Hi,
Just thought I'd share my experience of the notorious head gasket issue which I've had fixed this week.
Bought my 2009 Lexus IS220d at 57K miles just under 3 years old last year. I had it serviced at 60k miles and there were no real issues. I was getting 55-58mpg on the motorway and around 42mpg tank average. It had a FLSH with 5 stamps in the book.
A few weeks back I noticed a drop in the economy to around 33mpg and found the coolant was spraying over the engine bay. I hadn't noticed any overheating issues but found the heaters weren't as powerful as they should have been. The engine oil cap was didn't show any white material inside and there was no oily stuff in the water reservior that I could see but having read up a little I still had a good idea it was the head gasket. I was due a 70k service in any case so phoned around for quotes in the midlands. Coventry were cheapest and offered to fit me in the next day.
They confirmed I needed a new engine in addition to a new water pump which was also apparently leaking. They offered me a CT200h as a courtesy car for free and said they could have a new engine the next day and would start working on it right away. With the car's FLSH they said they would the work under the engine's goodwill extended warranty.
So I took the CT200h (not bad, but not as nice as I'd hoped; my wife was considering getting one so it was nice for her to see one in the flesh and let me drive her around in it over the weekend) and went on my way last Thursday. Yesterday (Tuesday) I had a call to say the car was ready and had been road tested so this morning I went to pick it up and it's a pleasure to drive again. I just paid for the servicing. I'm limiting my revs to under 2k at the moment and drove home with a very light foot...
It managed 61.7mpg over 66 miles on the motorway cruising at 60mph and showed 60.6mpg by the time I got home and battled another 8 miles of traffic. I've had a quick look and the coolant currently shows no signs of a leak.
The dealer has offered to take a look at the car again after I've covered my first 1000 miles to check there are no issues. At the moment I'm a happy bunny, well done Lexus Coventry.