Ah yes, you are right. Driver side. Negative, no clear damage to the sensor itself.

That makes me even more confused. I tried that one first actually. Didn't clear the codes immediately or after about a 10 minute drive. Arg. Does it take a while to clear?

 

Have you still got your original coils, can you try them on.

 

Negative, I tossed them :-/
I installed 6 new ones, then tried swapping the two that were coding with the 2 spare I had. Still coding.

 

Because there is nothing else you have done that would have cause this apart from the coils itself, looking at everything you had done. And if the cam retardation timing is correct, it means it is retarded beyond what the ECM has told it to do. So that may where your smoke is coming from, using a deduction method in problem solving. How much were these may i ask and what brand?

I bought some from Mace Engineering Australia, their's are perfect, not too costly too.

PS: OH i still have my old 6, original Denso if you wanna try them out. And i couldnt imagine you wouldn't have not reset your ecu by pulling negative off battery for one hour for good measure after installation of said coils.

 

The cam sensors are the same part number all 4.

Swap the 2 front intake sensors, and see if the code transfer over to bank 1.

 

I understand your logic. But I guess it boggles me that 4 of them worked just fine. What is the probability that 4 of the 8 were faulty? That is why I was thinking it's something else. Here is the link to what I purchased from Amazon:

They're about $110 for 8 coils. The ECU did reset both times, after I swapped out the original 6 coils and then again after I swapped the 2 coils I thought were faulty. The CEL back came both times. Thanks for the offer for the orig coils, I might take you up on that if you're serious.

Roger, I will try that. How long does it usually take for the CEL to reset? Maybe I just didn't wait long enough after swapping the camshaft position sensor. Maybe it's time to invest in an OBDII scanner haha.

Thanks everyone for the help thus far.

 

The cell will reset immediately after an ECU reset. If the problem is not remedied it will show up instantly.

Personally I would never buy off brand major components. Especially coils and plugs from Ebay. It's best to stick with OEM for these items.

You can try the VEEPEAK bluetooth adapter, and OBD Fusion app. Purchasing the enhanced Lexus package gives you a world of trouble shooting perks.

 

So two things now, cam timing affected to the job you had done can only come from coils, or VVT solenoid rubber seals not seated properly(not the ones on the solenoid itself, but the ones in the picture which you said you pry them off with a flathead). Those are the only two things. If oil pressure is not enough for one bank to keep up with the other ones, you might have a cam retarded compared to the others. Which means the exhaust and intake could very well cross over and thats where your smoke could be coming from, from your intake valves that was suppose to be closed but because of incorrect timing, is opened when exhaust smoke is being dispensed so it comes out intake side, hence smoke when redlining and trickle when low.

Those coils don't look 100% compatible bro, they seem to be compatible with GX460, LS460, LS600H, LX570? I dont think you can get an OEM coil from those cars and stick it on IS250 though? we bought a MAF sensor two years back off Ebay thinking i got a deal, says it's OE and it was 30 dollars USD, compared to 120+. It was fine after a little the transmission started bucking upon deceleration at low speeds, swapped back to OEM one. No issues. I only brought the MACE ones because i studied their company, they make really high end products and for the IS250 they only do coils, so i thought they gave the coils more attention since there are no other parts they were doing. And they work great.

PS: If you want my old coils send us a PM and I will go to find out how much to post to yours, mind you we are in Lockdown till Sunday.

 

Thank you for your assistance and expertise. After I swapped out the intake cam position sensor on driver side (Location A Bank 2), she actually runs much smoother. There is less 'ticking' from the motor (I honestly thought that was normal for this engine - she always sounded like that), and the smoke issue has gone away. Or at least it has minimized so that it is not even noticeable anymore. There's still a little smell but no appearance of smoke. However, the CEL remains. I'm going to run to mechanic shop to get myself an OBDII reader to see if the code has changed. Do you think it's worth swapping out the other 3 cam position sensors with new ones? Is there a chance that the OBDII reader is giving me the wrong sensor and maybe it's the exhaust one?

I'm trying to rule everything out before I have to take off the valve cover (again). I really want to avoid that. Outside of replacing the remaining three sensors and getting new OEM ignitions coils, I'm out of ideas.

 

I had the same concern after reviewing the Amazon listing again, but looking further down the page it lists IS250 as compatible. It has the IS250 part number for ignition coils (90919-A2005) listed in the Compatible OEM Part Numbers section. They also matched the original ones physically and fit with no issues. 4 out of the 6 are working with no issues. I'm really baffled that it could be an ignition coil issue. Do you still think it's worth replacing them with true Lexus OEM? If so -- all 6 of them, or just the 2 that are giving me codes?

Edit: I looked at the MACE ones and they look promising, however, they're in Australia and I'm in US. Not sure how much international shipping would be or take, but it won't even ring a price for me on the website for the parts or shipping.

 

RockAuto has the OEM Denso about $53 ea.

Probably the cheapest in price you'll find. Verify first if the cam sensor changed code to bank 1.

 

Okay, so I swapped the camshaft position sensor to bank 1 and the code did not change. I swapped it back and then cleared the ECU. The CEL light returned. The good news is that the P0354/P0356 DTCs went away but now I am still getting a single code:
P0022 - Camshaft Position "A" - Timing Over-Retarded (Bank 2)

After doing some digging on this site, it looks like it could be a few things:
1. Oil Control Valve: I replaced this bolt and its filter. It's tight in there so the filter may have moved around a bit, or maybe even crushed, when getting it in there. I plan to take it out, clean the filter, and try to insert it more carefully. I also have new spare crush washers I plan to use.
2. Engine Variable Valve Timing (VVT) Solenoid: I didn't touch this, not sure how often these fail.
3. Camshaft motor: some folks on the ISF forums are reporting this as the root cause for their P0022 error but I can't seem to find this part on the 2IS. Does the 2IS even have a camshaft motor?

What do you think CL?

 

Did you remove the OCV during the valve cover gasket change?

The cam motor is probably referring to the cam phasers.

 

Mike, I apologize - I'm having a hard time figuring out what is technically the Oil Control Valve (OCV). Depending on where I'm searching it brings up two different parts. Here are the two I've narrowed it down to:

First (really just a filter):


Second:



If it is the first - yes, I changed it. I had to take this filter off with the banjo bolt it was attached to take the valve cover off.
If it is the second - no, I did not change this.

 

Second is the OCV the First is the in line filter.

If you change your oil on a regular basis the filter should stay clean.