I purchased a 2012 ct200h with 93K last Friday. There were no issues during my two test drives. On Sunday I had a bit of a rough start, not too outrageous. Certainly not violent or anything. Then today I notice it running a bit rough at idle, not nearly as smooth as that little motor should run. I checked the dipstick, and there is some rust colored stuff mixed in with the oil on the end of the dipstick. Uhoh. I fear the head gasket has a leak. No codes no check engine light yet. The coolant level is about 1/2” below full.. I am sickened and quite frankly cannot believe that the Infinity dealership could have a mechanic that could miss something like this, so I am forced to think that they knew it had this issue and tried their best to cover it up. I sure hope I’m wrong... So, now what do I do? I cannot believe this. I plan on taking it to the Toyota dealership to have it diagnosed tomorrow. Hopefully there is a best case scenario option in this for me. I feel like lately it’s been an escalation of poor decisions mixed with bad luck.

 

Nope, it's not a lemon. This is a very common problem with these cars, talked about all the time. The headgasket has indeed blown, because the EGR system was not maintained (cleaned).

 

and any reputable mechanic or dealer wouldn’t have tried to hide that fact. But thanks for the post!

 

Sorry for your luck!
Dealership may indeed have mislead you...but not necessarily. Although a hard one for a mechanic to miss on his used car inspection (which surely is stated in your paperwork). A major dealer like infinity should hold themselves to a higher regard than say a used car lot. I would bring the results from your inspection to them and reason. Legally they don't have to do anything of course, but if it was an honest mistake, they may work with you.

Toyota of Long Beach where I bought mine said I had 50% off service for X amount of time...they may have or honor something like that at least.

 

that is really weird actually. i don’t think you bought a lemon because head gaskets are common with the CT and Gen 3 prius, but it is definitely odd that it happened so early, especially at 93K. This usually happens at around 160-190k.

I would take it back to the dealer and tell them that they should’ve known about this and that you were unjustly sold the vehicle.

most likely, the vehicle was not maintained well by the previous owner. the last person probably neglected it and didn’t change oil on time, didn’t change coolant, drove hard, never serviced EGR.

I would try to take it back to who sold you the car, especially if it is a known dealer in your area.

 

Sometimes cars that have driven lots of short trips or have been sitting can form water condensation in the crankcase, giving the impression of oil/water mixture. Given this car was recently on a dealer lot going on test drives, don't be too alarmed just yet. The rough running at start up generally is a tell tale sign of either fuel or water leak as the car sits. So hopefully it's something minor.

Dealership needs to perform a leak down test and hydrocarbon test on the coolant. Both ideal.

 

Also see if dealer can find if there's "ghost codes" -- codes (likely misfire if a blown HG is your issue) that have come up and been cleared in the past. This could show the dealer or prior owner knew about the problem before transfer of title. Then you can show this to the dealer that sold you the car.

 

Bought last Friday? Take this thing back. If you keep this, be prepared to learn all about HG's and EGR's. Since you've had this for less than a week, I would just cut my losses...

 

this is what I’m hoping for. I dropped it off at the Lexus dealer to have the airbag recall done and to have it checked out. I should know tomorrow what the deal is. They gave me a new es350 as a loaner. That’s a pretty nice ride.

 

It’s an as-is used vehicle. You can’t simply take it back. Unless the dealership would allow it of course..

 

I am going to bet that there isn’t a major issue, and the streak of rust colored contaminate on the dipstick was due to condensation and not a blown HG. Lately it seems like everything has been going wrong one way or another so it’s gotten easy to jump straight to worst case scenario... according to the carfax the car was maintained at Lexus dealers for the most part, so that’s a good thing. It’s super clean inside and out. I think I did the right thing by getting into the dealer for an inspection.

the infinity dealer that I bought it from did seem willing to do something if worst case becomes reality.

 

That's a great point came to mind and didn't mention it. It could have been sitting there a long time, which can cause that discoloration. Carfax can be a good indicator of when they got it.

 

I hope you get your money back?

 

I think you were unlucky and got a bad poorly maintained car.
If I can be of any help, I would suggest contacting Gasket Masters in California so they can refer you to someone to fix it. They referred me to Dr. Hybrid in Lincolnton NC, but I have not used them and will use them if anything goes wrong. Quoted me 1,400 for head gasket plus resurface, which is really reasonable in my opinion.
Text them-they know people all around the United States----209-305-1672

Edit: I didn't see your last post. That's great that it is not a blown HG, as that problem is actually rare in these cars. It seems to be magnified online though. I also have a 2012 Prius with 260k, no blown HG. So if that makes you feel more comfortable.

 

Wow!!
I had considered doing this job myself (I'm cheap, and dayam- $1400?!!), but these earlier 2ZRFXE's with their rings/piston issues made me decide to just get a Gen4 instead. $1200 w s/h included.