Just Bought A IS220D I hear Lexus Delaerships Have a Good Reputation?

[Aaron G]

Hi folks,

I bought the red IS220D that was previously owned by a guy in Liverpool. He really took care of it and serviced it 15 times over 48,000 miles. x7 times were at Arnold Clark that I hear are a bit of a big deal. Not sure if they're an approved dealer.

Thing is I think he got ripped off, as my mechanic showed me the rear brake calipers were rusted open (I drove it back unknowingly 300 miles just on the front brakes) and I'm planning on changing the oil & diesel filter before I go for the differential and gearbox oil. But both the oil and diesel filters are also rusted on completely. I told my mechanic he might have to just undo the ring-nut on the diesel filter, but he spent so much time easing the calipers out that we didn't have time for it.

So just introducing myself, and wondering if the UK Lexus dealerships are as bad as most of the others. Previous car was a 2003 Vauxhall. They've gotta rate higher than them. 😏

[Las Palmas]

Welcome.

 

Do not know about UK dealership, but here where I live they get 2 stars out of 10.

The car is great but service is a matter of writing the biggest bills possible.

[Mr Vlad]

Hi Aaron and welcome to the best Lexus forum there is. What made you go for the 220d? Did you first search on the forum regarding the 220d? Yes the rear calipers have a tendency to seize because of poor service. That is Lexus don't service brake calipers. If your journeys are short why didn't you consider the is250? 

The Lexus diesels are not the best and lots on here have a multitude of problems. 

You should have took your mechanic with you when you went for your car,  I'm sure he'd have put you off it.

Lexus dealers as a whole are excellent. For parts and spares look up Lexus Direct. Genuine parts at discount prices. 

[rich1068]

Really no offence to you personally Vlad but I do see on here new members posting up about their 220 or 200ds and the first thing they get are responses regarding issues owners have had and how they should have bought a 250. Some owners have had issues, not all. And if I'd spent my hard earned on a motor I fancied and when I joined the owners forum all I got was "you've bought the wrong one" I'm pretty sure I wouldn't come back.

Again, nothing personal. This occurred to me the other day with another thread, this one just gave me a nudge.

[PCM]

13 hours ago, Aaron G said:

Hi folks,

I bought the red IS220D that was previously owned by a guy in Liverpool. He really took care of it and serviced it 15 times over 48,000 miles. x7 times were at Arnold Clark that I hear are a bit of a big deal. Not sure if they're an approved dealer.

Thing is I think he got ripped off, as my mechanic showed me the rear brake calipers were rusted open (I drove it back unknowingly 300 miles just on the front brakes) and I'm planning on changing the oil & diesel filter before I go for the differential and gearbox oil. But both the oil and diesel filters are also rusted on completely. I told my mechanic he might have to just undo the ring-nut on the diesel filter, but he spent so much time easing the calipers out that we didn't have time for it.

So just introducing myself, and wondering if the UK Lexus dealerships are as bad as most of the others. Previous car was a 2003 Vauxhall. They've gotta rate higher than them. 😏

Maybe look at a trusted specialist independent now, if it's an 'older' car?

Enjoy your new car!

[Mincey]

I've often wondered why, if the 220d is so bad, do I still see so many on the roads? All appear to be in good shape - not spewing out enormous clouds of black smoke, or parked up on the side of the road waiting for the AA...

[Mr Vlad]

You know what Mincey that's one helluva good point. Funny tons of negative reviews yet of all the gen 2 IS's I see 90% are 220d's. 

@Rich absolutely no offence taken pal your post is Bob on.

[Aaron G]

Thanks for the replies,

I was gonna go for the V6 but I got spooked with all this talk of 10% ethanol in regular petrol and 5% in premium here in the UK. I suppose weighing that against the issues I've heard about with the diesel engines, I might have been better off with the V6. But they've said that they're gonna go for the full 10% in 5 years time and the government specifically said the IS250 would have issues.

I suppose it's 6 of one and all that...

I took the EGR valve and upper pipe of myself and the EGR was mostly blocked. Managed to clear the valve out and will try to solder a brass brush to a flexible piece of round to clean out the pipe ubove it/going back into the engine. Worried about doing it any other way because of chunks coming off. It's lining the pipe at about 1/16". Just hoping piece of the brass brush don't break off.

Also trying to get an independent garage to do the stuff I can't. Got a guy to replace the coolant the other day and although it was all pre-mixed, he told me he added water. Probably about 3/4 distilled water now. I was terrified of messing with that because of the coolant/gasket issues I've heard of, but when you get mechanics that make mistakes like that, what can you do? Take a chance on another one, or just do it yourself and pray I suppose...

[Aaron G]

Also thought I'd mention that the Scan came back 100% when I bought it. Interesting that with all this technology + modules all over the place, they can't tell you that your brakes arn't working. 🤪

It's almost like there isn't technology there to help you maintain the car. Personally, I'd take half the stuff in there out, and tell me when the DPF filter is filling up for regeneration mode.  All I've seen are sperate gizmos that plug into the OBD port that'll probably cause more problems than they solve...

[Shahpor]

Welcome Aaron,

I had my IS220d over 3 years before I sold it to a friend, who kept it for another 2.  In that time the only major faults it had weren't diesel related but things like calipers, drivers seat, wing mirrors, etc..

The key was that I used it quite a bit and did longer journeys, so it had the appropriate amount of time to get nice and hot and clean out the soot.  I highly recommend a good 15-20min about 2000rpm to the get the DPF above 600C, along with regular cleaning of the EGR valve, which in my case was every 5k miles or so.

As for the negatively surrounding this car, perhaps being the 'worse' Lexus still makes it better than most other cars out there? 🙂

It is really worth finding a specialist to look after your car.  For example, the pink coolant is already pre-mixed and doesn't need water added.  It is also long life, so only requires replacing every 100k miles.  You also want your mechanic to grease the slide pins of all your calipers annually unless you want them to constantly seize.

If you are going to be doing some work on the car itself, I would recommend getting a copy of TechStream from eBay.  Found mine very handy, especially when it started to smoke as I could get it to do a forced regen.

Good luck 🙂

[Las Palmas]

5 hours ago, Mincey said:

I've often wondered why, if the 220d is so bad, do I still see so many on the roads? All appear to be in good shape - not spewing out enormous clouds of black smoke, or parked up on the side of the road waiting for the AA...

Here on the island it is hard to go for a long journey due to the size of the island. I see many 200 and 220 diesels and they seem to be doing what they are supposed to. Here it is easy to see on the license plates how old the cars are so when so many old diesels are still driving around it is hard to think that Lexus diesels should be poor quality. In used cars adds all I find of Lexus are CT and IS so the diesel owners are not having them for sale. Maybe they are happy with them.

[JamesIS220]

Hope it serves you well.

I bought a high mileage model with full service history and all MOT's a straight pass and no advisories. Probably paid a bit too much at £1,475.00 for an 06 reg. Initially no issues, liked the build quality, standard radio. Comfort, safety. Colour.

Was advised I had bought the wrong car on sign up. They were right in my case. After around 15 months started loosing coolant. Around 0.4 of a litre, every 150 miles. Gradually got worse and vented out the vent hose and bubbling up in header tank. 19 months later I sold for scrap at 187,000 miles. 

It was a shame, as body ok and just fitted new tyres and had new AC condenser.

Just the luck of the draw. There are as said probably thousands running great but only hear of the bad ones on this forum. 

 

 

[Aaron G]

I would have gone for a Toyota Celsior/Lexus LS400 or the IS250 as people have recommended, as I hear the naturally asprirated engines are simpler. I reasoned it through as @Shahpor said that Lexus build quality should see me through to 100,000 miles because of my budget at the time. If I have no major issues I'll keep it as long as possible, otherwise I'll go down the petrol route.

Maybe by the time the ethanol eats through the old petrol seals on the old engines this car might have had more than its share of problems. Anyway, it was at 58,000 miles when I got it for £3000. Serviced every 3,000 miles from new. Maybe lucky if I got x5 services in there from the Lexus dealers over the total mileage.

Currently replacing all fluids and filters. Cleaning up the mass air flow, air intake, and fuel injection valves. Gonna get that coolant done ASAP. And I'll mention here if I run into the regular issues in the future.

Thanks for the replies.

[Las Palmas]

Good luck.

With all the Lexus diesels I see here without a dark cloud after them I have my doubt that they are as bad as mentioned here in the forum.

 

[steve2006]

I understand that the 220d engine D4D is also fitted in the Toyota Avensis so I had a look on their forums.

One of the posts mentions a 1 in 20 chance of having serious engine problems (Head Gasket) so the odds of a bad experience are quite low if that’s the case and would explain why so many are still on the road.

https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/121541-common-faults-on-toyota-avensis-22-d-t3-x-d-4d/