Jaro

Yes, with every service the calliper guide pins should be lubed up with silicone grease, as the design is quite bad and they end up seizing and rusting in place. When I have done mine, they were jammed in pretty good. It took 2 bottles of WD-40, a claw hammer and a lots of swearing in between that to get them off! 🙂

Hello All, I am writing this thread to help fellow future Lexus owners. There is an IS250 new buyers thread, but can't see one for IS220D. I have had the joys(not) of owning a 220D. I thought of writing this thread for new potential buyers of this car. If there was a thread for IS220D before going to test drive my old IS220D, I wouldn't have never got it, and would have just went for IS250 instead LOL! 🙂 PROS : * Very good spec for the year of the car - I have had the Sport model, which came with auto lights + wipers, memory seats, fully electric seats with lumbar support also. It also had a 9 mode sunroof, but I believe that was an added extra option. Very good sound quality (I believe it's the Mark Levinson head unit). Auto dimming rear view mirror + auto dimming side view mirrors which tilt down when reversing. Keyless entry and start + front and rear parking sensors. * Much better drive comfort than it's competitors - Especially for longer journeys, drive is very comfy and the car is very practical. CONS: * High Tax Costs - The tax band for this car is quite high, as it comes around £330 a year. * High Fuel Costs - The reported figures are 35mpg/City and 52mpg/Motorway for the non sport models and 29mpg/City 45mpg/Motorway. However, from my experience and Fuelly average checks, it will be hard to get above 35/mpg on a motorway run, and more than 25mpg in city. If you give the car a good run, you will be seeing around 20mpg in city, and 27mpg on motorways. * Gearbox Is Awful - On the Non Sport models, you will find yourself not being able to shift into 6th gear on motorways, as the RPM's are too low driving at 70-75mpg. On the Sport model, the gears are too short, and the 1st and 6th gears are useless. The gearbox stick is heavy and chunky, and quite uncomfortable to shift gears. There is a quite loud crunch when changing into 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears. * The Engine Generally Feels Underpowered - This is obviously a large car, and made for comfort, not speed. However the engine feels underpowered, when taking off as the turbo starts to kick in at 2k RPM's. In first gear, the acceleration is slow and sluggish. * The Engine Has Lots Of Common Faults - It has the Toyota D4D engine, that is being used in Toyota Avensis. The injectors do go bad quite often, and head gaskets go bad on them very often as well. The EGR valves are also known to get very clogged easily, and need regular cleaning (Easy job, if you don't mind getting your hands dirty). WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR ON THE TEST DRIVE BEFORE TEST DRIVE * Head Gasket Leak - When engine is cold , pop the bonnet and unscrew the oil cap. The oil cap should be nice and clean, with no frothy contents on it and milky like residue. Also, check the coolant level and colour of it, it should be topped to max and it should be nice pink colour. * Fuel Injectors Condition - Take the engine cover off, and start the engine. Inspect the engine near injectors and look out for any leaks. Put your ear close to each injector and listen out for any rattling or knocking sounds. If it has any fuel leaks, or knocking sounds, steer away! It will be very pricey! *Auto Lights/Wipers - Turn the wipers and lights stalk to 'Auto' setting. There is a sensor on the windscreen, in the same position where the rear view mirror sits. Cover it with your hands, and have someone else inspect the lights - they should turn on. Take a bottle of water with you, and throw the water on the windscreen, it should wipe it off. *Seats/Radio/Air Con/Sun Roof - Check that the seat can be moved front/back, back of seat can be moved fron/back, seat height can be adjusted. If the car has memory function, put the car in neutral, start the car, put the hand brake on and hold the 'Set' button and press 1,2 and 3. There should be a beep indicating the position was set. Check that the radio works. Also check that the aircon blows hot/cold air and that the sun roof opens if there is one fitted in the car. *Check MPG - Check the AVG MPG and Tank MPG indicated on the computer. Reset it, by holding the 'Disp' button on the AVG MPG button. Go for an extended test drive, and check the MPG displayed. It usually overstates about 1/2 mpg depending on tyres etc, so bare that in mind. DURING TEST DRIVE/AFTER TEST DRIVE * Brake Callipers - Walk around each side of the car and check for heat coming from brakes. Each pair of wheels should be the same heat, if one is hotter than other, callipers are seized and will require rebuilding/replacing which is quite expensive. Another obvious tell tale sign is the car pulling to a side. * Brakes - Check that the brakes are not spongy, and brake hard enough. * Oil filter cap seized - The cap, where the oil filter screws into may be overtightened and impossible to get out. Make sure to ask, if it has been changed and if you are buying from dealer, ask them to check it before sale. Mine was screwed on solid, and had to get a new oil filter housing, which took a very long time to find second hand, as breakers don't sell them separate, they sell them whole on the engine block. I have scrapped the car before fitting it on, so still got mine if anyone is after one! * Leaking shocks - Check if you can see any leakage coming from shock absorbers, expensive replacements but not a real issue - some owners have reported replacing them and hard to find. * Exhaust Smoke - As any diesel, do a hard acceleration while checking your rear view mirror - there should be no clouds of smoke left behind. If you can, have someone watch you while accelerating past them for any smoke - lots of smoke could mean lots of expensive fixes. * Clutch - Make sure that the clutch is not rattling or vibrating, when depressed. The biting point shouldn't be too low or too high, and there shouldn't be any fishy smells in the cabin. * Exhaust - Check that after test drive, there is no exhaust smell in the cabin or outside the car. This could indicate bad cat, and exhaust replacement is quite expensive for this and the IS250 model. * Rust - Check for general health on wheel arches and underneath the car. It shouldn't be excessively rusty. Hope this helps prospective buyers! My opinion is, that there is a reason on why these are cheaper than the IS250. I have had mine for a while, and there was nothing but issues. Bad MPG, high road tax, rear callipers were seized, front calliper was seized, there was an exhaust issue and more. I have ended up trading mine in for IS250, and the V6 petrol version is better on MPG, than the IS220D sport model :O. No DPF, no EGR systems to be blocked. If you want the Lexus, just go for an IS250, as it is much more better running costs wise to IS220D, and much more reliable. If you really, really want a diesel, switch to an Audi A5, BMW 520D or Mercedes E Class, do not go for IS220D, unless it has had new injectors, head gasket replaced, and DPF is clean. But let's be honest, if someone invested that much money in it, they will not be selling it LOL! 😄 HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE LOOKING TO BUY AN IS220D.

Thanks Lucas. I have actually checked this morning after watching couple of YT videos, and the calipers on is220d are completely different to cars on YT, so ended up undoing the 2 screws that hold the calipers 😄 I have no idea how I would replace the sliding pins

UPDATE, if anyone is still following this - I had some free time on my hands this weekend, so I put the car in first gear, put handbrake down, and jacked the car up - front wheels seem okay with little to no noise and spinning around freely couple of times. However my rear wheels are completely blocked, can't move them at all. Seems like calipers are seized? Which could be the cause for loss of 10+ mpg. This also goes with the car pulling to left when driving. Guess I have never noticed, as my previous car seemed always to pull to left, so I never take my hands off wheel as a habit

Hello, Does anyone know how to change the gearbox oil on an 06 220d Sport model? I have had a look online, and can't seem to find a Haynes manual for it, or anyone who's done this before. Also, what gearbox oil do I need to buy for it and how much of it goes in?

Thanks for this. I hope weather is nice today, so I can have a look at it again 🙂

Hello All, Couple of days ago I have decided to clean my EGR valve, after watching couple of videos. It was an alright process, and there was a load of crap in the intake and the actual egr valve. Now I want to clean my throttle body/valve, but every video on YT has the is250 in it, which is different to is220d? Where is it located, and how easy is it to take off/clean, if anyone has done this before?

Yes, I have to agree on the above points... My reasoning for is220d is that it was really an impulse buy, as I wasn’t very familiar with the brand, and was looking to upgrade and had only 2k budget for something fast, that had all the features is220d has. An 07 320D costs double than an IS220D and doesn’t have as half of features. From what I have read, the engines are not much reliable either. It does return amazing MPG though

That’s how much they usually go for?

I would recommend Rooster car insurance. They are not on comparison websites, and are much much cheaper than the rest. What it does, is you download their app on your phone and drive around for couple of weeks. Based on your driving, they send you a price. If you drive careful, and smooth over the weeks they will give you a good score. I am 22, had points on license, and don't have the best postcode. I did the test drive and tried a test insurance on couple of cars.. IS200, fully comp was £482 for me. Smaller cars like a Fiesta were sub £400. No devices, no hard wired boxes and they have pretty good customer service, last time I called them to make sure that was the actual price, as the comparison sites quoted me over £2000. Also, another observations on reducing insurance prices - put your start date couple of weeks ahead - insurance companies will lower their prices as they think you are in no rush to get insurance, whereas if you put the starting day in few days they deem you more desperate so increase their prices. Adding a female named driver also somehow reduces the prices, no idea why.

Do I still have 30 days to return the car, if the trader who is selling these cars is selling them as 'sold as seen'? In the Advertisement on Facebook, it did not say sold as seen, but he wrote it on the receipt he has given me.

See attached videos. Sounds to me like an injector is knocking, am I going crazy or is it actually knocking? https://youtube.com/shorts/8J8YDOmfhIo?feature=share

Hello All, Took it to a decent garage based on reviews today. They have had a quick look and it seems like a leak in between the cat and turbo. They also said it looked like it was messed with there already based on the screw there it was over tightened. Seems like it could be the cause for the bad mpg. Got it booked for tomorrow, we will see if it improves then.

No error codes or smoke coming from exhaust

Hello, thank you for your comments. I have read that cleaning MAF, the egr valve and replacing fuel filter can increase MPG. I will try doing this sometime this week.