NJLEXES

Macklin,
Just as an FYI.... I didn't mention that my dealer had said to me "even if Lexus Corporate DID NOT come through for you", they would do the upgrade to the metal line (at my expense of course). Said it was a little more involved than simply removing the rubber hose portion only (which is what is done for the usual 923 bulletin)
Can't understand why your dealer wouldn't do it in any case.
My dealer said it was compatible and Lexus Corporate had said they had even checked with a Tech representative internally to confirm it could be done.

pestleman0

NJ,
Did the dealer get the part? One service tech I spoke with a few days ago stated there was a back order. I hope this wasn't a stall tactic.

fusionz

Well if ANYONE here is getting resistance from Lexus repairing their ES 350, feel free to contact me. I will be happy to share photos of a dead ES 350 with oil all over the belts, chains and under carriage of my car. As of January 14th Lexus has not notified of us of any service campaign, but our little VVTI Rubber hose decided to rupture. Pin hole size break, but we now have a blown engine. I can assure you LEXUS might want to replace someone's hose more than they will an engine. Our ES has 49,000 miles on it and there is no excuse for Lexus to have this issue on so many vehicles. They have known about this problem with the 350 motor for sometime, but apparently have been reluctant to recall it. They have a campaign to repair the RX 350 so why not the ES 350? They are the same engine (Many ES and RX 350 motors are built in same factory in Japan) Lexus said the ES letters were about to go out, but if you have one don't wait.
I have worked for Toyota and Lexus for 4 years and I am shocked and ashamed they have this problem. I am not certain what they are going to do for me, but I do not like what I hear so far. I believe the degree of this problem will be scandalous if they do not resolve it quickly.

garsarno

Typical corporate thinking / why do a recall when just a few engines might blow up, hopefully out of warranty. Glad I got the Platinum Extended Warranty for my '07. Everyone said, hey, it's a Lexus, they run forever and nothing goes wrong. Right.......

Macklin

fusion, that sux!

Remembering back to the conversation I had with my buddy, after asking him when the letters would come out because I didn't want to worry about a failure until then, his response was to just keep an eye out for oil leaks on the garage floor. That it would give this warning long before rupturing.

Thought I would pass this on...

NJLEXES

Yes, the dealer got the part. Ordered it on a Friday I think and got it in on Mon/Tues.
Brought the car in on Thursday to have the work done.

Seems to have been ok, however "might" have a small leak somewhere.
Spent about 45 minutes at my gas station (he let me use his lift) after picking the car up from Lexus Thurs afternoon to clean the underside thoroughly of any residual fluids as they had to take out the power steering pump to get some clearance. Wanted it to be clean to be able to spot any possible leaks.
On Friday after work, thought I saw about a quarter size drip where i had parked at work.
Friday night after I got home I jacked up the car to get a look and there was more fluid (might have been power steering fluid) there. My fluid levels (engine oil / power steering) are fine.
I cleaned it well again as perhaps maybe there was some trapped in the frame somewhere?
In any case, gonna drive the car some today and jack it up for a third time.
If there is any fluid again, back to the dealer it goes !

Isn't this why I bought a Lexus ?

MD350

NJ, I had fluid trapped on the frame rails, which caused those dime sized leaks on the garage floor for about 2 weeks after I got the car back. That has now stopped, but I still do get the burning smell when I park the car after a long, hot drive. Not sure if the burning smell will ever go away.

Akachan LS

I found this informative link on the web about the issue: http://sites.google.com/site/toyotav6oillinescandal/ It looks like the all metal line may be the only true fix.

NJLEXES

Akachan LS,

I had actually posted this link further back in this thread.
However, that is precisely why I replaced my rubber line with the metal line BEFORE it blew open like in MD350's case.

MD350...
Thks for the follow up. Of course, in your case it was motor oil.
In my case, it's power steering fluid because he had to take out the PS pump to get to the area in the lower part of the engine where the metal line attaches. Fluid still made a mess even in this case !
I had actually went back to the dealer yesterday to ask him about the fluid which kept appearing.
LIke I said, I cleaned it Thursday after getting it back...Friday night again... and it was still wet again on Saturday after driving only 20 miles.
The dealer did clean it again for me, but said there was nothing to worry about. It was fluid trapped and I could see wetness for another week or so.
This happened a little while after I had my trans replaced too, so I guess it is probable that its also true in thia case. Lastly, my fluid levels were staying ok. If there was a leak, they'd drop.

Guess I'll drive happy for a bit and check on it in a week or so.

Jeez, even trying to solve the problem before it happens causes problems too !

zhivuyatut

This just recently appeared on "mylexus" page for my car.

Service Campaign 9LH:
LSC 9LH - VARIABLE VALVE TIMING (VVT-I) OIL HOSE REPLACEMENT

This is a Limited Service Campaign. Please contact your authorized Lexus dealer to schedule an appointment to replace the VVT-I oil hose with a newly designed one before March 31, 2013.

I'm going next week to the dealer for an oil change and a laundry list of small nit-picks.

LexBob2

This Service Campaign notice appeared for my car too, as well as the recall notice for the gas pedal issue.

Depending on what they are doing on the recall, I might decline to have that done, since I always have just one mat in use and it is always anchored down.

I'm taking the car in on Monday.

racingt

Got it also, may just wait till the car has 35K miles or so, sitting on 20K now...

YotaCarFan

How come so many Lexus dealers don't do high quality work and tell customers to put up with problems? That sounds like what one would expect from a Kia dealership. Lexus Corporate really needs to reign in its franchisees and fix this. My own personal experience with various repairs has been atrocious (parts damaged during repair of other parts, cosmetic damage, forgetting to reconnect wires when reassembling things, telling me blatantly obvious defects are "normal", etc.). And Lexus wonders why people demand buybacks instead of wanting faulty major components (e.g. transmissions) swapped out at the dealership.

NJLEXES

Whaddya know.... after all the drama I went through with Lexus Corporate about not being included in the "923 campaign", it now shows up on my MYLEXUS page ?!

Go figure.

Doesn't affect me now as I've already got the metal line in there though.

Further proof the the VIN specific campaign was not so VIN specific after all.....

pestleman0

After 1 and 1/2 weeks my dealer states they are still unable to get the metal line. He said it could take a couple of weeks. I told him that would be fine as long as the metal line and not the rubber hose was installed. Thankfully, I have the loaner until then. You got yours pretty quickly, didn't you? I wonder who they got it from? Maybe I could pass that info along to the dealer.