IS220D EGR, DPF, VSC... the usual!

Monocle · January 16, 2017

Last week my car went through the usual process of chugging, no power, check VSC, limp mode. It had been about 3 years (40,000 miles ago) since it had last happened. A good EGR clean and DPF regeneration seemed to do the job back then.

So, now i'm at 145,000 miles (2007) and the same happened. I gave the EGR a clean (I usually do this every 5,000 miles anyway) but this time I pulled it apart and tried to ensure the two plates on the valve stem were seating properly. I'd highly recommend this extra attention as there was still a small gap after my usual clean. However, the DPF seems to be fully blocked this time. The P2002 fault appeared and I had the pressure checked. It should be about 3mBar at idle but was 50mBar (measured between turbo and DPF).

The car is now in today for a full DPF clean. It's done using a Terraclean product. Fingers crossed. I'm having a full engine clean done as well (standard Terraclean service).

Picking the car up later this evening so will report back.

One thing I wanted to try was to check the operation of the EGR valve. I'm not a mechanic/electrician but have some level of competency . Can anyone tell me how to check that it is working? Was thinking of just running 12V through it direct from the Battery but I don't have a wiring diagram.

Shahpor · January 16, 2017

I hope the Terraclean solves your problem Peter.

The simplest way to check the valve is to use the TechStream software. You can get live data from it, and you can set the valve to open manually and see if it responds correctly.

As for wiring, I admit I have no clue about such things, but this is what the manual has to say about it:

Monocle · January 16, 2017

That's exactly what I was looking for Shahpor! Thanks for taking the time to look that up. I'll check this weekend and check out the TechStream option if I'm not successful.

Fingers well and truly crossed on the Terraclean

ahmedali44 · January 16, 2017

My is220d dpf got blocked called car surgeon in Birmingham who came picked car up from London @ dropped off for £500. Also cleaned egr but when I purchased car cleaned egr myself, 2nd time got blocked used bottle of dpf cleaner and was ok after that. What are they charging u to clean dpf????? Glad sold it as wasn't doing many miles.egr got pins in it as long as they slide freely think should b ok. I didn't do it but to get best results was to leave soaked in paraffin overnight

Shahpor · January 16, 2017

No problems, happy to help.

It is interesting to hear from a 220d owner with a well used example. Mine is at 125,000 at the moment.

I was just wondering; How long you have had it, and how have you found running it all those miles?

Monocle · January 16, 2017

@Ahmedali44 Thanks for the advice!

I had a few bits done to the car but it worked out about €375 (I'm in Dublin). It was extra then for the standard Terraclean job which the mechanic said probably wasn't needed (in fairness he said this before he carried it out!). I wanted to be sure though.

What DPF cleaner did you use? Might do this every 5,000 miles or so.

@Shahpor I have had the car nearly seven years. I brought it in the from the UK at 30,000 miles in great nick. It was my first (and only so far!) decent car. So, I have looked after it very well. Particularly giving attention to the engine. EGR cleaning, manifold cleaning, etc. It's now at 144,000 miles and I still love the car. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but it has really served me well.

I have noticed some drop in throttle response as the years have gone by. Particularly the last two years or 30,000 miles.

BUT! I picked up the car this evening and it drove like the day I bought it! I only got 30mins driving but it was fantastic. I'm convinced there is a huge increase in fuel consumption too.

I have a three hour drive tomorrow that usually gets about 35mpg so I'll report back tomorrow. I don't want to jinx it but so far so good!!!

For those of you in Ireland, the DPF centre in south west Dublin were fantastic. I'll post full details tomorrow also.

l will probably give it a few weeks before I call it a success but I am very pleased so far.

Shahpor · January 16, 2017

Wow, driving it for over 114,000 miles is impressive. So, apart from the usual cleaning of the engine parts, have you had any other issues?

I am interesting to see how you get on tomorrow. Keep us posted.

ahmedali44 · January 17, 2017

If it helps used wynes dpf cleaner which worked really well, cleared dpf in 20 mins, sold my is220d with 93k on clock.

Monocle · January 17, 2017

@Ahmedali44 Thanks for that, I'll check out that product.

@Shahpor Yes, I have had other issues, most of which have been mentioned in a few posts here by other members.

When I bought the car, the clutch had just been replaced at 30,000 miles. Not sure who was driving it! But the clutch has been perfect since.

1. At around 60,000 miles the water pump failed. Picked up one new from Lexus for about €150 and fitted myself. Easy enough job.

2. Rear brake caliper guides seized a few times but I managed to free them. One fully stuck at about 120,000 miles and had to be replaced. Again, paid about €140 from Lexus and fitted myself.

3. At about 115,000 miles, I went to start the car one morning. It tried to start then all electrics shut down. Checked all the fuses I could but could see nothing. Brought it to Lexus. They said that the heads of the air con, audio and seated/cooled seats had been fried and that it would be several thousand euro to replace. I got a bit ****** off as I couldn't understand how a fuse wouldn't blow first and why had this happened on so many separate electronic parts. Lexus wouldn't budge. At this stage they hadn't pulled the centre console out to investigate the heads as that would cost €300 alone. So I again questioned the fuse issue and they said they would have a proper look once the console was out. Low and behold, a few hours later they "found" a fuse blown on the power to these units. €5 replacement plus the €300 to get the console in and out.

4. Not a major issue but caused me pain at the time. During the problem at #3 I had tyres that were not in great condition. Lexus needed to test drive the car to investigate the issue further but wouldn't send anyone out until the tyres were replaced for safety reasons. I actually didn't have a problem with this in fairness. So they replaced three of them. Anyway, a few months down the line, I was doing a refurb on the brakes (and spraying them a bright blue with decals ) but I couldn't get the hub nuts off. I put so much force on the locking nut that the protrusion on the locking key sheared off. Went to Lexus and they said they didn't over tighten the nuts and they couldn't source a new key. Very helpful as always . Eventually hammered on an 18mm socket with great difficulty to get them off. Needed a 1.5m bar to get enough torque to get the other nuts off as well. Luckily I didn't need to do this on the side of the road!

5. The air con compressor failed on me 5,000 miles ago (140,000). I don't fully understand the system as I haven't looked into it in detail but there is a bad rattle from the compressor and there is no cool air. A replacement fitted is over €1200 I believe so I can do without for the moment. I am keeping my eye out for a second hand/refurbished part on the net.

Other than that, just carried out my own servicing since leaving Lexus servicing at around 90,000 miles. Knew I was going to be holding on to the car for a long time so the cost didn't justify the returns long term. Can't remember any other major issues. Small ones include the rear passenger roof handle securing clip breaking off. One of the backing lights on the centre console display is blinking. There are a few others but I can't think of them right now.

So back to the results from yesterday's DPF/Engine clean out. I drove a journey of about 3 hours today (a good mix of motorway, secondary roads and traffic). I had been getting somewhere between 33-35mpg. I got 38.4 today. Very pleased. I don't think I was light on the accelerator as I was in a bit of a hurry so I think it is fairly representative. But the big change for me was the acceleration in low revs. I tested the car a number of months ago on a flat stretch of road. I put it in third gear and let the revs drop just below 1,000 rpm. Then I put the foot down and measure the time it takes to get from 1,000 to 2,000 rpm. I think I got this idea from this forum in the past. Anyway, it had been about 8-9 secs with the pull only coming in at about 1,750 rpm. Today it took about 4.5 secs with the pull around 1,400 rpm. Acceleration has dramatically improved. All in all the car just feels like it is breathing so much better. It's like the accelerator has no resistance if you know what I mean. The mechanic said that the DPF was in an awful state so obviously I would see a big improvement but I still believe this should be carried out on any high mileage IS220D.

I'll report back in the weeks to come to see how things are. I really want to see a full tank consumption rate before I know for sure about the fuel.

Shahpor · January 17, 2017

Thanks for the detailed answer Peter.

That actually doesn't sound that bad considering how much usage you have got out of it.

Sounds like a good result for the DPF cleaning. Perhaps mine needs looking at too. I have recently lost a few mpg. I have never tried the acceleration test you mentioned, so I think I will have a go. Interested to see what the result is.

Farqui · January 17, 2017

A good test that and glad your car is healthy again.

I test drove an IS 220D a few years ago and it was gutless, I walked away even tho it looked spotless.

I reckon somebody bought a car with a seriously clogged DPF.

Monocle · January 17, 2017

@Shahpor Do let us know how the test goes. Would be interesting to compare, especially if a few others did the same. And all the above I have listed, I think I have had value for money. I do feel lucky when I compare to some of the horror stories I have read on here.

@Farqui I think you are right. It's a great car when maintained and looks great when in good condition. But it's pretty heavy so the pulling power does lack a bit especially when I compare to Audis/BMs that I've driven. We'll see how long the healthy period lasts!

steve2006 · January 17, 2017

I've mentioned this before but apparently the foamy type aerosol oven cleaner is excellent for cleaning EGR valves, just make sure it is all rinsed off when done and wear plastic gloves.

Shahpor · January 23, 2017

Well, in the interest of curiosity, I did the 1000-2000rpm test today. So, like mentioned previously, I found a flat bit of road and let the rpm drop to just under 1000 in 3rd gear, then put my foot down and measured how long it would take to get to 2000rpm.

It seems mine is roughly in the middle of your range Peter. It took about 6-7 seconds, with it coming on boost around 1500-1600rpm.

Having experienced what I did, if yours is doing it in 4-5sec at 1400rpm boost, then it must go really well, especially considering how well used it is.

Monocle · March 2, 2017

I thought I'd give an update on this saga.

So, as mentioned above I had the Terraclean DPF service carried out and it worked like a dream - however, it was only temporary. It hasn't gone back to the way it was previously (completely blocked) but there is definitely some resistance when I accelerate any more than gently, particularly in 4th gear and above. I have had no limp mode which is good. But the average fuel consumption on a mixed long drive that I do weekly went from about 38mpg to 32mpg in the space of 2-3 weeks.

There was an offer on in Lexus for an intermediate service (I stopped going to Lexus around 100k miles and did the servicing myself). But it's cold out so thought I would just leave it in with them for the day and get it done The main reason was to get them to look at the DPF situation and also confirm my air con condenser has failed.

So here is what Lexus had to say about the DPF...

"The older the IS220D, the more the DPF blocks. One customer has to do a "driving regen" every 175km! This entails driving for 8-10 km at constant revs between 2750 & 3000. You cannot use cruise control (maybe someone can explain why this is - I've no idea!). This cannot be interrupted even for a second or you have to start again. This should be done more frequently if you drive urban miles mainly"

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with these comments but from what I have read about initiating regens, this isn't exactly how it works. Not sure though.

Lexus carried out two forced regens to get the inlet pressure down sufficiently. I have driven about 200 miles since and it feels great again. Just not sure how long it will last.

I was thinking about replacing the DPF myself. Part roughly €700 (spurious). But this could be a complete waste if it will just get blocked again and again.

I asked about the fifth injector (something I know little about) but he said it was not the problem.

Will keep you posted again in a few weeks.

I'd welcome some opinions on the fuel consumption drop though! Seems like a dramatic drop.

peachy · March 2, 2017

I had all this aggravation myself when I owned a 220d. No matter what I did I could never get it to run right. Seriously did my head in so traded it in for the 250 and it's trouble free happy motoring now.