New lexus problems

[Rebecca]

Hi I wondered if you guys could help me.

3 week ago I bought a lexus is220d. it's a lovely looking car in really good condition inside and out . It's in black and a 09 registration . 

However I've noticed a few problems and I'd appreciate some help and advice . 

First of all the car when warming up seems to produce an awful amount of grey smoke from the exhaust and it continues until the car is warm then stops. I'm sure this can't be normal . 

I'm also hearing a loud crack from the dashboard again when the car is warming up.

Also the car dosnt produce any power at low revs and then all of a sudden I get a big surge in power. I finding it dangerous when joining moving traffic at roundabouts and junctions when I'm in second gear.

The gearbox don't seem right either as I get a clunk when changing from first into second. Very often the car jumps into neutral especially when in second or third gear.

To be honest I'm very disappointed with this car. I wasn't expecting these problems with a prestige car like a lexus and I wish I hadn't have bought it now.

Any help or advice would be appreciated . 

                        Rebecca Hadley. 

[PCM]

Oh dear.

Have you raised your issues with the seller?

[Rebecca]

Pcm yes I did contact the seller and he told me the car had no problems at all when he sold it me and I've got no chance of getting my money back.

[PCM]

Private sale, Dealer...?

[Rebecca]

Private sale and basically told me it's not his problem and to take it to a garage. 

[PCM]

Try this  ... LINK

And

"

If buying privately, it's really a case of 'buyer beware'. It's up to you to ask the right questions and inspect the car thoroughly before buying.'

The only legal terms that cover a private sale contract are: 

• The seller must have the right to sell the car 

• The vehicle should match the description given by the seller 

• The car must be roadworthy

If all else fails, you can try to take your case to the Small Claims Court. 

If you do go to the small claims court, you would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the vendor knew about a fault, but withheld the information, before selling the car to you.

"

[Linas.P]

Sorry to hear that Rebecca, sadly most often people buy cars before they do research e.g. Lexus IS250 are excellent cars and not much more expensive than IS220d which are arguably the worst cars Lexus ever made. IS220d is plagued with endless list of issues, it is hard to keep in good conditions and plenty of the cheap ones are cheap for good reason. That is especially true for the cars doing low/local miles. If you look around this forum you will see that issues rate is something like 95% - IS220d, 5% - IS250.. and even then it is most likely to be common maintenance or wear and tear.

I would suggest to try all above suggested by Piers.. and if all fails Small claim court fee will still be many times less than the money pit fall Lexus IS220d is. Hopefully, seller will agree to pay your money back when he hears about the court.

Now, just by the description you have following:

• blocked EGR/DPF which are common problem, hence lack of power - not very expensive to clean ~ £200
• possibly blown gasket (hence the smoke) - this will be expensive ~ anywhere between £600 -1500
• common issue with awful gearbox which was fitted with this model ~ possibly another £200
• crack from dashboard is least of your worries 

All above prices are just very rough estimates and depends how bad it is and who will do the service. Even if you decide to fix the car sadly the problems is that Lexus IS220d is simply not worth it, by any comparison is not a great car, but worst... it will most likely develop same issues next year... especially if you do local miles. That to be fair can be applied to many new diesel cars - they simply not meant for city driving and such be avoided unless you do  lot of motorway driving.

I guess your best bet is to try to return the car to seller, even if he ask for few £100 for wasted time etc. And look for IS250, even with 100k miles IS250 still going to be many times better than low miles IS220d. Optionally, spend little more on better car, rather than less on IS220d and then thousands on repairs.

[Shahpor]

Hmm, not going to debate petrol/diesel since I have covered it many times before.

Anyway, first things first, forget the seller.  Private seller really is buyer beware.

As for the issues, don't worry about the crack from the dash for now.  It is a common problem on all second generation IS's, and you have more important things to worry about.

The surge in power is most likely EGR/DPF related.  More often than not, it is a dirty EGR valve causing it.  Don't think it would cost you £200 to have fixed.  Usually, it is an hours work with only a socket set required.  I have cleaned mine twice now and it was pretty straightforward. 

The gearbox doesn't have the best shift from first to second at the best of times.  However, it should never jump out of gear.  About the only inexpensive thing you can do to the gearbox is change the oil, but I doubt it will stop it popping out of gear.  I have only seen one other instance of gear popping on this forum, and in that case it need a rebuild.  Not a cheap proposition.

As Linus has pointed out above, the grey smoke is rather worrying.  It indicates that oil is being burnt.  However, the odd thing is that you say it goes away when the car is warm?  If it was the head gasket, I would have thought it would do it all the time, although it is possible it is still the gasket.  There are other signs to look for though; for example, is it losing oil?  Does the amount of smoke increase when you accelerate harder?

What I would suggest is taking it to a mechanic to check over.  Then, if he comes back with anything like a gearbox rebuild or head gasket, try and get it part exchanged at a larger dealer.  They are usually less thorough when it comes to inspecting part ex's.

 

[peachy]

Sorry to hear about your problems with your new lexus Rebecca and trust me I know how you feel along with many other members with the same car on the forum.

I had a 2008 is220d for just over a year and the car was a constant headache . Head gasket failed after 3 months. rear brake calipers seized up. egr valve failed and to top it off the wastgate on the turbo stuck. also had the crack on the dashboard and found the gearbox and engine and total mismatch . cost me an absolute fortune this car did in garage repairs . 

Anyway enough was enough and with the members advice on the forum to buy the 250 version that's exactly what I did and and trust me it's the best thing I ever did as this cars light years ahead of the diesel. in fact it's awesome . 

My advice to you is to get rid of the car as sooner or later your going to run into other problems especially with the egr valve and dpf. and I virtually guarantee that when you need pads and discs replacing on the rear you will find the calipers seized. in my case I had to have the housing replaced.

If you want to stick with the lexus is as it really is a lovely looking car I strongly advise you to go for the 250 with auto box. Trust me you won't regret it.

[peachy]

Would just like to add regarding the smoke problem. When I first had the car the exhaust would constantly pump out a blueish colour smoke even when warm and it was confirmed the head gasket had failed and had it replaced . 

However towards the end of my ownership I too would see plumes of smoke just before the engine was up to temperature . thinking  it was the head gasket again I took it back to lexus Wolverhampton who confirmed it was the 5th injector. They fixed this for me the same day by doing a reprogramming of the ecu and it corrected the problem and much cheaper than what the head gasket cost.

 

[Shahpor]

Actually, Shaun has a point regarding the 5th injector.  Like I said, the car should be smoking when warm if the gasket was blown.  Either way though, some further investigation is required.

As for the rear calipers, a little bit of preventative maintenance would stop it from seizing up.  Usually though, even if they are seized they can be freed up without needing to be replaced.

[Rebecca]

OK guys I'd like to thank you for your replys. much appreciated . 

I've had a good look around the forum and it looks like many owners are having issues with the same car. In fact I've not seen a single good word said about it. seems obvious to me that if I keep this car I'm going to run into a variety of problems so I've decided to cut my losses and get rid.

I do like the lexus is though and unlike bmw and mercedes they are quite rare to see on the roads. That's what made me opt for the lexus in the first place. It's something different . 

I will look into the is250 as from what I read here on the forum everybody has nothing but praise for it.

I will keep you guys informed . 

[Shahpor]

I have said good words about it, but I sense that it is not going to help in this case...

[Linas.P]

I think Shaun actually is closer to the smoke problem .... So:

• Disregard what I have said about head gasket (though it is always a possibility with IS220d... something worth bare in mind) 
• It is more likely to be related to 5th injector (quite tricky to diagnose and can be intermittent)

I must agree with what Shahpor is saying - IS220d is not terrible car overall, but they are known to have some issues and at this certain age many of them gets neglected and go wrong. My advice would be to avoid them unless you are absolute expert or you buying the car from reputable dealership (just sake of support if something goes wrong) preferably with proven service history.

As well my prices were more average garage price rather than DIY... yes many things can be done yourself, buy even I don't get into it. Not because I don't know how, but because not everyone has space, time, sometimes tools to do it.

[Malc1]

hi, coming back to the private seller issue  ..  are you sure he actually is a private seller and not really a Trader selling cars from home.?

If he does sell several cars then he could well be considered to be a Trader and fully responsible for what cars he sells and actually obliged to comply with his legal responsibilities.

Many people think they can avoid this by saying they aren't Traders when in fact they actually are.

Suggest you investigate this aspect quickly to then determine your further " rights " to then take further action if you can.

Good luck anyway

Malc1

[royoftherovers]

I think that Malc is right in what he says. Do check the V5 to ensure that the previous owner was indeed the person who sold you the car Rebecca.

If it doesn`t tally and you still have the car, then if you cannot part exchange it promptly for say, an IS 250 AUTO, then follow the advice given by Linas.

Good luck.

Regards

John

6 hours ago, Malc1 said:

hi, coming back to the private seller issue  ..  are you sure he actually is a private seller and not really a Trader selling cars from home.?

If he does sell several cars then he could well be considered to be a Trader and fully responsible for what cars he sells and actually obliged to comply with his legal responsibilities.

Many people think they can avoid this by saying they aren't Traders when in fact they actually are.

Suggest you investigate this aspect quickly to then determine your further " rights " to then take further action if you can.

Good luck anyway

Malc1

 

[ahmedali44]

Sorry to hear problems with ur is220d, on my  is220d gears used to jump from 2nd gear luckily I had warranty they replaced it, egr is easy fix maybe 1 hr work just get it cleaned.i had is220d for 2 yrs didnt really get head gasket problem, when I sold it had 93k. was quite happy with car only sold it due lack of miles I done in it dpf blocked twice.buying from private sellers a risk 

[rayaans]

19 hours ago, Rebecca said:

OK guys I'd like to thank you for your replys. much appreciated . 

I've had a good look around the forum and it looks like many owners are having issues with the same car. In fact I've not seen a single good word said about it. seems obvious to me that if I keep this car I'm going to run into a variety of problems so I've decided to cut my losses and get rid.

I do like the lexus is though and unlike bmw and mercedes they are quite rare to see on the roads. That's what made me opt for the lexus in the first place. It's something different . 

I will look into the is250 as from what I read here on the forum everybody has nothing but praise for it.

I will keep you guys informed . 

Now it seems like you've come across a dishonest seller tbh and I think you're better off and with the issues you've mentioned I think you've made the right choice in getting rid.

The IS220D whilst not a bad car, does have known issues and because of this it's always a case of anticipating what may happen next especially as they affect the engine and it's frustrating when it happens.

Id second going for the IS250 auto, it's a great bit of kit and you won't have any fear of something major going wrong as they are a more reliable vehicle in general

[Rebecca]

Just to let you guys know I took my car to lexus bristol yesterday.  cylinder head gasket all fine. as mentioned by a member here my problem was the 5th injector along with a heavily clogged egr valve whatever that is.

Anyways it's running much better now and I think I can learn to live with the car and the dashboard crack hehe.

Just want to say a massive thank you to the amazing guys at lexus bristol for your work and great advice and thanks to all you guys here for your help.

[royoftherovers]

Very pleased to learn that you are much happier Rebecca. Do enjoy the car and try to stick with the schedule servicing regime.

 

Regards

John

[peachy]

That's good news Rebecca 😄

Be sure to give it a good run on the motorway whenever you can (keeping to the speed limits of course ) to keep the system nice and clean and prevent future problems. 2500 rpm or more for a good 20 mins weekly should do the trick  👍

Enjoy your lovely new lexus . 

[rayaans]

The 220d does seem to benefit from the good old Italian tune up as well