Vsc Check / Traction Control / Engine Management

April 3, 2013

Hi Guys,

Lexus IS220 diesel, 56 plate 83000 miles

I also had the VSC Check / Traction Control and Engine Management and a red warning triangle on two days ago.
I was travelling to Birmingham from London on the M6, doing around 80mph (Cruise control) when suddenly the car started shaking. The shaking was extreme especially on low revs. After a few minute the car went into safe / limp mode which was very scary especially on a motorway.

Luckily i was able to navigator myself to a service station where the RAC was called.

The RAC engineer immediately confirmed that the car was missfiring due to some ticking noise.To identify which cylinder was missfiring, the engineer carefully disconnected each of the injector connections which resulted in a change of the engine rhyme / sound. On cylinder one, when the disconnection was made, there was no change in the engine sound or rhyme.

With above diagnostic as well the reading from the RAC diagnostic machine which stated ' injector circuit fault' the engineer assured me that the issue was either an electrical or a faulty injector.

My car was toed back to London the same day and once the car arrived at home, I decided to clean the EGR value myself (something that i do regularly). The following day, i took the car the Edgware Lexus who performed their initial diagnostic @ £82.

Their finding were:

Missfire No1 cyl - requires compression test to confirm if cylinder or injector faulty @ £162
Suspect No 1 injector faulty (cost if we can extract it not seized) @ £800
EGR not working correctly, suspect partly blocked EGR ports and Value @ £600
Recommend Download to lattest spec patch No 35335400 for ECU @ £100
Recommend DPNR regeneration @ £250

Now I love my Lexus, but am not willing to pay the above prices, especially when I know full well that I regularly clean my EGR value, use Millers Diesel power Ecomax 500ml additive, as well frequently engaging and leaving the car in 4th gear at high rev's for about 20 min so that DPNR can be cleaned naturally.

To add to my dramas, and what really peed me off was how Lexus in Edgware were trying to charge the above price whiles Lexus in Leicester, who previously done all the services etc (use to live in Leicester) in the past, quoted me £200 /£300 to refurbish the faulty injector or for a brand new injector £500.

Anyway, what i would like to know is, if anyone has ever had their injector repaired / refurbished? if so would you recommend it?

Also, does anyone know any good mechanic who can re-install and program a new injector on the ECU in London?

Thanks in advance!!

Edited April 3, 2013 by Guest

Jabbastabba · May 12, 2013

Hi Guys, I have a is 220d 2007 with approx 45000 on the clock, always been serviced using a Lexus garage. The check vsc, traction control and engine mgmt light came on last Monday. Managed to get it to the local garage who think that it could be a filter in the 'cat' which is blocked, which in turn could cost me a couple of thousand pounds. (they said something along the lines of they may be able to 'burn out' the blockage (could be me not understanding though))

What do you guys think, do you think that this is the case or should they be looking for something else?

If it is the cat then do I have a 'case' with lexus?, considering I use them to get the car serviced and MOT'd AND it is a low mileage car.

I really have not the slightest clue when it comes to cars, answers in simple terms would be lovely,

Thanks all

koppatroppa2002 · October 26, 2013

OMG guys, today I'm a new victim of those TRC & VSC lights warnings came up on to my dashboard. Read already all the comments up and down the page snd I csme to one conclusion: Absolutely terrified what it may be; have a new EGR valve wich ikl replace 2morow and prsy it'll turn off all those lights.

Keep posted with any news!!!!! Up the Dubs.

weston · November 14, 2013

Hi all

I got the 3 lovely warning lights the other day so took it to my local garage and it came up with the pd filter being blocked so we put some cleaner in and had to run it at high revs to try and clean it but the lights still haven't gone out

Will they go out after I've burnt all the fuel and cleaner out of my tank or should they go out instantly?

Or I read somewhere else if I change to a straight pipe and bypas all the filter and cat and remap around it that should sort the problem has any body heard of that and does it work? because I don't really fancy a Lexus bill

Your advice would be more than helpfull

Matt

koppatroppa2002 · November 14, 2013

I have the answers to the problem my friends. I have a IS 220d 2007. Done 126,000 miles. All three mentioned issued Happened to and I'm a taxi driver. Everytime I turn the car of and back on again it would be ok for a short while. So I figured it couldn't be that serious.

So I clean my Mass Air Flow Sensor firstly, then the important thing. I bought something called "FORTE advanced diesel injector treatment cleaner"

I strongly recommend you get FORTE and not other brands. Heard bad things about other brands and never heard anything bad about FORTE.

You must put the liquid into you fuel tank and it must be at least half full. When you do this the most important thing is that you must driver at very high revs for a good while. When I say high revs I mean red lighting it. Motorway in forth is a good way. That gets the fluid through your injectors and cleans them more.

Eventually your whole lights will turn of and car will be back to normal

:-D :-D :-d sorry but I read ur comments and for some reason I found you hilarious!!!!

Ive got like 2weeks ago an is220d se 2008 with 83k on the clock and loving it but, as I already see u know more than me so, when driving at 120km/hour starting a bit of tremble plus to mention that on motorways reseting clock still can't get more then 34mpg. You know where should I look? Planning to get BG244 and after AR6400D wich heard r the best in this cleaning job ! Any advice? Tx

koppatroppa2002 · November 14, 2013

Hi

about 3 years ago had the same faults VSC Traction Control engine management and car goes into power protect mode.

It cost me £600 to have the EGR Valve changed.....they clog up and can seize with carbon deposits.

So if your competent under the bonnet I suggest you clean or have clean the EGR valve at least every 8000 miles!!!

Now about 2 months ago the same warning faults started to appear again and the car would again go into limp mode.

But If you shut off and restart your car over 5 times within a few minutes the faults may clear and the car goes out of limp mode and that will get you home...but the faults reappear again soon.

But by chance my car went in for a MOT the same month the warnings were displayed.

The examiner said the engine oil level was very very low.

I couldn't believe the oil level was just below the minimum amount on the dip stick.

To cut a long story short I topped up the oil and guess what the faults have gone away!!!!

I tell you the VSC /tRACTION CONTROL /engine Management WARNINGS can mean any multitude of faults and I think your Lexus service centre can charge you for anything they want so be warned!!!! http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/msn-wink.gif

It was low oil pressure which was causing the fault.
I wonder what Lexus would have said the fault was!!!!

Just to add salt to this. .VSC EGR TCR I.E. LIGHTS!!!!... This was happened to me just last week: went to petrol station, fill up with diesel and hit the motorway from Belfast to Dublin; after a couples of miles just all the dash bord lit like in Xmas with all the usual annoying lights. Now being honest I lost sleep for the next 48hours as reading here in lexus forum what it will mite cost....However, calming down and try to think what could cause all this figured out that all those start after I filled with diesel so I checked the plastic cap wich even though it gave me the click at the end of tight in wasn't really close so that meant fumes escaping wich triggers all the mighty sensors!!!! Even the car seemed powerless and all. I ask a friend to hold tight the cap and myself start the engine and guess what? ? All lights where off !!! Miracle !??! I was wondering exactly the same: what if I was letting lexus dealers to get ripped me off? What sort of bullsh8t they would mite say?? Anyway those lights could mean a lot of thinks, bottom line! Hope someday someone will be glad to read this. Good luck.

ComfyCruiser · August 27, 2014

lexman123,

My IS220d today, returning from Preston towards London, did the same thing and I had to limp to the Coventry Lexus and get it on the diagnostic machine.

The verdict I have been informed is that the carbon build up has blocked it and the egr valves require replacing and maybe the CAT if regeneration doesn't work.

It is an '08 plate, I bought the car when it was 3 years old and had 16k odd on the clock, and has about 67300 at the time of the fault.

I have driven over 15k a year for the last two years and before that is more like 30k and normally do long journeys (1 Hour+) so the DPF should be fine.

Anyway the quote is about £1200+ (at the moment) hopefully my AA mechanical warranty cover will pay out and it'll be fixed soon. Car is sat at the garage awaiting works authorisation.

Any advice from anyone?

normski2 · August 28, 2014

When I had a 220d i would take off and clean the EGR myself every 8,000 miles or so. You can extend this period by all means. I used it as bench point to see how much soot was getting deposited in there and to see what the additives I used were accomplishing.

You don't have to be an experienced mechanic to do this it really is quite easy....by the end I could do it all in 40 mins. There are quite a few Youtube vids you can watch.

£1200 to replace the EGR valve seems rather high. It's not a massive job by any stretch. In fact its a 'bolt off' and 'bolt on' and one electrical connector to push together, in simple terms. Dare I say...it could probably just be cleaned and returned to the car.

Hope the DPF is OK as that could be £2500+. Don't let them rush you into paying for a new DPF (unless your warranty is covering it). There are washing/cleaning agents that can be used along with an enforced regeneration cycle. Try encouraging them to try this approach first. Trouble is they all come from the 'bin it and chuck in a new one' stance. After all...its only burning off the carbon/soot particles trapped within at very high temps. Hence the general advice to give it a good wellying in 4th gear every 4-6 weeks.

normski2 · August 28, 2014

Have a read of this

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/76275-more-on-egr-cleaning/page-2#entry881505

may help a little bit?

MSK · April 18, 2015

On January 29, 2015 My IS220d , returning from work to home in Liverpool, did the same thing and I had a same fault but I
didn’t went into Limp mode, as I never drove Diesel before so at that time I even don’t know about Limp mode…I went home and Call Lexus Liverpool as I already have an appointment for safety check due on next Tuesday 3^rdof February.

I took my car to Lexus Liverpool in the morning they said they will charge £60 to run the diagnostics to know the problem. The
verdict I have been informed is that code P2002 DPF Particulate filter low,the carbon build up has and it blocked CAT Convertor, it require replacing the CAT and when they do that they will clean my EGR valve as well.

It is a '07 plate, I bought the car June 2014 when it was 7 years old and had 72k odd on the clock, and has about 78300
at the time of the fault.

Reason for this blockage was due to less motorway driving or cheap diesel, this is what their verdict.Anyway the quote is about £1800 to replace the CAT and clean EGR. It was a Shock to me as I bought this for 5K last June. I told them to give me the breakdown of the quote and I have told that CAT itself will cost 1200£ and then seals and 4hours labor at the cost of £90/hour.

I told them I want to take car outside to some garage for the second opinion, up till that point I was not sure that my
car in in limp mode or not. I took the car and go to my work place and showed the quote to my colleagues and they ask me that is your car in Limp mode and I told them I had this VSC Check and traction light on, then one of them explain
my about LIMP mode and I realize that my one is not in the LIMP mode, coz I drove it on 40miles.

So everyone who have diesel said to me that this is very common for diesel as Soot won’t burn during city drive and every
now and then you have to REV your car, and ask me to take the car to motorway and in second gear or third gear rev it on as much as you can.I did exactly what they told me, took the car to Manchester and mostly in third and fourth gear around 70MPH.

The light was still on even after that, but it was running perfectly to for next 2 days I went to work and on Weekend I
went to Stoke on Trent, when I start my car to start my journey back to Liverpool, I noticed that Light is gone and I was oh my God that Rev Thing works.

Yes one thing was I use Shell V nitro…Then Next Monday I got call from Lexus customer service team about my experience for my last visit, and I told them each and every single bit what happened and what they did and what I did. They ask me that if Liverpool lexus call you and discuss with you on this, I said yes they can.

Then there Service manager called me that day and they said what I did was regeneration on the car which burn the soot
and that’s why your car VSC light is off but your CAT is still blocked and this need to be replaced. I ask him how he know that it’s a CAT as I have seen on you tube for CAT it P402 as well, and he said your car have P2002 DPF low and its his experience. I just said I am a doctor, If a patient came to me and said to me that I have a pain in my chest then it means that I should recommend him heart surgery. Is this dealers means and in the end he said your car won’t go more than 2 week or maximum a month and it will be broke due to this problem.

Since them I am driving my Car with BP Ultimate diesel only which was almost 10 to 12p expensive than normal Diesel. One thing I noticed was my mileage of car went down to 369 from 435miles gradually and Average MPG went down to 30.4 MPG from
34MPG and tank average was 26MPG from 36MPG.
I have been on internet and start looking what other people did, and read about DPF cleaner ,bought it from Halfords,
2 bottles cost 30£ but couldn’t found any difference in economy.

Then last month I have seen this video on YouTube about this CATACLEAN. I order 2 bottles on amazon. Cost me 29£. Unfortunately I put it in my tank when it was full, but one thing I noticed was that my tank average gone up to 29MPG from 27 MPG. This gave me confidence and I order 4 more, and this time I add 2 bottles initially when my car was showing 145miles to go on
the remaining miles clock and drove my car on motorway. Then when I fill my tank this time tank average was 32MPG from 29 MPG and my overall average went to 30.5MPG from 30.4MPG and then I used my remaining 2 bottles and drove it but
before that I drove my car on motorway due to the kids holidays.

Today I fill my tank in and drove on M6 and my Tank average was 49 MPG, and my total average went up to 32mpg from 30.5mpg.
On my last tank I drove my car total 432miles and it still saying 57 miles you can further drive,

Today when I calculate I put 51.35 liters and drove 432 miles which gave me average 8.3 miles/liter and 38 per UK gallon.

I thought before go for such high bills we should try out whatever we can. This might help someone.

Total cost on 6 or 8 bottle of different additives cost me Max 120£ but so far my car is OK. It’s now 80556miles on the clock and I had this problem on 78K miles.

My 80K major service is due and one thing is sure that I will never ever take my car to Liverpool Lexus. They really
shake my trust on them.

Thanks

sandman007 · February 23, 2017

I've owned my 2010 (10) IS220D for 4 years, and it has now completed 60000 miles.

One day I was driving home from work and suddenly VSC Check / Traction Control and Engine Management lights came up and the car went in to safe mode. Luckily, I was less than 1/4 mile away from home and called Theaa when I got home. The engineer told me that the EGR valve is blocked and I need get it changed but he cleared the error code so I can get to a garage in the morning.

Had a look online to see how to remove the EGR valve and I thought it looked simple enough to get it done by my self. Check uTube, you can find plenty of instruction how to get this done. Be careful not to damage the seals or the valves. You have to remove the Battery to get access to remove the pipe coming in to EGR valve. Better to go to a garage if you are not confident to get it done by yourself.

Next day, went to Halfords and bought a can of 'Wynns Diesel EGR Valve Cleaner ' for £10. Removed the EGR filter and it was completely blocked with carbon deposits. Cleaned the Valve and the engine slot with a flat screw driver without damaging the unit and then with the spray.(It is lot easier to get the carbon deposits out from the engine slot if use a vacuum cleaner after breaking the deposits with a screw driver.) Spray the cleaner and clean thoroughly to remove all carbon from the filter. Put everything back as it was and It's been few weeks now and tank average gone up from 20mpg to 30mpg and can see a clear difference.

Cost only £10 and 2hrs of my time to get everything done.

TomCec · November 10, 2017

On 3/7/2012 at 1:27 PM, TyroneVeron said:

I have the answers to the problem my friends. I have a IS 220d 2007. Done 126,000 miles. All three mentioned issued Happened to and I'm a taxi driver. Everytime I turn the car of and back on again it would be ok for a short while. So I figured it couldn't be that serious.

So I clean my Mass Air Flow Sensor firstly, then the important thing. I bought something called "FORTE advanced diesel injector treatment cleaner"

I strongly recommend you get FORTE and not other brands. Heard bad things about other brands and never heard anything bad about FORTE.

You must put the liquid into you fuel tank and it must be at least half full. When you do this the most important thing is that you must driver at very high revs for a good while. When I say high revs I mean red lighting it. Motorway in forth is a good way. That gets the fluid through your injectors and cleans them more.

Eventually your whole lights will turn of and car will be back to normal

TyroneVeron here (the taxi guy) is spot on how to clear the VSC+check-engine warning (limp mode) on my Lexus LS220 diesel .

I topped up with premium diesel fuel then added the Injector Cleaner (450ml bottle), also added fresh oil to engine as was tad low.

I then used a full tin of EGR cleaning spray (cost me £10 from local car-store) directly into air-intake. Ran the car high revs

for about 5 miles, really rev'd it to clean out injectors, the fault then miraculously disappeared and the car runs a treat.

No ODB2 reset required. Total cost about £25 on fluids. I reckon I saved a wallet full by NOT going to Lexus Dealership.

Unrelated fault but I had to put in new guide-pins on brake calipers, garage job really unless your well experienced mechanic, symptom is sticking or clunky braking, check if wheel gets very hot on one side!

kurtis · November 26, 2017

hi there.been having this same issue with my is220d on a 09 plate with 78 on the clock.engine and traction control light on and been reading a egr flow on diagnostice.lexus plus side street garages carnt find a fault.had the egr changed and still going in and out of limp plus splutering and running rough.got a mechanic that sed a De decarbonize and a egr delete and remap might sort it.has anyone got any suggestions and how they got there's sorted.thanks..

koppatroppa2002 · November 27, 2017

On 10/12/2010 at 12:56 PM, stevedrew72 said:

Please help!

I've owned my 2007 (57) IS220D since march this year, and it has now completed 77000 miles.

It has full main dealer history upto 60000 miles, with the 70000 service being completed by a trusted local independant, following the Lexus schedule in full.

Driving up the M6 last week, the car seemed to hesitate under throttle as if being starved of fuel or similar, shortly afterwards the VSC Check / Traction Control and Engine Management lights all came on and I ended up being recovered by the AA back to my dealer in Essex.

The dealer have quoted the best part of £2000 to repair (DPNR?) the car, saying that Lexus wont contribute because its out of warranty (mileage only) and the last service wasnt completed by Lexus.

I've since spoken to Lexus customer services and they had 'no case logged'.

Has anyone else had this fault, and how was it handled by Lexus? Long is the legend of Lexus customer service, but thus far Im not feeling the love.

I appreciate I stepped outside the dealer network for the 70 k service, but hey it was half the price, and done to at least the same standard by someone I trust. Added to that it was out of warranty on the mileage side of things.

What I'm concerned about is whether this is a common eg known fault, if so I dont think I should just roll over and pay.

Since starting to type Lexus have offered to contribute, so my new bill will be £900......... Thoughts and ideas please guys

Check this link below that appeared today (fresh) in DailyMail:

http://blog.dailylifetech.com/Eyjr/cardoc/d/how-to-prevent-1000s-in-costly-car-repairs-mechanics-aren-t-happy-about-it-1111?a=M2Q80wCqxf7D

Just read the article and your problem popped up in my mind suddenly.

Could be a cheap solution to your blog.

Best of luck

Chuckie888 · November 27, 2017

Basically @60-80k the DPF will be full of ash which cann

koppatroppa2002 · November 27, 2017

Using Archoil that can be buy from eBay will keep your DPF out of troubles!! Just pasted 100k and never had any issues in past 5 years ! Not to mention that I do 90% of the time city short drives!!! Cleaning the EGR once a year.

Using this Archoil additive every time when stopping at the garage for fuel it proofed to me personally the best choice after reading so many comments in here...What' happening is when the engine reach optimal temperature which is around 88-90° you'l notice white smoke coming out of your tail pipe which clearly it means that the system cleaning himself and that' thanks to this additive !!

If not used additive to get this "self-clean" process you need to hit motorways quite often as many is220d drivers know very well.

Hope this will help 😋

koppatroppa2002 · November 27, 2017

On 11/10/2017 at 12:32 PM, TomCec said:

TyroneVeron here (the taxi guy) is spot on how to clear the VSC+check-engine warning (limp mode) on my Lexus LS220 diesel .

I topped up with premium diesel fuel then added the Injector Cleaner (450ml bottle), also added fresh oil to engine as was tad low.

I then used a full tin of EGR cleaning spray (cost me £10 from local car-store) directly into air-intake. Ran the car high revs

for about 5 miles, really rev'd it to clean out injectors, the fault then miraculously disappeared and the car runs a treat.

No ODB2 reset required. Total cost about £25 on fluids. I reckon I saved a wallet full by NOT going to Lexus Dealership.

Unrelated fault but I had to put in new guide-pins on brake calipers, garage job really unless your well experienced mechanic, symptom is sticking or clunky braking, check if wheel gets very hot on one side!

In my opinion the comment "rev ur engine up to the red light" it' crazy and you'l end up with engine issues. Yes hitting motorway is the answer to clean the system and by high revs should consider somewhere over 2500 and max 3200 revs !! Definitely not "red" !!!

It' quite straight forward: RED means RED and you not supposed to be near to that place in any circumstances...but that' just my opinion also advise to whoever may read this.

Best of luck

AndyF987 · December 8, 2017

Just thought I’d share my experience today having had the Check VSC and engine management light etc. Lexus diagnosed a clogged DPF and EGR and advised both to be replaced along with a clean of inlet manifold. Total cost £1750.

After a lot of research online, phone calls to garages and a can of BG244 through the engine I decide upon a DPF terraclean and inlet manifold clean from a back street independent.

Dropped the car off last night and picked up today. Drives beautifully, no warning lights and noticeable improvement in acceleration. Cost £135 for inlet manifold clean, £240 for DPF clean and £45 for new fuel filter (which had a load of water in it). Total cost £420 and car back on the road.

Very happy and although I’ve only covered 50 Miles, so far so good.

Will keep you posted on how it goes.

i have usually used Tesco Deisel mainly however a few garages said that using a premium deisel is a must at least every now and again. Oh, I also cleaned out my EGR valve which can totally clogged with black carbon deposits. First time I’ve done it and took me about an hour. Used carb cleaner and a screwdriver.

Hope my experience helps.

JoshR101 · February 15, 2018

Hi,

new lexus owner here. Currently have a 57 plate is220d with just over 100k miles on it. driving today and had the check engine, traction control light and check vsc message come up on the dash. fingers crossed so far no loss of performance and car drives as should. checked petrol cap and this does not seal and lock as it should. Any advice on the way forward. only had the car 3 weeks and most driving is done on dual carriageways and motorways.

koppatroppa2002 · February 15, 2018

Hi Josh,

Turn off the engine and ask a 2nd person to to hold the cap tight by hand and restart. All the lights on your dashboard should come off and that means that needs to be fixed the issue.

...When you close it should feel some sort of click to be properly closed otherwise is not completely closed and sensor sense loosing of pressure in the system, hence the dashoard lighting like a Xmas tree 😁

Hope this will help. Happened to me also when I purchased my IS 220D and stoped to the garage for 1st time.

Unfortunately I need it to figured by myself where the issue was as I panicked and expecting the worse 😥

JoshR101 · February 19, 2018

On 15/02/2018 at 2:19 PM, JoshR101 said:

Hi,

new lexus owner here. Currently have a 57 plate is220d with just over 100k miles on it. driving today and had the check engine, traction control light and check vsc message come up on the dash. fingers crossed so far no loss of performance and car drives as should. checked petrol cap and this does not seal and lock as it should. Any advice on the way forward. only had the car 3 weeks and most driving is done on dual carriageways and motorways.

Update. Checked fuel cap this did not appear to be the problem. upon further inspection and a quick hook up to a diagnostics machine, it was discovered to be a blocked egr valve. 3 hours later and after some heavy cleaning the car is fine I have improved mpg and no dash lights. happy days

Chuckie888 · May 26, 2018

I had the limp mode check engine light on a few occasions. Checked the codes and thought it was the dpf. Upon further investigation on trchstream i noticed it was a dpf code p2002 but actually telling me that it was a maf low reading. New maf required? Thought i'd just tighten the turbo housing before i bought one and hey presto no more errors or 2 secs of howling when first started on a cold morning. All because of an induction leak. The housing seems tight, but i gave it a little extra anyway.