Lexus Is220d Lack Of Power

Zee_Best · October 7, 2015

Hi, I've got a 2006 Lexus IS220D,

I've not been doing long trips in the car until recently and I went out in the car the other day and had an issue.

Almost a year ago I had an error message come up on the car saying "Check VSC" on my journey home, this put the car in limp mode so I disconnected the Battery and waited 5 minutes then reconnected and the car has been fine for the last 11 months. However, after my journey the other day I got the same error and so decided to try and disconnect the Battery again to see if it would solve itself however it hasn't worked.

After disconnecting the Battery and reconnecting I started the car, for the first 30 seconds it kept revving itself from around 750 revs up to 1250 and then back down every few seconds. During this period I tried using the throttle in neutral and it had no effect whatsoever. After the first 30 seconds the car stopped at the usual startup idle of around 1250. When putting the throttle completely down it goes to just under 2000 revs and then stops however it takes a few seconds to reach this.

Unfortunately I'm a Student and don't have much money so before taking it to a garage I hope to be able to rectify the problem, I'm not a mechanic but am pretty good at following tutorials and pick up things fast. I've managed to do small jobs such as removing things like the Battery containment and the washer fluid reservoir to change the sidebulbs.

Now, after Googling many people have said that it's a generic error so it could be anything, a lot of people have said it could be caused by a blocked EGR value, in which case I feel I'm competent enough to remove this and check it, however I don't want to do it unless people think that could be the issue.

As far as I know my car doesn't have a DPF, this is an assumption by the road tax band as it's pretty high.

Could anyone give me some suggestions of what the issue could potentially be and what to look for before I decide whether or not to borrow some money to take it to a garage.

Thank you in advance.

is200 Newbie · October 7, 2015

Diesel / short miles / loss of power / engine "hunting" / check VSC = DPF

I have a petrol so have not experienced any of this but I have seen plenty of posts from diesel owners with these issues. If you do short miles and have not cleaned the DPF then I would recommend cleaning it (it does have one, unless it has been modded and removed)

There are plenty of posts on this forum describing the issues and how to clean it. I have always thought that it would be a good idea for the diesel owners to purchase a spare DFP and just swap it out on a regular basis. Clean the swapped out one ready to swap it out the next time etc etc ... and do it on a regular basis.

Zee_Best · October 7, 2015

Diesel / short miles / loss of power / engine "hunting" / check VSC = DPF

I have a petrol so have not experienced any of this but I have seen plenty of posts from diesel owners with these issues. If you do short miles and have not cleaned the DPF then I would recommend cleaning it (it does have one, unless it has been modded and removed)

There are plenty of posts on this forum describing the issues and how to clean it. I have always thought that it would be a good idea for the diesel owners to purchase a spare DFP and just swap it out on a regular basis. Clean the swapped out one ready to swap it out the next time etc etc ... and do it on a regular basis.

Ok I'll have to take a look into it, I'm guessing it's a bigger job than something I can do at home with limited tools so I'll see what sort of price my nearest Lexus garage quotes.

I thought cars that had DPF's would have a dashboard light to display when they're faulty.

ahmedali44 · October 8, 2015

Hi mate seems like dpf /egr problem all diesel cars after 2006 got dpf unless ur has been removed anyway I had same problem cost me 400 to have it cleaned low miles local miles can cause it to block try using v power diesel and dpf cleaner then take it on a motor way in 4 th gear for 20 mins, I had same again used dpf cleaner took on motorway it cleared it, was advised not to remove dpf as lights would return had mine done by car surgeon in Birmingham, give them a call if ur not that far, u say ur tax is high how high??? I pay 205 per yr good luck