Bad News From Lexus After Car Broke Down

[simon L]

Car broke down on Tuesday night and Lexus just called after their inspection. RAC thought it was the Crankshaft sensor but actually is a lot worse!

They told me is VVTi related issue. I have not much idea what exactly that means. All he said there are a number of parts damage and need replacing and is a BIG job. And this is only one side of the engine they have open up...so he said potentially but unlikely there will be more issue once they have opened up the other side.

The cost .... £2k.... discounted now at £1.7k, I have no choice but ask him to proceed as I only bought the car 2 months ago....

anybody has any experience of this sort of issues before? Is this a common failure? I asked the guy why would this happen as the car has always been service by Lexus and the last service is only 2500 miles ago. He said unfortunately, is just bad luck this time....

[simon L]

one additional point, from the day I bought the car, when it started cold, it has a loud initial noise... may be this is related to the vvti failure?

[Silver Arrow]

WOW - that is rare from what I can tell.

IS250's have had an issue with cold engine rattles, requiring a top end strip down, but I didn't think it effected the 3.5l.

You might want to ask for more goodwill, if the car has less than 100k on the clock and a FLSH. Good luck.

[simon L]

may talk to Lexus UK and see if they are willing do anything. The car has full Lexus Service History except one service about 4 years ago. It is at 87000 miles.... Just searching on clubLexus and see some others have similar issues and roughly same price to fix...2,500USD

[ROYT]

I think my age is showing here, but I can't get my head around the prices quoted for repairs to so called quality cars like

the above post.

A virtually full lexus service history yet a major breakdown at 87,000 miles.

These big engines should do double that and not need a £2000 repair.

Something is wrong here, either this engine has had major abuse or the full Lexus maintenance is a failure.

Why was the noise not picked up during these services?

If it's making an abnormal noise, something is wrong with it!, this bit is not rocket science I'm sure.

I also have an old Merc 230e it's done 130k, the engine is quiet and and I expect to stay that way for another 100K!

Likewise my LS 400, maintained by me.......regular oil changes, like the Lexus Service dept are supposed to be doing.

What do other members think, is it me out of date?

[ColinBarber]

I think my age is showing here, but I can't get my head around the prices quoted for repairs to so called quality cars like

the above post.

A virtually full lexus service history yet a major breakdown at 87,000 miles.

These big engines should do double that and not need a £2000 repair.

Something is wrong here, either this engine has had major abuse or the full Lexus maintenance is a failure.

Why was the noise not picked up during these services?

If it's making an abnormal noise, something is wrong with it!, this bit is not rocket science I'm sure.

I also have an old Merc 230e it's done 130k, the engine is quiet and and I expect to stay that way for another 100K!

Likewise my LS 400, maintained by me.......regular oil changes, like the Lexus Service dept are supposed to be doing.

What do other members think, is it me out of date?

unfortunately there are always failures, with or without servicing, and in theory manufacturing defects should materialise within the warranty period but that doesn't always happen. Non service parts are so expensive that it doesn't take much to reach a figure like £2k. :o

I know a person who was given a £7,000 quote for a transmission replacement on a MB CLK which was out of warranty.

I also know somebody who purchased a 8 year old BMW X5 and ended up spending £2,000 on a service!

[simon L]

I am writing to Lexus UK....and asking if they can do something about it... i.e. contribute a % of the bill

do you think they will consider anything like this?

Which department of Lexus UK do I need to contact?

[ColinBarber]

yes it is possible, although it is more likely if you were the original owner.

[wendle]

Depending on what sort of start up noise your car was making
would depend on weather the noise is normal or not, because of the new type of fuel
injectors they now use you do get a noise when you start up and also the tick
over can sound noisy, 20 years ago I would have said the tappets need adjusting,
that’s the sort of noise you get and is normal

Is the car being repaired at a Lexus dealership?, you
mentioned that you have negotiated the price down to 1.7k, if this is through a
non Lexus dealership I don’t think you will get much joy in getting any money
back.

I had a problem with the telescopic steering wheel it wouldn’t
move forward or backwards, the car was 6 years old, but had only done 38k
miles, they wanted £800 to repair it, after talking to Lexus customer care they
agreed that it shouldn’t had failed and would pay 75% of the bill.

I would ring Lexus customer services first and see what they
say.

[simon L]

Thanks guys

I will speak to customer services and see what they say.

Finger cross.....

[Ullevi]

Sorry to hear of your trouble, Simon.

Did you buy it from a Lexus dealer? If so, they should cover it within a warranty.

Even if you bought it from a non-Lexus dealer, it should come with a warranty that's still in force after 2 months.

If it's a private sale and with good service history and one non-Lexus service in a 9 year old car, then I suspect you have no come back and I'd be surprised if Lexus were open to help you with the costs.

Hope, you are covered somewhere along the line and you get this sorted as painlessly as possible.

[simon L]

hi guys, Vicente

yes, you are right, they are not able to doing anything towards the cost as I bought it privately. Lesson Learned. However, I hope once this is fixed, everything would be fine for another 100k miles....

thanks guys!!!

[Ullevi]

Sorry to hear that, Simon.

You certainly had big cojunas buying such a complex car privately! I wouldn't have had enough brave pills in the locker!

I hope you get it sorted as soon as possible and it goes on to give you thousands of miles of pleasure.

Keep us updated!