The Ultimate "check Vsc" Topic - Please Read And Reply If It&#

[Silver Arrow]

I had totally lost faith in my IS220d after 2.5 years. In the end for all sorts of reasons I just felt it was time to get rid, and took a £13k (in the end I recall) financial hit.

Mine did the Check VSC thing as I came off the M69 and joined the M6 north bound, half way around the 270' bend and it went from 45mph to a lot less and the rear end slid out (it was raining). God knows how I managed to control it - totally unexpected and I still don't know why it shed speed like that (I hadn't hit the brakes). I pulled over onto the hard shoulder of the M6, switched it off, on again and it seemed fine. The lights went off after about 10 seconds.

That was the final straw and point at which I got rid. So sympathise with anyone worried about safety.

The flat spot on take off also caught me and the missus out at busy roundabouts....several times!!

[MaLexIS]

Agree Silver Arrow - limp home mode kicking in on the motorway is a scary experience, it's the first time it has happened to me (owned the car just over 3 years, it has 60k on the clock), got anxiety about it happening again!

Lexus have called me apologising for challenging the repair, they have approved the repair under warranty at Lexus Coventry for next week. Shouldn't of had to go through these issues when having purchased a Lexus extended warranty. Hopefully this will address the issue.

I'm looking to replace the vehicle at the end of the year. Prior to this incident and the associated issues, I was intending on getting the new IS (under the approved used scheme again), but not so sure now.

[gmac123]

Hi All, looks like I've just joined this exclusive "check vsc", engine management & traction/esp warning light club, with a dodgy temperature reading thrown in.

is220d, 2007, 70Kmiles - largely urban mileage in recent years, wifeys car, I've just started using it on my 90 mile round trip to work to keep the escalating mileage on my car down

1 week ago, check vsc, engine & traction control lights came on on motorway. pulled in shortly after as I noted the temp had entered the red! a quick phone assisted google and wife relayed the story of same warning attended by AA, advice was run it a 3000rpm. Did this, temp dropped and when I got home and restarted it, the warnings had cleared. (I knew the temp warning was phoney, as restarting the car 2 mins after stopping the temp reading was normal(ish) so quicker than the block would cool.)

2 days normality followed.

Then it re-occurred on my 90 mile round trip to work. got home and borrowed a reader.

OBD codes read and cleared

P0400 Exhaust Gas Recalculation Flow

P0117 Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit Low Input

(above according to google)

After clearing the car was fine for a few weekend urban short trips.

Back on the motorway this morning and returned.

Interested in your thoughts and feedback.

thinking at the moment would be to decoke the EGR (as per the video on page 1) and add some Diesel Fuel system cleaner to the mix....

[Graham Gardner]

I'd never buy another diesel car after our experience with the DPF filter problems, we had a 5 series up until last week, the DPF light came on 3 times in the 3 years we had it, the car had Full BMW history, we were told by the main dealer's to only use Shell advanced or the BP equivalent, to "give the car a good thrashing, once a month" and avoid short (under 10 minutes) journeys, huh?

I understand that diesel in the UK has a particular problem, in that, to meet the EU directive re 10% veg oil to 90% diesel this year, oil companies are having great difficulty buying veg oil in the quantities needed and have resorted to buying any old rubbish! I don't know how true it is though?

We have done a lot of driving in France, the fuel does appear to be better, but it may just be the faster roads and lack of traffic?

We were also advised at the last service, that DPF filters usually needed to be replaced after 80,000 miles, at a cost of £2,500.

Every year we had the BM we lost £2,500 a year depreciation

Apart from the filter problem it was an excellent car though

We sold the car for a really good price and last Wednesday bought a 1997 mk4 LS400 for £2k.

[brido]

Quick update,

I forgot to update the fix for my vsc issue, it was a hole in the exhaust which was welded for a quick fix but gave way shortly after resulting in having to buy a new exhaust system. £850 lighter but i have since had no problem.

[briatore]

Hi All, looks like I've just joined this exclusive "check vsc", engine management & traction/esp warning light club, with a dodgy temperature reading thrown in.

is220d, 2007, 70Kmiles - largely urban mileage in recent years, wifeys car, I've just started using it on my 90 mile round trip to work to keep the escalating mileage on my car down

1 week ago, check vsc, engine & traction control lights came on on motorway. pulled in shortly after as I noted the temp had entered the red! a quick phone assisted google and wife relayed the story of same warning attended by AA, advice was run it a 3000rpm. Did this, temp dropped and when I got home and restarted it, the warnings had cleared. (I knew the temp warning was phoney, as restarting the car 2 mins after stopping the temp reading was normal(ish) so quicker than the block would cool.)

2 days normality followed.

Then it re-occurred on my 90 mile round trip to work. got home and borrowed a reader.

OBD codes read and cleared

P0400 Exhaust Gas Recalculation Flow

P0117 Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit Low Input

(above according to google)

After clearing the car was fine for a few weekend urban short trips.

Back on the motorway this morning and returned.

Interested in your thoughts and feedback.

thinking at the moment would be to decoke the EGR (as per the video on page 1) and add some Diesel Fuel system cleaner to the mix....

Hi Graham,

Could you please check the coolant level, colour and odour and report back. If you see coolant residue on the radiator and around the fan or around the cap, let us know.

Good luck

[cosworth]

I have bought a Lexus IS 220D 2006 few months ago. I have read a lot of posts in different forums and I decided to check the status of my EGR valve even I did not feel that smth is wrong with it.

I unscrewed the pipe which is placed on the top of EGR and got a surprise. There were a lot of carbon black. Look a few movies on youtube how to clean it (the same wich is posted in 1 page of this topic). I bought an EGR cleaner which helped a lots and with crewdriver help cleaned everything well. After it I cleaned air intake hole, which connects EGR bottom part and a few carbon parts were droped inside of the hole.

EGR valve and that intake part now looks fine. I connected everything back in same places, wires as well. And tried to strat engine. After a few long tryings engine starts and suddenly it shuts down. I waited for a while and tried again. Luckelly engine started work, but the story did not stop here. At the same night for an half an hour driving outside city I got "Check VSC" warning message and car went into limp mode. I understood that smth wrong. After scaning it showed Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) P0400 error code. Any ideas why it went wrong? Maybe I missed smth?

I decided to replace EGR and one of mechanics mentioned that if I change it by mayself it would not work, because need to do smth for heating or etc.

I would appreciate if anyone could post step by step what I should do if I want to change my EGR.

[gmac123]

Hi Graham,

Could you please check the coolant level, colour and odour and report back. If you see coolant residue on the radiator and around the fan or around the cap, let us know.

Good luck

Hi Flavio,

Coolant was a little lower than it should have been I'm embarrassed to admit. Difficult to say if there's any colour, however it smells a bit burn rubberish (for want of a better nose) and did dry to leave small dark particles on my hand....

appreciate your thoughts.

G..

[MaLexIS]

Hello All,

Lexus ended up replacing the DPF in my 'Check VSC' case, they said it was clogged due to a lot of short journeys. I never had an issue with the temperature gauge going up, but did have coolant residue around the fan and radiator etc, but the coolant was not discoloured in the tank (bright pink). The DPF was replaced in Jan 2014 and approx. 6k miles on there are no issues. I get the revs up on slip roads/motorway as advised by the dealer. Coolant colour is fine and no sign of burning oil. Fingers crossed.

MaLexIS

[briatore]

Hi Graham,

Could you please check the coolant level, colour and odour and report back. If you see coolant residue on the radiator and around the fan or around the cap, let us know.

Good luck

Hi Flavio,

Coolant was a little lower than it should have been I'm embarrassed to admit. Difficult to say if there's any colour, however it smells a bit burn rubberish (for want of a better nose) and did dry to leave small dark particles on my hand....

appreciate your thoughts.

G..

Here's what happens with those engines, and it's entirely Toyota's fault. They assumed a certain driving style and a certain level of fuel quality when they designed it, and reality is different, so now, they are replacing thousands of engines all over the place. I'm referring exclusively to 2.2 D-CAT and 2.2 D4D engines. The more powerful they are, it is more likely they will develop problems. The correct way to handle it is to go to them, make them measure CO2 level in coolant and determine that it's the blown head gasket, and then have them replace the engine free of charge or almost for free. They have instructions to do it when necessary, but, of course, they don't advertise it, so they have to pushed a bit most of the time. It's easier if you drive a Lexus then a Toyota and I'm talking about out-of-warranty cars.

Basically, because of several design flaws, and other factors, such as driving style and fuel quality, which don't have to be anything out of the ordinary, head gasket eventually gets damaged and exhaust fumes find their way into the engine cooling system. The gasses bring the pressure up in the system and when it goes over one bar, the safety valve on the cap releases the mixture of coolant and gases out through the small black hose near the tank cap. That way you slowly lose coolant, and after some time, without enough coolant left, the engine starts overheating and then it gets really bad. At that point coolant also usually finds its way into the piston chamber and the block gets damaged.

If you can smell and feel burning things in you coolant it's only matter of time before the engine has to be replaced. That's the brutal truth. You can do whatever you want to slow down the process, but if your head gasket lost some of the coating, it won't get repaired by itself. Replacing the gasket is as simple as those things get on modern engines, so that would be the most painless thing to do right now. What I would do now when I know, I'd go to Lexus, have them determine why there is smoke in the coolant and why the car is losing it (they know it, but you have to dance the dance with them), and negotiate the best terms on how to fix it.

Good luck

[TrevorK]

Hi

I have a 2005 LS 430

Just had to drive across rough road, due to diversion, (with suspension set on high) and shortly after the "Check VSC", "TRC off" and engine warning light came on. No loss of power, just drives as normal.

Is this a coincidence or something more sinister?

Have checked petrol cap, oil and water levels and all seem OK

Any ideas, experience, or suggestions would be most welcome

Trevor

[Colin ck]

Hi! I have IS220d SE-l 2009 but mileage is only 24000.

Because i only do short runs I have only used BP Ultimate Diesel for the past 3 years to prevent any carbon build up. Without stripping anything down I won't know if it is working.

A month ago I was stopped by the Police because of exhaust emmisions. They thought it may have been piston rings but after discussing it over I realised it was because I had previously been sitting with my engine on tickover for about 20 minutes trying to keep warm.

A week later I had my engine running on tickover for 10 minutes and on continuing my journey as I accelerated uphill I again noticed particles (it didn't look like smoke) from my exhaust. This only happened for a short distance then it was clear again.

What was going on I could only summise with my limited experience. Because there was no smoke (I think) but just particles I assume there was no oily residue so it's possible that there is no carbon build up.

Why doesn't the Particle Filter stop the emmisions?

I would appreciate any comments please although I'm not overly concerned.

Thanks for reading,

Colin

[ivandrago]

Hi folks,

first post,

I bought a 2007 IS220D in April 2013 and have struggled with VSC Faults until the present day. I first googled it but not too much and discovered it could be anything at all. The important part I found was that that disconnecting the Battery clears the fault. You will however have to re-set your clock and your windows. The fast open close won't work on the Windows. To re-set the Windows you have to fully open and fully close each window on its own door respectively. Only then will the master control on the drivers door work again. 

Things that caused my VSC Faults included 

1-Hitting a pot hole

2-drifting round roundabouts...

3-not changing the oil in a long while

mostly of course the fault came on during normal driving and mostly it went into limp mode but not always. I have discovered that the car is dead in low revs (below 2000) a few weeks before a VSC fault will appear. 

I no longer fear the VSC fault as I know it can be quickly cleared by the good old Battery off and on technique. 

I'm one of those idiots that drives too fast most of the time and this will probably lead to my untimely demise though with age and a family I am driving less like an idiot. I only say this as this differing driving style has had a noticeable affect on the frequency of my VSC faults.

maniac driver-2 VSC faults a year

normal driver-8 VSC fault a year.

i got one today and straight away went and got the oil changed as it had been a while. The fault cleared.

so I came on here to finally Google this VSC Saga once and for all. To my amusement it's a common thing and reading all the comments on this thread about cleaning the Cars system either the DPF, Air sensors, driving at high revs etc all makes sense to me and to my own experience. 

In conclusion I belive the VSC faults are created by a blocked up exhaust system probably from supermarket diesel as we all know it's not refined as much as top quality brands, same with petrol. I had a friend who had terrible performance instantly with his BMW Z4 from Supermarket fuel. All the cleaning sensors and burn outs seems like good advice. 

Feel sorry for for the guy who lost £13k selling his Lexus. Do not fear the VSC, disconnect the Battery to get home, then proceed with the 3 or 4 cleaning methods and you should be fine. 

[Jemmalou]

My lexus 2007 went into limp mode 3 weeks ago had the dpf taken off and cleaned via the actual dpf cleaning machine. 2 weeks later went into limp mode again diagnostic states dpf again took it back to the garage dpf not blocked garage completed a regen after code P2002 flagged up and all good for 2 day car now gone back into  someone please help. Oh the garage also cleaned the egr too

[brunskill43]

Hello guys. 

My is250 has had the vsc light on for years according to previous mot readings. 

It appears that the front passenger side oxygen sensor was at fault and since I have a form of ocd with things wrong with my car I got it changed. 

My problem as sorted for me or so I thought as it came on a few months later related to the now bank 2 passenger side oxygen sensor. 

I read up on the fault and found that the vsc light no eml light comes on due to heat from emissions passing the 2nd sensor code 0430 if I'm not mistaken. 

I read up that if u buy a bolt that screws on to the exhaust and the o2 sensor screws into it to fool the emissions and £6 dollars from the states. 

I just cleared the code and for some reason stays away unless you floor the car (screw not fitted yet as not got round to it yet). 

The code being cleared can stay away for months at a time but my question is what does emissions have to do with (vehicle stability control) and why stay away for so long and when under pressure come on again. 

I thought the job of the 02 sensor was to register 02 emissions if there was a problem. 

Rant over. 

[brunskill43]

On 4/11/2019 at 10:28 PM, Jemmalou said:

My lexus 2007 went into limp mode 3 weeks ago had the dpf taken off and cleaned via the actual dpf cleaning machine. 2 weeks later went into limp mode again diagnostic states dpf again took it back to the garage dpf not blocked garage completed a regen after code P2002 flagged up and all good for 2 day car now gone back into  someone please help. Oh the garage also cleaned the egr too

Funny u should mention that as my mums rav4 has a similar problem related to a boost sensor 

I got the valve changed as the obd reader found the fault so changed the sensor and problem solved as like a new car. 

Not the case as the car under acceleration will judder and then eml light comes on and then into limp mode to the point I have to stop. 

I stop and restart with eml light still on but the car seems as if the problem was never the so my point is even tho your obd reader states a faulty part it may have related parts that relate to the problem but come under the same category. 

Just an observation theory. 

[nidgemo]

I started this topic years ago, and the car was genuinely a curse for the last two years I owned it. I swore at that point to never get another car with a DPF. The next car I got was a 2008 Merc EClass, purely based on the fact they were the last model with no dpf. Then, when I changed that, got a lexus IS300H (petrol hybrid)

But what I can't understand, in the years that have passed since, is why the hell ANYONE is buing diesel cars. They don't work for 90% of people, they pollute, they don't cost any less to run.

But the whole country STILL seems to be in love with diesel. Why???

[Chris_G]

Nigel - very impressed to see you still around after your original post of 7 years ago ! 🙂  I'm like you - sadly, the IS220D has killed my faith in diesels.   A lovely car (albeit a bit gutless), but just far too much trouble.  Anyway - sorry to hijack this post but - I'm STILL struggling with my "Check VSC" issue.... had a spate of smokiness a while ago (which has calmed down since I reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery) .... but the fault code remains (!?) and the light is still on, as is the ABS warning light which seems to go with it... and that's an MOT failure, as I just learned 😞  So - I hooked up my generic cheap Chinese OBDII reader, along with "Torque Lite" on the phone.... and it says "No codes recorded".  So - I can't reset the pesky light and get my MOT sorted.  Question then is - what other readers / software do folks on here use, to reset Lexus error codes, please ?  I have some experience with monitoring computer hardware, and in that field at least, there's your "standard" ISO-type errors and codes, and then there's usually vendor specific "secret" ones too, that only their kit can see.  I'm guessing Lexus have hidden all their fruity (ie useful) stuff, in a management block of their own, requiring either their own kit to read, or a very cleverly researched third party utility ?  Cheers all, thanks in advance.

[pluffy23]

Have you cleaned out the pipes that go from both sides of the dpf to the pressure sensor as they tend to soot up and then the pressure sensor reads incorrectly.

I had this on mine ( now sold) my son eventually fixed it in about 30 minutes.

Hope this helps.

Pluffy

[Chris_G]

3 hours ago, pluffy23 said:

Have you cleaned out the pipes that go from both sides of the dpf to the pressure sensor as they tend to soot up and then the pressure sensor reads incorrectly.

I had this on mine ( now sold) my son eventually fixed it in about 30 minutes.

Hope this helps.

Pluffy

Hey Pluffy - can you post a pic of the pipes in question please ?  Cheers 🙂

[Texas]

Might be a bit tricky!

”I had this on mine (now sold)”

 

 

[pluffy23]

Hi chris I have sold mine so cant give a photo but if you look at the bulkhead you will see a small black unit with 2 hoses off, this is pressure sensor.

It is the 2 metal tubes fitted to the hoses that block up

[Chris_G]

13 hours ago, Texas said:

Might be a bit tricky!

”I had this on mine (now sold)”

 

 

 

11 hours ago, pluffy23 said:

Hi chris I have sold mine so cant give a photo but if you look at the bulkhead you will see a small black unit with 2 hoses off, this is pressure sensor.

It is the 2 metal tubes fitted to the hoses that block up

LOL ok alright - I missed the part about "Sold" 😄  Sorry Steve - but thanks for the info 🙂

 

[Povilas]

Hi everyone, I know it is an old post. I have VSC problem too with IS250 2007 manual. Code reads P0430. Car performance seems ok no changes to it. VSC light comes back after 50 miles or so in the city but when drove on motorway about 250 - 300 miles light did not came on. 

[Scouselexus]

Had my is220d for three years now. Always have this coming up intermittently. After three restarts go away and they come back either weeks or days later.

Never been in limp mode at all, just lived with it mate plugged in obd reader got p2002 code. Dpf below threshold, put it down to urban driving as only do 20 miles a day.

Lights on all the time now, went to ats for engine diagnostics and had the following codes come up c1201 c1241 p1426 p2002. They seem to think caused by low Battery, during last service said Battery at 50% so probably this, also dpf sensor.

Anyone had any similar codes and did you find a fix?