Aaron G

You're ignoring my points and trying to draw me into the a climate change discussion. The UK governement specifically said (as did the RAC and the AA) that the IS250 will corrode under use of ethanol petrol. They may have been right or wrong. You don't know that I'm not going to maintain my car properly. I did not state that I wanted the IS220D to run for 50 years. You totally ignored the the link to the professional opinion of the respiratory physician that stated that even in the most polluting areas of cities we're not killing off 40,000 people a year. Because obviously "the science is settled" and people like this guy (putting their jobs on the line) stating that "it's illegal because we made it illegal" and "it's mostly effecting people with respiratory illnesses" must be conspiracy thoerists or in the minority right?. Been down this discussion before, not doing it again. Take 'Maslow's Heirachy' of needs and replace it with 'Eric Bernie's Transactional Analysis' or Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning'. Pointless either way. People who consider themsleves adults talking to children, or attitudes & behaviours vs cognitive reason and logic.

I'd prefer not to get into the discussion about the "morality" of car choice and climate change. Normally people get totally off topic and the moderators just close the thread. If there's a general discussion part of the forum, might be interesting to discuss it there. Take this for example: https://stemorris.wordpress.com/2017/07/28/sadiq-khans-40000-pollution-deaths-a-year-is-a-zombie-statistic-and-isnt-true-says-respiratory-physician/ I think Toyota/Lexus are one of the few (only) car manufacturers who don't go all-in on planned obsolescence, but with EU emission control they were given no choice. The EGR puts soot back into the combustion chamber, the cylinders grind, oil comes up and gets burnt, engines wear out faster. What I ask myself is where does a genuine interest in saving the planet & people's health start, and where does the need for profit end?. I come from a working class family - if you gave them a truck/van and a car that laster 50 years, or over 1m miles, and told them it was going to cost them 2 days of their life, most working class families would take that deal. Knowing there would be more money to leave their kids when they die. Compare that to the cost of running electric cars, or hybrids and all that. Gasoline cars are an alternative, but the government is coming for them too. I couldn't take the risk of buying a gasoline car because of the introduction of 10% ethanol into regular petrol, and 5% in premium. Seems evey time the morality/goal of saving the planet comes up, it involves wealth transfer. Makes me a bit suspicious. 🤔 But I'll leave it at that.

@pope111That's sound advice. If I/my friend was to remove the EGR valve, I'd likely do it later this year. I'm weighing up the soot lining the combustion chamber and causing wear vs the exhaust fumes displacing/altering the ratio of air in the combustion chamber (less air) to make it run cooler. If I had to make an ***** out of you and me (or just anyone with an IS220D) I'd say blanking he EGR might be what's contributing to the gasket failures. Lexus UK got back to me and said there was no record of the 2AD-FHV engine having that issue. Carbon buildup and oil burning was the issue quoted. 🙄 I'll just convince my mate do do it first. I'm sure that when he's standing before the pearly gates and St Christopher brings out the logbook of all the immoral things he's done, it'll be counter-balanced by all the good. Or maybe he'll just get sent straight to hell with his crushed up IS220D and be forced to breath the exhaust pipe forevermore...

So I'm leaning towards advising my mate to just maintain the car as much as possible. Apparently it's illegal but if it was done could still pass emissions on the MOT because the 2006 was under Euro IV emission standards. But it seems the EGR also responsible for keeping the engine cool and afaik hot engines lead to gasket failure. I found another thread on the forum regarding a lady who had this model and suffered that, and a member said the official repsonse from Lexus was gasket failure results from carbon buildup in the combustion chamber. 🤬 (If it isn't one thing...). I've contacted Lexus regarding this just to hear it from the horse's mouth. On the plus side, unless I'm reading this wrong the 2006 model doesn't have a conventional DPF. This is the quote from Wikipedia: 2006–2010 First Generation Lexus IS 220d[20] 2005–2009 Second Generation Toyota Avensis 2.2 (D-4D)[3][1] 2006–2009 Third Generation Toyota RAV4 D-CAT 130 kW (177 PS; 174 hp)[15] 2007–2009 Second Generation Toyota Auris 2.2 D-CAT 130 kW (177 PS; 174 hp)[4] 2005–2009 Third Generation Toyota Corolla Verso MC2 D4D [5] The AD series engines would get refreshed to meet Euro V emissions with an upgraded fuel injection system, lower compression and addition of a DPF system collectively called by Toyota as Toyota Optimal Drive . The Euro V version had this: Exhaust gas treatment: EGR, equipped with cooler and 4-way DPNR Catalyst and Exhaust Port Injection Emission standard: Euro IV I researched it here: https://www.toyota-club.net/files/2004/04-04-10_rem_dpnr.htm So it stands to reason that the 2006 first generation hadn't been "refreshed". Or have I just read it wrong and DPNR is a catalytic converter worse than a conventional DPF?.🤣

@Malc Good on you for having that car. It was my first choice before the IS220 which I ended up getting as a means to an end. I might still get a LS400/Celsior import by the end of this year. I'm gonna maintain this car as best as I can, but I think it's more of an uphill battle.

I did a search and found nothing on the subject, I don't know if it's a touchy thing to bring up. But I was watching this video here: From a guy who seems to know his stuff. There seems to be this reoccuring bit of wisdom that the EGR directs soot back into the combustion chamber, and it forms a grinding compund within the chamber that increases engine wear. Elsewhare they mention that EGR valves on diesels aid cooling the engine when it starts up. So maybe not a good idead to mess about with anything on the IS220 related to engine cooling because of the reputation it has for gasket failure. So if I'm asking for a friend: does anyone know anyone else that has just blanked them off? Does it trip an engine fault light? If I convinced this friend to buy an IS220 and told him to blank it off, could he get away with that without deleting it from the ECU?. Will the engine become too stressed if the BHP raises above 177bhp? Assuming you get another 20Bhp there, you've now got and engine that is very close to 100bhp per litre. I know there's the whole saving the planet discussion. I think the guy in the video raises some interesting points about that. Thanks in advance. -On behalf of my friend.

Much appreciated gents. Will update here when I've done the job. If not, the brakes seized up in the mean time and I'm probably dead.

I sent an email to Lexus in America's head office when I was thinking of getting a Japanese import first gen Toyota Celsior. I asked them if the parts that were effected by ethanol could be replaced by ones that were resistant to it. They replied quicker than I expected, but had no clue what I was talking about and told me they didn't deal with restoration work and that I shouldn't get a car from Japan. 🤣 It would be nice to know if these older cars could be fitted with parts that make them immune to the effects of ethanol. Or if cars made after 2011 as the government says are actually resistant to it. The consipiracy theorist in me just makes me think they want to wreck reliable cars, and don't want anyone driving anything with over 100,000 miles on it.

Thanks again for the replies gents. This is basic stuff that every mechanic should know. As a carpenter, if I knocked through an internal load bearing wall without the slightest clue of what I was doing, and didn't reinforce it properly, I'd end up killing people at a later stage. I put this brake issue in the same category. I suppose it's somewhere between incompetence, money saving/making, a total lack of responsibility and knowledge that they'll face no consequnces if anything went wrong. As mentioned, I'm probably better off doing it myself and taking my chances. And that is a pathetic situation to be in.

@Lageoddvin Thanks for the link. £3000🤣 I paid that for my car. After the first mobile mechanic mixed water (probably tap water) into premixed coolant, didn't re-attach the hoses properly, did the copper grease thing, and then the second one now wants me to buy an entire new diesel assembly to replace the fuel filter + labour to remove the rear differential - because Lexus made it so difficult to get to apparently. Plus he bent all the jacking points on my car. ...So I'm starting to come around to the realisation that I'm better off watching Youtube videos and doing things myself. The dealerships arn't gonna do it, the mobile mechanics arn't either or they're gonna bodge it up. Even when it comes to brakes and people's lives. And that was with me standing there watching them. When the second mechanic bled all the brakes, his assistant was complaining because he had obviously never done all four like that. They just typically replace the fluid in the reservoir I expect. So I might not be seeing the whole picture as a mechanic by doing it myself, but at least I know it was done. In the case of seized calipers, they're not doing anything anyway. The worst I can do is not reassemble them properly and something flies off into the wheel. But I'm not that useless. THe first mechanic didn't even torque the wheel nuts on my car properly. Pathetic state of affairs. I don't mind paying people to do a job, but there's prabably not even a guarantee that if you paid them £3000 they'd still do the job properly.

@LageoddvinThanks for that. I'm having some serious problems finding a competent mobile mechanic and I don't trust the dealers to do anything. I'm a carpenter by trade and don't agree with just watching a Youtube video or reading a forum and assuming you're able to do another trade's job right after. So I left the important jobs to the mechanics: coolant, brakes, brake fluid, etc. But If I listed all the bodge-ups the past 3 mechanics I've employed have made, I think I'd be better off at having a go at DIY destroying it myself. I mean when mechanics are happy to let your brakes seize up and let you die, what have you got to lose?.

I'm not one of these people that defend a bad decision or something I've bought, so if my car fails in any major way I'll report it here. But I'm putting some money into it and trying to do what the previous owner may have failed at. So although he serviced it every 3000 odd miles, I don't think Arnold Clark did the previous services, or Lexus in Liverpool did the 10 before that. Problem is mobile mechanics arn't much easier to deal with. I was able to sevice my 2003 Vauxhall Astra myself for 15 years, but everything on the IS220 is harder to get to (like the fuel filter). But at 58,000 miles I plan on changing all the oils & filters. Already cleaned out EGR, air intake + MAF sensor. Also did the coolant. I totally cleaned the EGR valve and checked it 100 miles later. It was still opening and closing, but totally coated in soot. People talk about blanking & deleting them but I think they have something to do with initially cooling the engine? Or is that only on petrol engines? So I'm concerned about anything to do with heat management because of the gasket issues... On the flip side, I hate to think what the combustion chamber looks like. This article here: https://x-engineer.org/automotive-engineering/internal-combustion-engines/ice-components-systems/exhaust-gas-recirculation-egr-complete-guide-introduction/ basically says that EGR valves do cause engine wear: "The main conclusions of the investigation is the EGR can have an impact on the engine wear, which is highly dependant on the level of soot in the exhaust gas." I'm currently running it on shell v-power but I doubt it'll have any change on the amount of soot in the EGR valve. Edit: Also I pretty much just do motorway journeys. Would have been nice if Lexus had installed some kind of gizmo to tell the owner when the DPF regeneration was due to kick in.

I had a mobile mechanic come out as the rear calipers had seized. He worked them loose, cleaned them off, and coated the spindles/barrels (whatever you call the parts the calipers slide on) with copper ease to prevent them rusting again. Now another mechanic said that was the worst thing he could have done, and he should have used grease. Thing is the first mechanic added water to my pre-mixed coolant, and I've just realised the second one I had over today to replace the brake fluid has bent all of the jacking points (all of them) on the car. I managed to bend them back - metal was soft, maybe annealed. Doubt they'd go back a third time though. So as far as the copper ease goes - will that cause the calipers to seize again? I also read a write up on the internet that said as it's copper based it will hold the heat more.

I can't say for sure if the power was drained from the car though. On the one hand I had just cleaned the MAF sensor and on the other, the satnav points were all still in the memory. So if the ecu had been restarted because it was drained, maybe it defaulted to just under 1000 rpm while idle. Becuase if the ECU settings were still in there, it would have been idling higher when I reinstalled it. I dunno.

Before I reveal how much of a plonker I am, I'll just mention that I'm about 20 years behind the cars that came out 15 years ago in terms of technology. My first car as a teen was a Ford Escort, and my only other car was a 2003 Vauxhall Astra. So putting me in a 2006 Lexus is like putting Fred Flinstone in a dodgem. So after leaving the car disconnected for a day, reconnecting, getting back in and sitting there for a few minutes waiting for lightning to strike because the window lights still weren't flashing...I realised had the child locks on. Turning them off caused the lights to start flashing again, and then I did what it says to do in the manual. If I ever want to get rid of the mother-in-law one heat wave summer though, I'll have to remember this one.