Fed Up With My Is220D!

[Leonidas]

Hi

Having owned my IS220d for 4 months now, I can firmly say, it is the worst car I have ever driven in my 15 years of motoring! To that effect I have written a complain email to the Managers at Lexus Wolverhampton -

Hello,

This my second email about this matter as I had no reply
to my first.

I took my Lexus IS220d which I purchased from Lexus
Wolverhampton into my local dealership (Lexus Coventry) for some concerns over
gearbox crunching and clunking noises.

I purchased this car on 8^th August 2015 with
the car only having done 12,866 miles on the clock. The car has always been
serviced and maintained by Lexus Wolverhampton.

The mechanic at Listers Coventry had a look at the car
and carried out a full test report. He found that the car has a leaking water
pump. I am shocked that a car which has just done 13,200 miles has a faulty
water pump already! What I am even more concerned about is that Lexus
Wolverhampton should have picked this up if they carried out their pre sale
checks which they claimed to have done!

Additionally, Lexus Coventry inform me that both rear
tyres have cracked tread. This is as a result of aged tyres. Again why have
Lexus Wolverhampton sold me a car which has potentially unsafe substandard rear
tyres?

Due to this, I think it is not unreasonable to have these
replaced free of charge for safety reasons!

Now, on speaking to A LOT of other IS220d owners
they inform me that they have had head gasket failures following on from
leaking water pumps and major gearbox issues, resulting in replacement engines
and gearboxes/clutch

In my 15 years of motoring, I have never purchased such
an appalling car from a brand that supposedly have a reputation for
reliability!

I would like your dealership to look at the following
issues –

• Appalling
  gearbox crunching noises, specifically from 1^st to 2^nd
  but also when changing down from 6^th to 5^th and sometimes
  4^th to 3^rd.

• When driving
  you can actually pull the gearstick out of gear without even pressing the
  clutch!

• When car is in
  1^st gear you can move off without pressing the accelerator, just
  pull your foot off the clutch!

• Coolant still
  appears to be leaking as I have had to top it up 5 times since the replacement
  water pump was fitted!

If nothing is done
about this, I will be seeking legal advice under the Sale Of Goods Act

[Cracksta]

That does sound appalling especially from Lexus but they seem to operate separately even though they are the same company.

Just my imo on the 2 points above:

• When driving
  you can actually pull the gearstick out of gear without even pressing the
  clutch!
• I think this is normal? do you mean say your cruising along in 4th, you can push the stick forward and it will go into neutral without stepping on clutch? If so, I think all manual gearbox cars do that.
• When car is in
  1st gear you can move off without pressing the accelerator, just
  pull your foot off the clutch!
• Here most if not all cars can pull away on 1st without accelerator (manual cars), it depends on your idle rev, say you start the car up first thing in the morning, it will do a fast idle around 1.5-2.5k rpm, you can pull away with just clutch alone. Or if you idle is set too high (usually its less than 1k rpm) you can still pull away but slowly of course.

[madasahatter]

Well thats terrible, did you not check the car over. Tyres have a shelf life they dont last for ever. The diesel model of this car has

a terrible reputation thats why i bought a petrol. Most of the issues are documented on these forums, about the diesel been a bag of you know

what. Even so i agree i would be more than peed off with the gear box and water pump. Having said that its a known fault.

[ahmedali44]

I m really surprised your getting these problems with a such low mileage car I got 2006 model with 91224 it's been ok apart from calipers being replaced and dpf cleaned, when bought car it's used to jump out of 2nd gear got it done under warranty it's ok since then what yr is your car???? Put your foot down on dealer you have to jump up @ down to get it sorted

[ahmedali44]

I trying to sell mine not that it's got problem it's just that don't use enough few weeks back lights came on again used dpf cleaner and took it on motorway after that it's fine gonna go for is250 advance in white seen couple but need to sell mine first hope you get your issues resolved asap

[jackcramerr]

Ahmed have you listed your car somewhere ?

How hard are you finding to sell a car ? Have you sold cars before ?

[ahmedali44]

Had on autotrader but no luck had it on Gumtree all I got was fraudulent emails got it on rac,motor uk,shpock and ad on rear of car got few calls but no serious ones think it's the time of yr plus lot of ppl don't know much about these cars lol 😁 before I bought my is220d I didn't know anything about lexus

[madasahatter]

Why did you buy a car you knew nothing of?? There is not many dealers or indies not where i live anyway. I read every thing i could before i bought my vehicle. There isnt a car made that does not have faults. Why dont you part exchange your car, you wont get

much joy selling private.

I took a massive loss part exchanging my skoda for the lexus, but glad i did it. Keep away from modern diesels vehicles if you dont do big mileage.

I work in a bus depot and the amount of diesel cars with dpf issues is unbelievable. Short journeys buy a petrol. Nearly as good a mileage as well.

[royoftherovers]

Jag,

I would suggest you take legal advice immediately and seek to reject the vehicle under the S.O G Act while you are still within the 6 month Statutory Period.

The model has been a source of discomfort for Lexus and in my view is not worthy of the Lexus badge.

Regards

John

[ahmedali44]

Actually was looking for is200 but thought might get new shape looked at few like the drive and got it from franchise dealer in Preston had all merc diesels in past but had no dpf fitted it's only after 56 onwards dpf fitted it's nice car to drive had no major problem yet only blocked dpf, if u use v power diesel it's ok hopefully will sell soon dealer want it free Had valuation done on various sites it's worth 4000 if dealer give near to 4k will px. Not really in a hurry to sell

[C Mclean]

Jag, as Cracksta has said, moving off without pressing the throttle in a diesel is pretty normal due to the torque developed at low revs. Also, slipping it out of gear without pressing the clutch is an easy thing to do with most cars provided there is no load on the gears, i.e. cruising along with no acceleration or deceleration.

[Leonidas]

Appreciate the comments guys. The car is a 2010 and I just wouldn't have expected these issues for such a low mileage car.

Re pulling it out of gear, this does also happen under load as I did read that it's normal whilst cruising.

Also when pulling off in first without the accelerator pressed, I tested this under normal revs, when the car was warm.

Its developed a strange spinning noise when changing down back into first gear. This only happened in the last day or so. Its like you can feel something spinning through the gearstick.

The service manager rang me within an hour of me sending the email and car is booked in on 16th.

[Shahpor]

While I agree that the tyres and water pump problems should have been taken care of before picking it up, I am not actually surprised that they are an issue. What most people don't realise is that low mileage is not always a good thing. Cars need to be used, or they start developing faults. Tyres, like has already been mentioned, have a shelf life; just because they aren't worn down to the canvas doesn't mean they are ok. Similarly, problems like the water pump occur because seals dry up over time if the car isn't used, so it is not that uncommon for leaks to appear when the car starts getting used again.

Having said that, none of these things should be your problem since the dealer should have sorted them.

As for the other issues, all manual cars can be pulled out of gear when moving. They can even be put into gear, but that is not recommended since it will grind the gears badly. Not sure where you heard that the gearbox has reliability issues? Don't get me wrong, the change, especially from 1st to 2nd, is hardly smooth and the whole box lacks finesse, but it is a robust unit. Of course, noises shouldn't be coming from it, so perhaps you are just unlucky with your one.

And lastly, yes, you can move away in 1st from idle. I actually rather like this feature :)

Oh, and I am not sure exactly when leaky water pumps and cracked tyres happened on only diesel Lexus's? :)

Hope you get it sorted.

[KC14]

I also have a 2010 model and one thing for sure is that the gear box isn't the quietest always been a little clunky, they are robust but it's a clunky one, not the best designed unit for quietness but you do get used it.

As for the water pump, yes they do fail, some people have replaced theirs 3 times, mine just had to be replaced last week!

See how it goes for you with Lexus, if your not happy maybe you can ask for them to take the vehicle back under sale of goods act, hope you get it sorted.

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

[Leonidas]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Will keep you posted.

I guess coming from a Passat I expected the same sort of smooth and precise gear changing. Its more of a disappointment than anything.

[novak82]

It's a matter of time when you will get use to gearbox

[Bluesman]

Just a thought. Do you have the car on finance because if you do its their problem and you need to approach them about the problems with the car. Mike.

[Leonidas]

Hi Guys

Thought I’d send a quick update on these issues. After the car had been seen my Wolverhampton Lexus, they swapped the tyres free of charge but said that the gearbox was normal. 5th Jan 2016, I was driving home and moving off to turn right at a junction, i had no first gear. The gearbox would make a grinding sound and wouldn’t move. Tried to get second and it wouldn’t even go in. Selected 3rd and managed to move off with a massive amount of smoke from the clutch. The car finally came to a stop further down the road.

The car gets towed back to Lexus Coventry who strip the gearbox down and as expected confirm that it is knackered. They call Toyota warranty to start the claims process, who send out an

inspector from a company called Dekra. He inspected the gearbox and then later that day submitted his report claiming that he could see no 'mechanical failure' and, i quote, he stated 'Driver error, such as bad gear changes or racing have to be taken into account'. Therefore Toyota warranty rejected the claim. I almost fell off my chair!

So, I am on the phone to Lexus Coventry and they basically say that they will not accept that decision and they will be escalating it to Lexus UK. After the claim was passed from pillar to post, somebody very senior from Lexus UK accepted that I was not to blame for this failure and that I had followed the correct procedure by raising it with two dealers. They then instructed Toyota Warranty to approve the claim on the system and proceeded to order the new gearbox and clutch.

So after 48 days of being in an Enterprise hire car the gearbox finally arrived from Japan and was fitted. They replaced the clutch, release bearing and gearbox linkage too.

Finally the car drives like it should have done! But what an ordeal!

 

 

 

[ahmedali44]

I feel sorry for u  that u had to go through this ordeal,lexus manual gearbox isn't the best was u getting trouble before it packed up, how the hell can they say driver error, it's not going into gear,when I purchased my first lexus is220d se-l 2006 from motorpark in Preston, when I picked it up kept coming out of 2nd gear, phoned them, had it checked in motorpark Chelmsford, had it replaced with no hassle.motorpark Preston actually paid for new gearbox. You would expect better customer service from Toyota. Well at least you got it sorted.now I got is250 auto much better 

 

[Shahpor]

Damn, 48 days?  That is madness.

Still, it sounds like Lexus Coventry did well fighting it on your behalf.

Ridiculous blaming racing as a cause on a diesel Lexus!  Not exactly a boy racers car. 

You say the replaced the clutch, but did they also replace the flywheel at the same time?

Also, how does the new gearbox now feel?

Glad you got it sorted in the end.

[madasahatter]

The clutch would be a dual mass i imagine. Fly wheel already ftted.

[Shahpor]

Yes, it is a dual mass, which is why ideally it should be replaced at the same time.

In this case though, since the car has so few miles on it, they probably didn't replace it.

I am just curious if they checked it or not.

[Leonidas]

Gearbox feels a lot better now. Much tighter gearchanges.

They checked the flywheel but said it was fine and it didnt need changing.

Having said that, I doubt I will be buying from the Toyota group again. Their used car warranty isnt really worth the paper its printed on.