Mpg Problem Case Please Advice And Help

[hsiaolc]

Dear members,

I used to be a very happy Lexus owner just about 6 months ago. I am running out of options so I come to you and ask for advice and help.

The problem started 6 months ago when I took my car in for a recall of engine valve springs. At first I was very skeptical about the entire process because it is a complicated procedure, so I called up Edgware Lexus dealer (closes to me) to ask if they have done this recall before. Their reply was they have done it on similar cars and so I shouldn't worry about taking my car in for a recall.

First thing I would like you to know a bit about me. I am a hypermiler meaning I care about MPG a lot and I would like to juice out as much as can out of hybrids.

When the car was fixed a problem arrised. At first I just thought there were extra petrol in the system so the car smelled like petrol in the cabin. I only realised the problem when I came out the car and I can smell petrol maybe 20 meters away from the car. To cut the story short the petrol was leaking from the petrol filter. If you put your finger on it you will be covered with petrol. I didn't make it into a big deal and they gave me a bottle of champaign and a tank of petrol to compensate the error.(I don't drink and of course they blame it on many many things other than their own error)

But through out this experince I thought the MPG was down by a lot but contributed that factor to the Petrol leak. However, one of their service tech actually corrected me in saying that a petrol leak would not results in such a heavy MPG loss. I used to be able to get 27MPG but after the recall I was getting 23MPG average for one tank of petrol.

I took my car back to them and they achkowledge my problem. I tried to help them as much as I can with obersvations and etc and describe the situation to them. They achkowledge the problem at first but could not figure out what is wrong with it since no warning light or any error light is showing up. They contacted technical team Lexus GB and no answers comes to light. They have tried to blame the MPG down to my new tyres. Because I didn't buy the orginal tyres they keep blaming it on that. But what they didn't know was the fact that after they gave the car back to me after the recall I have used the orginal tyres and my MPG was down.

To cut story short a few weeks back they took the car in again because they received new procedures to test my car. After that my car can only do 16-17MPG which is what my Petrol 3.5L V6 non hybrid can perform.

Because it has been half a year since the incident, I had to live with a car that I feel it is no longer mine. It is no longer the same car I've bought. But because the Service manager and the mechnical tech are extremly nice and helpful so I let them deal with it and hoped this will be resolved just between us and I didn't feel the need to bring this up further.

Unforutnately now, I felt it is out of their hands because I don't see anything being resolved. So i contacted Lexus Customer Service and complained and requested a course of action to fix my car because it has taken too long.

A day later I got the reply from Lexus Customer Service saying that after their investigation they have found no problem with my car because the dealer told them there is nothing wrong with my car.

I feel I am very stressed and suffering from all this problem they are giving me instead of just fixing my car. I have a feeling they can't fix it because they don't even know the problem themselves and this should put some worry to all Lexus Hybrid owners.

So any advice and help is highly recommended from a desperate owner.

Yours Faithfully