bmore430

As my 2005 is approaching 100k miles I have been looking at doing some of the typical services.

Out of curiosity I dug into the lexus owners site and contacted the dealer where it was sold new and serviced up until I bought it 4 years ago with a little over 60k miles. The lexus site is great but it is vague on some services and leaves out some detail.

I was planning to do spark plugs myself and take the car to lexus dealer to get opinion on transmission drain and fill or complete exchange as needed.

When I called the service writer at lexus pulled the VIN and told me the transmission fluid was fully changed at 60,000 miles and the spark plugs were done at 65k miles right before I purchased along with coolant, brake fluid etc.

Saved me the hassle and a few hundred bucks for a few minutes of work. After the recent spark plug threads I feel much better now not having to worry about them until 150k miles and not going to touch the transmission fluid until 160k plus miles as well.

I did exchange the brake fluid in the reservoir with new fluid as it was a bit dark. This is a 10 minute job with a siphon or turkey baster. Will be using same method on the power steering.

Johnhav430

I must admit, I have always found Lexus to be odd in this respect. I get that their customer service is over the top, everything is yes, everything is treating the customer well. But I think it's a loophole that strangers are able to check service records on cars they don't own, from the website.

Contrast this to BMW. They can print out the service history and warranty status to any vehicle at the dealer, BUT THE OWNER OF THE CAR IS NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE IT. I have a copy because a mgr printed it out, and told me, if I accidentally took it by mistake it wouldn't bother him. It clearly states on the printout proprietary and not to be shared with vehicle owner, it was very official like an Experian credit history.

From the forum, I've found this to be consistent and folks buying used cars have had difficulty in asking for the service history outside of Carfax. I feel the above is the way it should be, private, but a dealership employee can "lose" the history to a customer if he/she sees fit.

Anyway, the other thing I was gonna say is I don't agree with the turkey baster method of exchanging fluid, and am actually a bit paranoid that this is what unscrupulous muffler shops do. You leave with clear fluid, and in a week to 3, it's dark again. Or, they bleed from the nearest caliper, and omit the other 3.....also, there is risk of introducing air...just my .02....

bmore430

The turkey baster method isn't a one time fixes all type deal. The idea is to do it a few times in a short amount of time and for very little effort/labor you get new fluid into the system and alot of old dirty fluid out. This does not replace a complete bleed/flush but definetly helps in between the 30k-50k mile intervals. This is actually the recommended way to keep the master cylinder/clutch fluid clean/clear in Corvettes on the 6 speed cars which is why I did it to the Lexus because i bought a huge bottle and needed to use it all up before it goes bad.

shmi

I don't see it as an issue, as long as there is no owner information disclosed online. The Lexus website hides all of the owner information, so all you see is something like this for mine for example:



Letting a customer walk away with a copy of another customer's repair order is a big no-no though. Surprised he let you do that when he could have easily just told you what work was performed and when, or just written it down without giving away customer information.

Johnhav430

Well, honestly, with the way things are so secure/secured these days, it's bizarre that you can look up the service history on my car, any time you want. What I've learned, and it's probably a mistake on Lexus' part, is when you change the preferred dealership, the one that got removed, gets a sales lead, and starts incessantly contacting the email listed. Nuts. It's like saying I can log in remotely and check your voicemail, as long as I just listen, and don't modify anything.

There has to be a reason, why, BMW won't give the service history to the rightful owner of the vehicle. I don't know what that reason might be, but the docs I got clearly state proprietary and not to be shared with the owner of the vehicle.

Carfax is another story, I have nothing against legit records being funneled through a pay to play service. But with Lexus, anyone can check anything--that's not secured as it should be in 2017. Maybe they'll wake up and realize it....

Tom57

Each time I've purchased a pre-owned LS at a dealer, the prior owner's home address has been left in the Navigation memory (along with other destinations, like their country club, work location, etc.) ...

Johnhav430

I found a bunch of stuff in Naples, FLA.....(da* that country club has a 35k initiation, not unbelievable but more than I'll ever be able to spend on such, then over a grand in golf fees, plus a minimum 1200 for dining, monthly--my prev owner did live the good life seriously)....the funny thing was a menu from an Italian place in Orlando was discovered when I replaced the cupholders lol

shmi

It does seem kind of odd, but maybe Lexus just hasn't had it brought up through litigation and doesn't see it as an issue. Personally I am thankful... I used the LS's records to make a detailed list of when work was performed so that I'd know when to plan to do it again.

Does it have the previous owner's information on it anywhere? I used to have an E46 M3, and my dealership gave me some of the service records with no issue. However, they would only print out records of work performed under warranty, whereas any repairs requested and paid for by a customer they refused to print out. When I asked if they could at least tell me if/when some work was performed, they agreed, but they wouldn't print it out for me and give me full details, I presume because it listed owner info. Maybe the Germans view it as being as vital as doctor-patient confidentiality

airchomper

I'll bet you $200 (payable to the charity of my choice) that you can look up the service history of non-lexus cars right from the O.E.Ms. Let me know if you'll take the bet and I'll provide the details.

It's not a loophole, and I think it's a good system. Lexus kept digitized maintenance records from the beginning and it's valuable information to have around - it definitely helps the secondary market for the vehicles and it increases the value of the work the dealer's perform. It's not like you can go look up the maintenance history of anything (e.g I can't tell what's up with Paris Hilton's LFA or what dealer did the work on the old Ford CEO's car). The user needs to present a VIN to the system and I believe you can use 'less' information to pull a car fax on a car (just need the plate number). From a security perspective, the VIN is harder for an adversary to find than the licence plate information and for an adversary, maintenance information is much less sensitive than anything else you could pull with a VIN / plate - the government databases have it tied to your driver's license, demographic information, home address, employer, photograph, and maybe even a dossier depending on how thick your file is and how connected your police department is, officers routinely abuse these systems to trawl for dates or harass people and officers rarely face discipline for misusing the systems - so why bother with maintenance history if you have a VIN and a grudge?

I just don't see what's shocking about it? Lexus has had digitized records since the dawn of time, Lexus might have the best residuals in nearly ever class it competes, there's value for the owner and the subsequent owners and the dealers to let people access the maintenance history without making it a big ordeal, and it's cost effective to provide the information so it happens.

I don't know if I'd be driving a Lexus now if the service history weren't so easy to find.

LS430Lexus

I have no opinion on whether Lexus should or should not share the maintenance history. I am just glad they do and hope they continue to do so. That said, the less it is discussed on this forum, the better.

Johnhav430

Glad I wasn't dreaming. A mgr. at the dealership printed it out for my car, left it on his desk, said he would not mind if I took it by mistake, and left the room. I was, and still am, the original and only owner.

Can you imagine losing your keys with a supermarket tag, and having anyone just go to the supermarket to get the info on whose keys these are, and what house can be unlocked as well as cars, with the keys?

Why should I be able to simply walk up to a Lexus at shop rite, take a pic of the vin, then jump on the website and register it to me? I did this before I even took possession of my LS from the dealership. And when I did, I changed the dealership assigned to the vin. Suddenly, that dealership began flooding my email with sales inquiries. Clearly that is not intended, and is an error.

Can this be done with my BMW 335i? Not to my knowledge, but I don't know everything, so if that can be hacked, so be it, what can't? It's just that everyone should take reasonable precaution, incl. mfgs. of vehicles. my .02

takimanpgt

It's service history - there's literally nothing anyone can do knowing someone's service history. So what if I share my VIN and you download all of my history - that's all it is - data. With no known personal records of mine, it doesn't bother me at all. I'd rather this honest method than the dishonest "sleight of hand/I will look the other way" method employed by BMW dealers. If a manager at a dealership is willing to "look the other way" once, he is bound to have "looked away" multiple times. And with both the mfr and the customer, probably. Nah - I'd want no part of that relationship between me and my dealer.

Harmlessly unethical is still unethical.

Johnhav430

I still think Lexus is still loosey goosey, but then again I've only owned one since Oct. I truly am not sure what BMW's reasoning is, that you, as the legit owner, are not entitled to the service history. This is completely the opposite of Lexus, where I could likely pull your build sheet of your car, just as easily as I can look up your service records. We could say go ahead and do that, what good does it do you anyway? But one could also say, for what legitimate purpose should Lexus be willing to provide that, when it's someone else's car? What's next, cut a smart key and have it programmed? lol

I'm not even sure what I did with the BMW printout (has to be in with this huge pile of paper service records). It truly looked official like an Experian credit history, and stated not to be shared with the vehicle's owner.

takimanpgt

Again - service history stays with VIN. Cars change owners. So if you wish to have my service history then I do not care. Going so far as to think they would cut you a smart key for a VIN that belongs to me is stretching it. BMW likely hides service history from owners to avoid the shame of having the owners realize how much money they have thrown away at the dealer permanently fixing their cars.

Johnhav430

Actually I don't think that's it, for real. BMW has free maintenance for 4 yrs, along with the b2b. With leasing being > 50%, there's a majority who really doesn't care about anything, they just pay a big fat monthly payment and do whatever the dealership tells them. I did hear that BMW has or will eliminate brakes from the free maintenance (WTH?), that's huge because it tends to run $800 per axle, and maybe low $2k's per axle on M cars. I think it goes along the thinking that everything is 100% locked down, and you open it up as needed, not the other way around.

I can just imagine, someone posts, "I'm ready to buy this sweet 430 that I found." Then another person pulls the history and says, "Hey, the fuel pump got replaced at 30k cuz it had problems starting, and see where it says APPLY COUPON ON SERVICE, the owner used a coupon and he's probably a cheap ******* and even got a loaner. Do you really want that car?" "Thanks man, I just told the seller I dont' want it." Just too loosey goosey with too much information ***** nilly if you ask me lol