Toyota recalls LS, other models for valve spring replacement
11-24-10, 02:04 PM
#436
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I think you may be a candidate for "fix as fail". Many here have reported high mileage on their LS460's - one up to 130,000 miles without the VS failure. But there have also been several VS failures reported here.
Back in July Lexus published– “Lexus estimates that the likelihood of a customer vehicle experiencing this condition is two-tenths of one percent (0.2 %). Lexus has received no reports of accidents or injuries related to this condition. No vehicles from the current 2010 model year nor 2009 are affected.”
You chances of these "head scratchers" screwing up the VSR job and other more costly things in your Hybrid are probably much higher than 0.2%. Remember that the dealer is not reimbursed for screw-up’s by Lexus.
Of course there is the safety issue and inconvenience of having a road failure. Don’t know – but would the electric drive allow driving to a safe place off highway?
I certainly wouldn’t offer up a $120,000 LS600HL for their training program.
My LS460 is garaged for the New England winter and will have the VSR done in April.
Your mileage may vary.
Back in July Lexus published– “Lexus estimates that the likelihood of a customer vehicle experiencing this condition is two-tenths of one percent (0.2 %). Lexus has received no reports of accidents or injuries related to this condition. No vehicles from the current 2010 model year nor 2009 are affected.”
You chances of these "head scratchers" screwing up the VSR job and other more costly things in your Hybrid are probably much higher than 0.2%. Remember that the dealer is not reimbursed for screw-up’s by Lexus.
Of course there is the safety issue and inconvenience of having a road failure. Don’t know – but would the electric drive allow driving to a safe place off highway?
I certainly wouldn’t offer up a $120,000 LS600HL for their training program.
My LS460 is garaged for the New England winter and will have the VSR done in April.
Your mileage may vary.
11-24-10, 07:04 PM
#437
Lead Lap
the new owner should immediately go to lexus.com and create an account on the site and register the VIN with customer info..name, address, etc. Then, it will update their records. Also, you can roll up to any dealer and they should be able to update their systems also. I recommend doing this after you get your permanent tag (license plate). You will then get all the correspondence via email or sometimes via snail mail. Simple as that.
Another benefit, once you log in, you can immediately see all the history of work performed on the car from any dealership that serviced it and entered a record...you could also probably do this if you are shopping around for used Lexus and just keep updating the VIN as you figure out which one you want. Probably not the best route but I guess it would work for that too.
Another benefit, once you log in, you can immediately see all the history of work performed on the car from any dealership that serviced it and entered a record...you could also probably do this if you are shopping around for used Lexus and just keep updating the VIN as you figure out which one you want. Probably not the best route but I guess it would work for that too.
If the car fails due to an issue with the valve springs after the warranty expires, will Lexus still take care of it?
I haven't read anything about time limits. So does that make it an open-ended thing?
Some people sold their car already and now the car is with the new owner. Which owner will get the $500 gift certificate? If it's the latter, where do they get the newer owner's information from?
I haven't read anything about time limits. So does that make it an open-ended thing?
Some people sold their car already and now the car is with the new owner. Which owner will get the $500 gift certificate? If it's the latter, where do they get the newer owner's information from?
Last edited by CJITTY; 11-24-10 at 07:07 PM.
11-27-10, 06:42 PM
#438
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Attachment 188993 Cams removed (sitting on top of engine). Note white zip tie holding variable cam timing gears in place at front of the engine.
Attachment 188994 Air hoses in front & back cylinders to keep valves in closed position before removing spring retainers. Note red paint markings on chain drives.
Attachment 188995 Closer look. Air hoses now in center two cylinders. The small protrusions at the bottom of the head that line up with each valve spring are the hydraulic stabilizers that also get replaced. They are what keeps the valve lash constant and the engine valves quiet. For those totally unfamiliar with an engine, the things that look like springs that are under the round looking washers are the valve spring and are what are being replaced - 4 per cylinder (2 intake, 2 exhaust), 16 per bank (side), 32 total.
Attachment 188996 These are the valve actuators and the round caps sit over each valve stem. They are suprisingly small compared to the old American engines. They sit under the cam. The cam rolls over the center of these, they in turn depress the valves. Note how they are grouped together the way they came off so that they can go back on their original valve stem and cam lobe (due to potential wear patterns) - its the details!
Attachment 188997 Cams back in place and torqued down. Look close and you can see the valve actuators under the cam lobes. In case you are still wondering, those 4 big "tubes" in the center of the head protrude through the valve covers and provide access to the spark plugs. They are covered by individual black coil boxes when everything is back in place. A set of wires are attached to each coil box which goes to the computer which sequentially fires each spark plug.
All thats left is to reinstall the variable timing gears onto the front of the cams, re-install the valve covers, hoses, wiring, etc. Repeat on the other bank.
Attachment 188994 Air hoses in front & back cylinders to keep valves in closed position before removing spring retainers. Note red paint markings on chain drives.
Attachment 188995 Closer look. Air hoses now in center two cylinders. The small protrusions at the bottom of the head that line up with each valve spring are the hydraulic stabilizers that also get replaced. They are what keeps the valve lash constant and the engine valves quiet. For those totally unfamiliar with an engine, the things that look like springs that are under the round looking washers are the valve spring and are what are being replaced - 4 per cylinder (2 intake, 2 exhaust), 16 per bank (side), 32 total.
Attachment 188996 These are the valve actuators and the round caps sit over each valve stem. They are suprisingly small compared to the old American engines. They sit under the cam. The cam rolls over the center of these, they in turn depress the valves. Note how they are grouped together the way they came off so that they can go back on their original valve stem and cam lobe (due to potential wear patterns) - its the details!
Attachment 188997 Cams back in place and torqued down. Look close and you can see the valve actuators under the cam lobes. In case you are still wondering, those 4 big "tubes" in the center of the head protrude through the valve covers and provide access to the spark plugs. They are covered by individual black coil boxes when everything is back in place. A set of wires are attached to each coil box which goes to the computer which sequentially fires each spark plug.
All thats left is to reinstall the variable timing gears onto the front of the cams, re-install the valve covers, hoses, wiring, etc. Repeat on the other bank.
I'm very confident in the job they are doing and the fact Lexus is doing this job though the failure rate is very small.
The last 2 pics are of the GS getting done with the V-6..you can see the difference.
11-28-10, 12:31 AM
#439
I got my car back Friday for the valve spring replacement, everything is good so far, everything seems to be in order. The dealer replace my water pump and radiator cause they said that in the process of removing things they damage the radiator, so brand new radiator and water pump at no charge. They also replaced either my timing chain or timing seal. I took my car to Sewell Lexus of Fort Worth, their service is awesome. It took them about 2 days to do mine, as far as smoother engine, it's the same to me.
11-29-10, 02:05 PM
#440
12-01-10, 09:55 AM
#442
I took mine in to Crown Lexus in Ontario Ca today. They were waiting for me first thing this am with a free rental (2010 RX) and a cup of starbucks, said it would be ready tomorrow if it all goes well.
crown has 6 master mechanics and 3 of the 6 can perform this work on a v8 in 12 hours, the others take about 24, they have one vehicle slot dedicated to just valve spring repair and are now booked out to march of 2011 with appointments. My service rep said they try and complete one consistently every day and appreciate the business from corporate
Also JR my rep, who used to be a mechanic for five years, said that to this point he has not seen any broken springs, other than ONE on an ISF with 180,000 miles...
crown has 6 master mechanics and 3 of the 6 can perform this work on a v8 in 12 hours, the others take about 24, they have one vehicle slot dedicated to just valve spring repair and are now booked out to march of 2011 with appointments. My service rep said they try and complete one consistently every day and appreciate the business from corporate
Also JR my rep, who used to be a mechanic for five years, said that to this point he has not seen any broken springs, other than ONE on an ISF with 180,000 miles...
Last edited by cmasten; 12-01-10 at 09:37 PM.
12-01-10, 09:14 PM
#444
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I just got my car back from Newport Lexus for the VSR. The car ran just as smooth as before. They had my car since last Wednesday but the tech only spent around 13 hours acrording to the inovice. I had them replaced the spark plugs for free (labor only, I supplied the plugs) since the car has over 131,600 miles on the original plugs. Originally the dealer wanted $800 to replace them during the 120,000 mi service. This recall actually saved me $600+. Here is the shocker. The invoice total of the LS460 VSR is over $4000. Toyota/Lexus is giving away big $$$ to the dealers.
12-03-10, 06:56 PM
#446
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I got my letter last week and scheduled to drop mine off next Saturday so hopefully all will go well!
Still haven't received my $500 gift card, just my $1500 gift cert towards another car...
Still haven't received my $500 gift card, just my $1500 gift cert towards another car...
12-03-10, 09:31 PM
#447
just got mine back today after 3 days. Seems to be running like before, idle is down just a bit, but overall seems fine. I took all of the covers off to see if they put everything back they way I had hoped. They did, but man is there a lot of stuff to connect back up! Woof
I didnt get a tank of gas or anything other than the traditional wash, for 3600 bucks I would think I would get something, but a nice rental and a job well done is enough for me. I have the 500 credit coming so Ill use that for service later. I did take the opportunity tonight to drop the oil and check all around, I like doing that myself as I use a high grade Synth and I dont crank on the filter cap like an 800lb gorilla... so it comes off easy the next time I do it.
If your going to Crown to get your VSR done, ask for J R , he is an excellent service adviser and this dealership seems well equipped to handle this repair. After all of the discussion up here, its nice to finally get this one out of the way.
I didnt get a tank of gas or anything other than the traditional wash, for 3600 bucks I would think I would get something, but a nice rental and a job well done is enough for me. I have the 500 credit coming so Ill use that for service later. I did take the opportunity tonight to drop the oil and check all around, I like doing that myself as I use a high grade Synth and I dont crank on the filter cap like an 800lb gorilla... so it comes off easy the next time I do it.
If your going to Crown to get your VSR done, ask for J R , he is an excellent service adviser and this dealership seems well equipped to handle this repair. After all of the discussion up here, its nice to finally get this one out of the way.
12-03-10, 09:52 PM
#448
Lexus Fanatic
I had the VSR done on my GS350 right before I got rid of it and it seemed fine. I just worry about them opening up a motor no matter what size it is. I am hoping that all goes well for me. I might wait a little longer. All of the service advisors are pushing to get the cars in because of the big money they are getting.
12-04-10, 06:07 AM
#449
Here is a clip from Manufacturer Notices (to Dealers,etc) document #RCMN-10V309-6266.pdf on the NHTSA site.
12-04-10, 08:13 AM
#450
that is a fare question, When I inquired yesterday about my vehicle and my SA said he just received the paperwork, I was actually out the door and at the dealership in less than 30 min, so part of this may be me rushing to pick it up, they thought I would get it the next day. I could have asked also, but didnt notice it until I had left the dealership. I was also not aware of this document, would have been handy to have, but thank you for bringing it to my attention.