Is220D "misfire" Above 2000 Rpm

WhyEye · January 3, 2016

Hi, I'm new on here but hope someone can help identify a solution to an odd problem with my IS220D.

The car is a 2010 reg with around 80k miles on the clock. Fully serviced on schedule by Lexus. Recently needed to have the EGR valve replaced but since then, and progressively getting worse, when the engine is warm there is a marked hesitation when accelerating beyond around 2000 rpm and a complete loss of power. When the car is stationary the engine can be revved throughout its range without hesitation but the problem always occurs when the engine is under load. I can accelerate away from a junction in 1st and through 2nd gear with no problem but when the car is on the move and a similar maneuver is attempted then the problem occurs. It feels like a misfire but I'm at a loss to understand why it would only happen while driving and not when stationary or pulling away.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Many thanks

WhyEye · January 4, 2016

Just had the local garage connect up their diagnostic computer to see if any error codes were showing up but there weren't any - clean as a whistle. The mechanic did think he'd heard of a similar problem being caused by the air mass meter/mass airflow sensor and felt that disconnecting the device should show if this was the cause - we did disconnect then tried a test drive but it was impossible to rev the engine beyond around 1500 RPM and certainly there was no power available so he believed this indicated the air mass meter is not the problem - anyone concur?

Dublinlexus · January 9, 2016

I would love to hear something too. Exact same problem but today the check enging and traction control light came on but no"check vsc" the car then went into limp mode and my mechanic will check it Monday. I rang him today and he said it's more than likely a blocked egr again. He cleaned it out before last June. I drive 150 miles a day so I thought I would be getting the car hot enough to burn off any carbon build up. I also usually drive around 90 miles and hour on the motorway but I do have a fair bit of stop start driving in heavy traffic.

I also have 8 penalty points, so I do drive kinda hard.

I am really ****** off now as this was my first diesel and first Lexus... Looking it will be the last too.

My sister in law has a 1.5 diesel Renault fluence and my brother has a Volvo s80 2.0 diesel. Both of these folks drive around 4 miles a day in heavy traffic, no motorway use and rarely out of 2 or 3rd gear and they have never had and problems with the EGR or dpf, in fact no problems at all.

Does anyone know a way to override/reset the limp home mode and warning lights?

Any response greats welcomed. My car is a 2009 is220d with 107 thousand miles. I bought it last year when it had 59 thousand

cjetsy · January 9, 2016

I have the exact same problem as you WhyEye it started doing it last week, mine is a 2007 regarding with 80k, good as gold around town but soon as I push it heavy or go beyond 65mph it feels that some is putting the brakes on, if I take my foot of the gas it goes back to normal. I watch a video on how to clean the egr and managed to clean it out but sadly I'm still getting the same problem. Sadly i'm getting no warning lights or messages so no idea where to look next to troubleshoot the issues

Dublinlexus · January 11, 2016

Mechanic called me today. Egr. And manifold clogged up... Cleared out but computer codes say that my dpf is clogged. He is going to try and clean it out tomorrow chemically and said that he can cut a bit out of it.

If that fails he suggested getting rid of dpf. And getting an emulator at a cost of 500. A new dpf is too expensive

cjetsy · January 11, 2016

Mechanic called me today. Egr. And manifold clogged up... Cleared out but computer codes say that my dpf is clogged. He is going to try and clean it out tomorrow chemically and said that he can cut a bit out of it.

If that fails he suggested getting rid of dpf. And getting an emulator at a cost of 500. A new dpf is too expensive

Thanks for the update, let know if the dpf is clogged and if he sorts it for you

anyone know the best way to clean a dpf reading about it each car does it at different speeds one example is 60 MPH in 4th , keeping as near as possible to 3000 RPM, with all lights and air conditioning on but cant find the best way for the lexus 220d

cjetsy · January 14, 2016

Well I took my car into a local garage for them to have a look and they were unable to see any fault codes, so they had quick look over the car and suggested to change the fuel filter just to rule it out as its a cheap part and somewhere to start. so booked that in today and the car is now all back to normal no more loss of power :-) so i would suggest changing that first as it has fixed my issue

Dublinlexus · January 14, 2016

Thanks for that. I will get the garage to change that as they are changing the oil and filter anyway. I get my car back tomorrow evening. Mechanic said that regeneration of the dpf was hard as they are meant to get it up to 300 degrees but could only get it to 250 so they chemically cleaned it out again and were able to regenerate it.

I will go for a long hard spin tomorrow eve and put the update here.

Mechanic also said that running the car while almost empty on diesel is very bad and to make sure the oil level is exactly correct. He worked for Toyota for 30 years but now retired and has a full workshop at home. While he is very good, he wouldn't be the quickest and the dpf had to be removed and sent off.

More tomorrow... Fingers crossed but if I get any more issues, I am blanking off the egr and getting the dpf removed as I have a 150 mile daily trip and don't need these issues

Dublinlexus · January 15, 2016

Got the car back this evening.. Goes like a rocket and seems more "refined" than before. I'm getting 45 mpg at a constant 80mph.

@cjetsy - you were right about the fuel filter. Mechanic changed mine after I mentioned it and it was the original one, was never changed before. It's a bitch of a job due to the location beside rear axle, hence it was never changed previously (took him 2 hours).

All in all I got the egr and attached manifold totally cleaned out, dpf chemically cleaned and regenerated, oil and oil filter changed and the fuel filter changed.

I can honestly say that the car has never run smoother but I will post an update if anything changes...I have a 150 mile trip tomorrow so plan to drive fairly fast to see how it goes.

Another thing, the turbo lag that is common on these appears to have disappeared and I can pull out of junctions etc.. now without having to slip the clutch and rev the arse off it

WhyEye · January 15, 2016

That's excellent news - mine goes back in on Monday and I'll be sure to mention your experience. Fingers crossed - keep us updated.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Dublinlexus · January 15, 2016

@whyeye. Let us know how it goes on Monday... Best of luck

cjetsy · January 15, 2016

That great news Dublinlexus mine also feels a lot better than before it started to play up. Hopefully your get yours fix as well on Monday whyeye.

Bigchad · July 27, 2016

With regards to the power loss this is usually the start of dpf saturation even if you do 300 miles a day you need to keep the revs up for a continuous burst,manual boxes allow this much easier than autos,if you hit 80mph in 5th or 6th the engine isnt working the dpf effectivley as it needs heat to work the soot out,The loss of power can feel like a petrol engine misfire causing the car to judder this happens when the ecu decides to regen the dpf but if you come of the gas the exhaust fills with fuel intended for the regen but isnt burnt of properly which creates backpressure and the juddering effect,The dpf egr oil fuel system is a wicked circle if one starts to suffer its downhill unless you take action its no good cleaning the egr and hoping for the best,its blocked for a reason,poor fuel,incorrect oil type,city driving or low rev motorway driving,, A good indicator of it all going wrong is to keep a check on your mpg,if it starts to drop give it a good run 2300/3000 constant for 15/20 mins return to normal driving then re check your mpg it should improve if the ecu has regened the dpf,use good fuel not supermarket Bp ultimate and the like use catalysts which allow your dpf to burn soot at half the normal operating temperature,yes they cost more but they maintain a healthy circuit saving you money in the long run,If not using Lexus for your oil service buy your own oil something good like Mobil 1 etc and ask a local garage to change it while you watch it going in!! and every now and then make it perform,give it a bit of pedal..hope this helps!

WhyEye · July 28, 2016

10 hours ago, Bigchad said:

With regards to the power loss this is usually the start of dpf saturation even if you do 300 miles a day you need to keep the revs up for a continuous burst,manual boxes allow this much easier than autos,if you hit 80mph in 5th or 6th the engine isnt working the dpf effectivley as it needs heat to work the soot out,The loss of power can feel like a petrol engine misfire causing the car to judder this happens when the ecu decides to regen the dpf but if you come of the gas the exhaust fills with fuel intended for the regen but isnt burnt of properly which creates backpressure and the juddering effect,The dpf egr oil fuel system is a wicked circle if one starts to suffer its downhill unless you take action its no good cleaning the egr and hoping for the best,its blocked for a reason,poor fuel,incorrect oil type,city driving or low rev motorway driving,, A good indicator of it all going wrong is to keep a check on your mpg,if it starts to drop give it a good run 2300/3000 constant for 15/20 mins return to normal driving then re check your mpg it should improve if the ecu has regened the dpf,use good fuel not supermarket Bp ultimate and the like use catalysts which allow your dpf to burn soot at half the normal operating temperature,yes they cost more but they maintain a healthy circuit saving you money in the long run,If not using Lexus for your oil service buy your own oil something good like mobil 1 etc and ask a local garage to change it while you watch it going in!! and every now and then make it perform,give it a bit of pedal..hope this helps!

Really useful comments here BigChad - thanks. In my case the EGR valve was replaced fairly early on but seemed to make very little difference really - an expensive experiment! I was also not doing myself any favours - my mileage has dramatically reduced in the last couple of years so opportunities for a good blast to burn off rubbish were also reduced. Additionally, although the car was always serviced by Lexus (so I assume the correct oil, etc.) I was consistently using supermarket fuel. A casual comment from the Lexus Service Manager suggested, like yourself, that non-supermarket fuel might help so I changed and the difference was staggering - over the course of a couple of weeks the problem disappeared almost completely and continues to improve to the point where, today, it's pretty much completely gone. I had no idea saving a few pennies on fuel would end up costing so much and was convinced fuel was fuel, no matter where it came from - I won't make that mistake again.

Thanks again for your comments and input, and apologies to anyone following this thread for not keeping it up to date.

Bigchad · July 28, 2016

If you require more in depth info check this site out,just click on the topic ie egr maintainance then click read more,its an excellent site..

http://www.oilem.com/

Azman · May 4, 2019

Just replaced egr on my is220d 08 plate and had a terra clean but car is running like it's got a parachute stuck behind it it's missing under 2000 revs no body seems to know what the problem is vsc light on and engine management been cleared twice saying egr so dont know a match my be the solution 🤣 pain in the ***** I love my car but I hate driving it at the moment

ColinBarber · May 4, 2019

what is the error code being produced?

Azman · May 4, 2019

Dont know sorry will find out

Michal123 · September 17, 2020

I know that this post is old but... I own this car and i had problem with dpf till little conversation with diesel fan mech. If you look at rev display you can see little different detail opposite other 2.0 2.5 charged diesel, it is 5200 to red line when usually is 4500. 2000 to 2600 rev its peak of torque for this car so you need keep revs around 2600 and let engine keep that value while driving. If you keep peak of torque there is no longer needed to pushing gas pedal more that is needed to keep spin. From this moment you will start saving fuel and dpf will not be clogging any more [well its phisics]. I bought this car with clogged egr [cleaning first] and clogged dpf. But i've changed the style of driving keeping little more revs and all bad stuff gone. Engine is more responsivity and still have 1000 rpm to get 3600 and more. AEFSYW owner. 2600 is sweet spot when temp of gasses is able to burn soot and revs gives fun while driving. Sorry for my English.