has to go through the combustion process. For the Lexus, the DPF cleaner foam made by Wurth is probably the best option. It´s a foam that fills the space ahead of the DPF and basically sticks to the soot. When the car is taken for a run, the soot is released. The only problem is that the nozzle doesn´t fit the hole for the temperature sensor that is used to inject the foam. My solution was using a smaller nozzle, like that from a WD 40 can. It doesn´t spray it as well, but it does the job.

This is not an easy car to have the DPF removed. It´s not just a cheap bolt-on can like BMW has. It is literally welded together with the Cat converter. It is cleaned by a complex fifth injector system. There is a pressure differential that will read an error when no DPF is there to cause positive pressure. The system is complex but is probably the best by far. I have 268 000 kms on mine and exhaust flux through the DPF is normal. On another note, I don´t particularly like diesel engines because of their pollution, and the DPF solves that somewhat. It´s a ****ty fuel and no matter what you do it will end up clogging something over the long haul.

Hello, check my post on maintenance. DPF cleaners that mix with fuel are ok but you may have other problems. The error code is common to a number of problems and you have to check each. The fifth injector actually works quite well, most problems have to do with the pressure differential sensor. the inlet and outlet hoses clog easily and give erroneous readings.

Hello, I assume you are referring to the EGR inlet manifold? It´s easy to remove, just a couple of bolts on the engine side and a couple over the EGR. Once that is taken off you can actually see the valve itself. It can also be removed easily and pretty much any industrial strength degreaser will do the job. I use Locktite. Not sure how much they´ll charge. It´s at most a 25-30 euro job, much less work than an oil change.

Folks, I just realized I made a typo when typing the mileage. The mileage when I wrote this was 258 000, it´s now 268 000. My apologies.

The other important problem I had was with the Diesel particulate filter. Mileage was dropping and the fifth injector kept turning on, giving a vary unique "sweet smell" when the windows were down. The car began to regenerate more than usual and the dreaded CHECK VSC light came on. This happened at 150 000 kms. I took the car to Lexus and they did a DPF "burn" with the Lexus diagnostic program. This program allows the fifth injector to be turned on "manually" for a longer amount of time, resulting in a prolonged burn that theoretically cleans the soot in the Filter. This worked for awhile, then problems came up at about 180 000. I then bought a DPF cleaner foam from WURTH (around €30). This is inserted via the orifice for the temperature probe BEFORE the DPF (there are two, one before the filter, one after - when the filter is blocked the temperature before the filter is higher than the exit temperature - this is one parameter of measuring filter blockage) The foam is inserted, the temperature probe is placed and the car is taken for a run at 3000 rpm. The foam attaches to the soot and the heat of the exhaust then destroys the particles which are eliminated. I did another 15 000 kms until the CHECK VSC came up again. My cousin (a mechanic) decided on analyzing the problem and for this car it is highly recommended that a Toyota/Lexus Specific Program be used - He purchased a cheap copy of the Techstream program online and installed it on his computer. The only accessory needed was a cable to link the computer to the car (a USB/OBD compatible cable). The program shows various parameters, allows for a manual burn of the DPF, The temperature sensors had similar temperatures, but the Pressure sensor had negative values (this sensor is located at the back of the engine bay, near the battery and has two hoses, one runs from the DPF towards the sensor and the other back to the DPF. It should show a positive pressure (there must always be a positive pressure against the resistance of the Filter). He suspected the error was from the Sensor (the program also shows the error codes) and decided to clean the sensor and the hoses. After cleaning the hoses (compressed air) the error disappeared (and the program was used to delete it from the memory) and the car has 3000 kms after the cleaning. The Techstream program does everything the dealership does except remap the ECU and I highly recommend it. The car has a huge amount of information available and with this program many problems are easily diagnosed and solved. The filter seems to be porous and working fine, which means that the WURTH foam probably did its job. The program should be used by someone familiar with mechanical work, but I highly recommend it. The pressure sensor costs over 500 euros, the DPF comes in one piece with the catalytic converter and also costs well over 600 euros. I didn´t need to replace either and probably only the pressure sensor is prone to damage, as it is a flimsy piece of hardware. Cheers, John