Hey there, I am currently having some trouble trying to figure out what's wrong with my car. As the title states I encounter a code P219D (air-fuel ratio imbalance in cylinder 2). My car is currently running rich and I have a negative long term fuel trim. It sometimes has trouble starting. I am leaning towards a faulty fuel injector, any ideas?

 

Certainly it could be an injector, but the question is, which one on cylinder #2? The Port injector or the Direct Injector?
When you said it has trouble starting, what is the starting issue exactly? Extended cranking time? Rough Idle once started? Can you see a puff of black smoke out the tailpipe when it first starts when it gives you trouble starting?

What's the mileage on the car?
Have spark plugs been changed?
Any mods on the car, specifically under the hood?

No one has reported that code on this forum, so it's likely a one-off issue with your vehicle only.
I'd start with the easy stuff before tackling the injectors.

 

I'm not too quite sure about which one on cylinder #2, but I believe it would be the Direct Injector.
And yes I do mean extended cranking time and rough idle once started. There is no puff of black smoke out of the tailpipe.
The current mileage on the car is 68400, I have changed the spark plugs (100 miles ago) when these symptoms arise.
The are no mods under the hood.

Things I have done so far are:
GDI Service, Fuel Cleaner, Spark Plugs, Coils checked, Cleaned the MAF Sensors.

 

Based on your pic you have a Cylinder 3 misfire and a Cylinder 2 Imbalance...and a system too rich...wow, that's more than just the one code.

I've attached a service bulletin I found on the Canadian side...two of the three codes you have are mentioned in the bulletin.
It's not gonna help you fix it, but maybe the dealer will goodwill the repair since you're just out of warranty.

 

thanks for the attachment, i'm in the US and the powertrain warranty is 72 months or 70k miles, therefore I am still under the power train warranty. However the problem is initially went to a Lexus Dealership for a diagnostics besides the one I did for myself. I just had a feeling that they didn't diagnostic it properly so I decided to take it to another dealership, but the first one decided to clear my codes without making any repairs... So when I went to my second one they said couldn't do anything about it besides the valve cover gasket leak that could be seen which was diagnose by the initial dealership.

 

Ok, so you still have a chance to claim this under warranty.
I did the mileage calculation in my head, so I thought you were over...ironically 110,00kms is 68350miles...but of course they round up to 70K, so you actually get more warranty than I do, albeit 1650miles only.

Kinda sounds like the first dealer didn't want to fix it since the bulletin has been there since early last year, and they likely know about it.
That happens sometimes when the repair doesn't pay well under warranty, the dealer avoids fixing it in hopes you'll go to another dealer or the problem won't reoccur until you're out of warranty and they can charge whatever they want.
It's a pretty crappy thing, but it definitely happens.

First I would call Lexus Corporate and report the issue and outline your experience at the two dealers...at least there will be a record somewhere of the issue as you're at the end of your warranty.
Also make sure the vehicle is not over 72 months old. An early production 2016 (say Sept. 2015) would be more than 72 months old, in which case, could be out of warranty. Warranty starts at registration date btw, not build date...but usually vehicles are sold shortly after they are built.

Just keep driving it as much as possible and hope the codes come back quickly, then when you go to the dealer make sure they record everything. Tell them you want to see the codes.

 

Thank you very much for all the help you have provided me. I am still under warranty until the upcoming October! I will definitely do as you say and hoping the codes do come back soon.

 

Hey there, I was wondering if I could get an input from you. So I drove 100 miles already and still haven't able to get those codes to come back. There isn't a check engine light but when I do a specific diagnosis for my lexus, I have two codes for the engine. Startability fault and rough idling. I decided to let the dealership do a diagnosis and they came back to me saying that I have leaky direct and port injectors (all 8). My car currently drives pretty normal besides sometimes has extended crank. I just don't know about trusting their word 100% because it sounds like they just want me to pay $5234+ tax for a repair.

 

If all 8 injectors are leaking then Santa is real.
I could understand maybe one injector for cylinder 2 or 3, but all 8...they are literally guessing.

Did they mention anything about the TSB? Did you mention it to them?

 

haha that's what I thought as well, I couldn't believe it when they stated that all 8 were bad. I did mention the TSB you attached. They even pulled up the US one since yours was Canadian. Stated that they checked it but I'm not too sure about how trustworthy they are... It was stated that they wouldn't be able to do any warranty work unless the codes were present.

I attached what they stated they did and it seems like all that they did was look at the fuel pressure, and nothing else.

 

Ok...where do I even start with the information in the invoice.
First, I can appreciate that the tech is not required, nor has the time, to type in an entire novel as to what they checked.
I can also appreciate that without the codes, they can't apply the TSB because then it looks like warranty fraud because they are fixing something that technically isn't a problem.

So...assuming the techs observation of the fuel pressure dropping after 45 minutes is accurate (imagine my eyes rolling to the back of head)...it leaves the question of how he determined ALL 8 injectors are leaking.
If I saw pressure dropping in BOTH the direct and port fuel lines, then my first thought would be the Fuel Pressure Regulator in the fuel pump assembly.
There is a global drop of pressure in the entire fuel system...the obvious conclusion is the regulator is leaking pressure back into the tank as it regulates the pressure for both the direct and port injection systems.
If all 8 injectors are leaking, that's really easy to confirm...let them leak for 45 minutes as per the invoice, and without starting the car, remove all 4 spark plugs and use a borescope to look into all 4 cylinders. If the fuel did really leak out of the injectors, you would have raw gas sitting on top of each piston.
You would get a long crank to start and a rough idle as well as black smoke out the tailpipe (that's the raw gas).
I'm assuming there are no external fuel leaks...as those would be obvious.

Also the low pressure reading of 33PSI is technically within spec...it is concerning it dropped from 70 to 33, but the minimum spec is 28PSI...soooooo

Man...I don't even know what else to tell ya...this looks like a dumpster fire of a diagnosis.
And imagine if the injectors were all actually leaking...the car would drive like absolute garbage cause the cylinders would be constantly bombarded with raw liquid gas...not to mention it would try to stall at every stop sign and red light.

 

It's all good, I appreciate all you've done for me already. I can tell you for sure that my car is driving about 90%-95% normal from what i can tell without looking inside. The rough idle currently is minimum and it doesn't always have an extended crank to start. Currently getting around 21-22mpg combined. I don't have any other lexus dealership near me to go to, so i guess i'm just out of luck. The funniest part right now for me though is how they are asking me for picture of my VIN on the side door and pictures of the valve cover gasket leak because they didn't take pictures of it themselves to submit for the warranty repair lol.

 

Excuse me while i go beat my head against a wall lol! OMG!

You need to have a conversation with the Service Manager...this is getting just ridiculous now.

 

I have tried that and he doesn't seem like he wants to talk, no call backs and whenever I'm transferred to him i'm left to voice mail. I honestly don't know if I'm being a bother to you but I thought you might be interested on what I was just told.

"I'm sorry you feel this way, and i would agree with you all 8 are probably not leaking at this time, however he was able to determine that both port and direct injectors were both leaking. And our experience with this engine if we have chosen to replace just the few injectors that are leaking, you are paying for labor again in a short time to replace more injectors. So it is more cost-effective to replace all at while it is torn apart."

"They pulled plugs and found spark plugs wet due to the injectors leaking, as well as putting a scope down to see the bleed off of the injectors. We have guided diagnostic's to specifically diagnose injectors. My shop Forman and diagnostic specialist both worked on your vehicle to diagnose this issue. You are welcome to have your other techs perform the work and see if it fixes the issue or not. We will stand behind our diagnosis."

and

"No we did not take photos of a wet spark plug. That leads us to the next step of putting a camera into the spark plug hole to see the bleed off of direct injectors. Once again we will stand behind our diagnosis."

I seriously don't understand where this all even came from. ALL THE SUDDEN he has this information about service being done on my car that wasn't even listed or told to me when I asked him about the diagnosis summary lol.

 

The additional information now helps to support why they want to replace all injectors.
It's not that they are all leaking, rather a couple are leaking, and with the amount of work to replace the couple, they might as well replace all.
And they did find wet plugs and did use a scope in the cylinders to confirm the leak.
Now it makes more understandable sense...assuming we trust that everything they are saying is truthful.

If it needs injectors, why isn't it being covered under warranty?
If warranty will pay for the few injectors that are leaking, then you can kick in the extra for the rest of the injectors...the labor is going to be covered by warranty anyways.
This will significantly reduce the actual cost to you. Injectors aren't cheap, so I would expect maybe $1500 for a handful of them.