My0gr81

They make no margins on parts, since they are from Lexus inventory, not theirs, and they make a pitance in labor, that could otherwise be used for other paid work, such as scheduled maintenance and full price repairs. A busy dealership would rather avoid warranty work, but during slow times, it pays the bills

S2KIS250

alright, so situation pushed a little further!

my fiance called the dealership back and spoke with the service manager about our issues. she explained the symptoms, that we had 2 CEL/CHECK VSC appearances in 2 days, and that it went away after re-starting, and nothing was showing up on our scanner. He said that of course they could have a look at it for the diagnostic fee (if nothing showed up) or we could keep trying to get it to misfire again on our own and then pull the code right away and bring it to them.

the SM then further went on to tell us that "we should feel good/lucky that the CEL has gone away on it's own, as its probably nothing serious, and that the sensors are very sensitive which could be the cause"

seriously? i don't know about you guys but if my car is throwing warning lights at me, even if they're gone for now, something WAS/IS wrong in there, you can't just write that off the board.

We called lexus of canada and spoke with them for about 30min. we told them the situation with both the car and the dealership, and they were definitely alot more helpful. They opened up a formal case for us, and they actually wanted me to post here that Lexus wants more people to call in and open cases/complain about the carbon build up issues and not just go to the dealership. They want people to do so, so that they can look into it further and maybe end up issuing a recall or something rather, but need more reports of it first hand.

they did tell us that of course we will need to throw a CEL code for any work to be done now, but they told us that if we can't get a replicated code by the time our powertrain warranty runs out (next july i think) that we have an open case with them, had the issue before IN warranty, and would work it out with management to get everything right.

So as for now, we're going to keep the scanner in the car, and i'm sure the car will throw the code again and we'll get it fixed that way. but it would definitely be a good idea for everyone to start writing/calling in and describing their issues with the 250 Carbon build up, and make lexus take note and give us extended warranties/recalls for this issue that they definitely know about!

will_is250

This actually makes a lot of sense, since the first dealer I went to that didn't seem to want to do the repair is one of the "premium" dealers that is high volume, and the one that worked to make sure it was fixed was a smaller one maybe only a half hour away.

is250gurl

the check VSC never came up for me all the times my car has studdered and shook, but it repeatedly threw misfires codes on multiple cylinders. that was enough for them to do the piston rebuild since the cleaning of the cylinders never fixed it. crazy thing is it's done it since so it's not the real fix it seems.

is250gurl

oh and call corporate and complain! they will get you right into that dealership and have a higher up person look at it. worked for me when they kept saying all it needed was a throttle body cleaning at 20k some miles which is way too early for that and i knew it.

S2KIS250

so even though i had a check VSC and the CEL was blinking (not solid) i'm assuming its most likely still a carbon build up issue for me? the car did stutter and feel like it lost power so i'm assuming the symptoms are the same, but the warning lights may differ.

either way we did call corporate and both have said we can't really do much without a code, but its now documented and at least lexus canada knows about our specific situation etc.

is250gurl

if it's an IS 250 then yes it's a possibility. keep bugging them if it keeps happening.

zen

iTrader: (6)

I guess it's really depends on dealer's decision to replace the pistons. I have only briefly described the symptons to my service consultant and he authorized the replacement on the pistons without any check engine lights or misfire codes. Perhaps, it's because I have been to the same dealer for the past 8 yrs..

S2KIS250

weird. we have been lexus owners for all of 2 weeks and i wish it was a little less painful getting into it but things happen i guess.

The car has always been serviced at this one dealer (previous owner always brought it there for scheduled maintenance), and the service records even show that earlier on in its life (i think around 30K km) that it was having misfiring issues in cylinder 5 already. It really seems like the service advisors and even the manager don't want to have to do anything with our car though as they say they wont do anything without CEL/Codes, or our money in their pockets just to try and "replicate" the issue.

As i posted before, even the service MANAGER told us that we should feel "relieved" and "happy" that the CEL is no longer on, since it means the problem went away on its own and was probably only caused because the sensors are "really sensitive" LOL.

We told lexus canada corporate about that and they had to have a good chuckle and told us not to listen to him at all. Definitely something is up and hopefully we get another CEL so we can get a fix for it, otherwise, lexus canada has opened up a file for us and will keep it on record there just in case we don't have the CEL and we get the problem outside warranty next year.

Tcooper3

I know how you feel, I've only be a Lexus owner a month and my IS250 has been in the shop for 20 or so days for carbon build up and other issues. But I can say my dealer didn't hesitate to get my carbon build up issue resolved. I'm expecting to have my car back in a couple of days with new pistons and water pump.

I just went in and explained the symptoms and the SA knew right away, I didn't have any lights come on, I just told him of the rough idling and he knew right away. So I do think it's just the dealer you are going to, hopefully you can get the issues resolved before the warranty period is over. Good Luck

stephwin

It's sad to see how individual dealers can vary so much. When my car was having the rough idle issues I took it in and told them what was going on and they were familiar with the issue since there were 2 or 3 other cars being worked on for the same issue at the time. They kept my car for 3 days trying to replicate the rough idle until they finally got it to misfire. Never told me I would be charged for anything if they couldn't replicate it and they never gave me a hard time about having to keep it for 3 days before they got it to misfire.

The SA kept in touch often and let me know how things were progressing. It's a shame that other dealerships aren't as good to work with as others.

lextek475

the BG cleaner does not fix the root cause, it's only temp band-aid, not a real solution. MOST people dont want a FREE fix just a REAL one.

totalstu

A few weeks ago I had the dealer look at the car for the rough idle issue. I also had the check vsc, etc. lights and misfire issue happen once in July. They couldn't finds codes or anything, gave me the car back, and told me to monitor things and write down details when the roughness happens. I took notes for about a week and emailed the dealer. The rough idle was happenning at least once a day. They contact me last week and wanted the car back in for a more thorough inspection, etc. I took the car in this morning. They called in the afternoon and are keeping the car for another day or so and performing the "top engine clean". They said that is all they could do and get approved under warranty. I know its not a permanent fix but it's better than nothing.

hades281

Interestingly, I spoke with people at an independent, high volume Lexus repair shop in my area (their mechanics are all Lexus trained/certified) about the problem. I called them to ask if they have a cleaning or maintenance procedure they recommend for keeping the intake ports and valves clean.

Their "position on the issue" is that if you use a strong fuel injector cleaner every 15000 miles that we shouldn't have a problem. When I asked how that could keep the ports and valves clean, they said that it wouldn't clean the ports (as we all know) but it would keep the piston tops clean and that "we shouldn't have any problems." (hmmm?)

So... This means one or more of the following:

1) Most of these issues are not being handled outside the dealership because most of the affected cars are still in warranty, and this is why an independent shop has not dealt with cleaning intake ports and valves;

2) The problem is not very widespread in the "real world";

3) Perhaps although unsightly carbon does build up in the ports, it doesnt' really cause a drivability problem. The real problem is buildup on piston tops and this is why Lexus has not addressed cleanliness of the port. Support for this argument would be the Lexus top-end cleaning TSIB, which primarily addresses the piston, not the ports;

4) There will be a point in the future when independent shops will have customers continually returning to the shop with the same problem over and over until they start cleaning intake valves and ports because other fixes have not worked;

5) We should open a shop and specialize in making cleaning repairs efficiently and cheaply.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

If the problem was caused by anything other than the part of the valves that fuel doesn't hit on the 250 then the same problems would happen on the 350.

Since they don't I conclude the shop you spoke to doesn't know what it's talking about.