I'm interested in this aswell. I've got an is350 with the o2 conditioner installed (PPE even verified via a picture that it was wired correctly) and my CEL is on with Bank 1 and 2 o2 sensor errors. PPE is shipping me another o2 Conditioner because they think the original one was bad but i am still waiting to receive it.

Have you been able to resolve your issue yet? Would be interested to know what the fix was.

 

Hi,

Was wondering what an O2 Conditioner is... ?

Also wondering what PPE stands for.

Thanks!

 

Hey everyone sorry for the delay I work in the oil field and didn't get the time off I thought I was going to have, therefore I was unable to travel to Denver to see what the dealership said. I just got my days off and have set an appointment up for tomorrow so hopefully I will figure something out. I think it is the o2 sensor itself, I have contacted PPE and the o2 sensor must be functioning properly for the conditioner to work, I don't think mine is. An o2 conditioner basically tells the computer your emissions are where they need to be even if they aren't (I removed the cats on my Lexus) just so you don't get any O2 codes. Does anyone know if the o2's Lexus uses are wide band or narrow band? Also PPE is an exhaust company that can fabricate anything you want exhaust wise for your car, great people also. You'll have to let me know if the replacement conditioners fixes your codes I'll let you know if my o2's are bad also. Thanks again for everything.

 

narrow band I believe

 

Yep narrow band I asked the dealer, thanks. Just dropped it off hopefully i'll have her back tomorrow and will finally know what the problem is.

 

Got my car back first thing today and although I don't like dealerships I have to say Stevinson Lexus of Denver Colorado was the best experience I've had at a dealer. Anyways they did my recalls gave me a loaner vehicle for the weekend and checked my codes, they're tech came to the conclusion that it's either the O2 conditioner or the sensor itself. He said that as soon as I get it tuned the codes and the misfires will disappear. Now i just need to find someone to tune my car for me any suggestions? Also Hoac did you ever get your new conditioners? Did it solve your problem? Anyone know how to test an O2 sensor to see if it's bad? Thanks for all the help.

 

Uh... not sure what you mean here... the ECU is encrypted by Lexus, there's no "tuning" possible.

 

Bet you if you have the cats reinstalled you be all set. If i remember rite another member went threw hell with codes until he added the cat and changed out the sensor then all was gone.

 

You can put a piggy back in the system that will allow you to set most of the parameters where you want them, already asked the techs at Lexus and it is possible according to them. I just need to find someone that will do it. If they make it impossible to tune that would just be stupid on lexus'. Part, factory they are set up for sea level, I'm not at sea level not even close and to get the best powe/ best fuel economy resetting the parameters for my elevation is the best way. Where theirs a will theirs a way and I'll find it, not being rude but I don't need people telling me what I can't do to my car cause I will find a way, I was told no one makes headers for the AWD's well I got some, told you can't run dual exhaust on them and I have that too this is a minor speed bump and I will find someone as crazy as me to tune it. Thanks

 

Also don't need the lecture of "well you should've got a 350" if Lexus would have made an awd 350 I'd have it,i love my AWD and I love my Lexus so I will do what it takes to make it how I want it. And yes my next car is going to be a Subaru STI I want both cars though I don't like to settle.
Thanks again

 

Lexus does make the 350 in AWD...

and the only guys who've gotten a working piggyback on their cars are one guy using a $1400 HKS system (and that's before you pay anyone to tune it, which according to him cost more than the system itself)... and one guy who spent a similar amount on a MAPECU3 (which does less, but is easier to make adjustments to). So no lecture, but with that you'll have already spent more modding your 250 (between headers, exhaust, tune, etc) than the 250->350 price difference and still be making a ton less power.

 

Just checked and you are right Lexus just started making an AWD 350 which costs over 40,000 lol. I bought my 2007 for 21,000. That leaves me 20,000 to spend on it to get the power the new 350 AWD has (306 horsepower), my car was used as a test fit for PPE to get IS250 headers on the market and the whole system cost me a grand leaving me another 19,000 to use. I could drop 4 grand on the 3.5 motor and do a motor swap, as well as dropping oh we'll say 10,000 on a good twin turbo kit (already spoke to Paul at PPE about hooking me up with a good deal on turbo manifolds) and surpass the power of the 350 for less money than a new Lexus at 40,000 dollars. Yes I understand all about depreciating value and all that but it's the principle, it's who you know in the market and what kind of friends you make, it's the fact that I own this car and don't want to lose money I've already put in it by selling it for less than I bought it for and then getting more monthly payments that I don't want to go through again. If they would have made an IS350 AWD in 2009 when I bought mine you bet I would have jumped on it no problem and would've loved it but they didn't, and here in Colorado I have been literally stuck in my drive way in a rear wheel drive mustang (which I traded for my AWD Lexus). Thank you for the info though I will look into it and decide what is best for me. If I can find the right hardware I have a few friends that will tune it for me for free so I will check out hks

 

Actually no they started selling them in fall of 2010, so almost a year and a half ago now...

Here's a used one (2011, about 13k miles) for about 31k-
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...nal&listType=1

So about 10k more than you car... minus the headers and you've only got 9k left.

Don't forget that car is 4 years newer than yours, less miles on it, and has ~3 years of full warranty on it too.

Not to say you should go buy it, and I'm sure the options might be different... but then that was just me spending 30 seconds looking so I'm sure there's others out there similarly or cheaper priced... the point was your 20k number is greatly exaggerated.


As to the motor swap, nobody I'm aware of has successfully done that... it should be possible of course, but you're likely spending more than $4000 to do it.

Why?


Even assuming you really have a line on a similar-miles-to-yours 350 engine, complete (like fuel parts and ECU and wiring and all, not just the block) for 4k

1) Your car lacks VDIM (it wasn't added to 250s until 2009) so you'll likely have issues with the 350 ECU expecting sensors and other things your car lacks. You can probably add them using 2009+ 250s as a guide, but more $.

2) You'll probably want a 2011 or newer 350 engine. Since 06-10 ones won't know how to talk properly to your AWD transmission. You might could use a motor from an AWD GS though, still doubt you'll get one, including the wiring and ECU, for 4k if it's low miles and in good shape.

and that's also assuming all your labor is free.


The only 2 motor swaps into a 250 I know of that worked were:

One guy overseas (where they don't sell the 350) swapped a 4.3L V8 (like they put in the GS430) into his 250....RWD drive though- I think he had like 10 grand into it, but it supposedly worked great.

One guy in the US (who does stuff like this for a living) swapped a 2JZ-GTE into a 250. He still has a couple lights on the dash for Trac and VSC, but everything else works. He has several hundred hours of labor into that though, which would be a lot more than 10 grand if someone had been paying him to do it.



that's interesting, since no such kit exists. For a reason too.

Not that I doubt PPE could make the manifolds, but, again, then you'd have some manifolds and not much else...see below on that.

If you mean on a 250, no, you won't. 12:1 compression. You'll drop 10k on a kit (that again doesn't exist) and find you can't run more than 6-7 psi of total boost without blowing the engine up.

Good luck fitting 2 turbos under the hood while you're at it- nobody has yet managed to fit one... and the added plumbing of going turbo over supercharger, especially on an AWD vehicle that's already so tight under there they need special headers... well... like I say, good luck.

Even the super charger kits are pretty tight fits, and they require a lot less hardware to get in there. (and the gains are terrible for the cost- $6000-8000 for 40-50 hp typically since you're so limited in how much boost you can run by the compression ratio).

I suppose you could try lower compression pistons... those don't exist either of course, so again, custom, not cheap, work... and somewhat special custom work too since the pistons have to be a very specific shape for the DI system to not blow the motor up.... plus the cost of taking the motor apart to swap em in the first place.

Still, by all means go for it- it'd certainly be a first.



Well, I agree with you living someplace with steep hills and snow is the one use case an AWD vehicle actually makes sense in a car.... (flat and snow RWD works just great, better than AWD in many cases, with proper tires on it)

HKS350 would be the guy on here to speak with on the HKS setup by the way- he's running it along with an HKS supercharger on his 350 and can tell you exactly what hardware you need and any likely pitfalls.

 

Lol I like you man sometimes I need someone to put me in my place, and my turbo talk was along with the exaggeration of putting a 3.5 under the hood and looking at a remote turbo setup like corvett uses, still researching remote setups pros/cons. It's real funny though cause I just (yesterday) had a conversation with the Lexus dealer about why they don't make a 350 AWD and they agreed that they should (never corrected me that they did), wish I would have waited a year to buy mine lol sent you a friend request keep the info coming, you heard anything about a company mhp (modified horsepower) tuning 2nd gen ecu's.

 

MHP claimed they could tune Lexus stock ECUs.

They did one guy with an IS-F, who supposedly showed 19 hp in gains....and were asking like $4000 for the service.

Then were unable to reproduce the results with anyone else, leaving most to conclude they were going the JET performance route and simply slapping their sticker on a stock ECU and pronouncing it "tuned"... and from what I understand pretty much vanished from the forums the first time someone complained about it.

This thread has a little bit about it-
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...g-options.html



Not surprised at the convo you had with your dealer- when I special ordered my car I was the one explaining to the salesman how the car can be optioned from the factory.

Something like the rear-mount STS setup might be doable- though again with AWD you're even tighter on getting the pipes through... but you're still looking at the same low-boost limit to where you still won't make as much as a stock 350 does... and throwing that much $, plus the tuning costs, you might seriously look at trading for a used AWD 350 and get warranty back plus larger hp gains.