Might not be many with a IS220d but might have an idea on problem..

So I've had this Lexus IS220d, 2006 plate for a while and for a while, intermittently the Check VSC/engine management TSC lights would come on and go off when they wanted, the odd time it would start smoking out the back for maybe 2-3 minutes when driving and clear up every once in a while.

That was maybe 6 months ago or so.. Roughly 5 months ago, it failed to start and would not start without a can of easy-start. it's been parked since and was planning taking it to Lexus to get plugged in to diagnose the problem, but yesterday charged the battery fully and after about 8 seconds of cranking it started..

Now, I left it run and get to operating temperature and noticed heaters were still ice cold when set to full heat, also coolant bottle seemed to be bubbling, so I took of the cap and a "whooshing" sound came from it, along with coolant coming out of the overflow pipe. The temp needle in the car stayed at halfway in the car, but after a small bit of revving did notice a strange smell inside the car.

Before yesterday i was kinda self diagnosing a faulty 5th injector/fuel pump problem as it wasn't starting without the easy start but after yesterday, the symptoms seems to be high signs of head gasket failure.

I'm posting here to see if anyone has any input to put with the description, and is it worth while taking a trip to Lexus to plug it in or cut my loses and sell it cheap as a Repairable?