kentchoi

I bought a used sc400 1993 with 60000 miles on it. Carfax is clean and the 60000 mile service was done at a dealership at 58,000 miles one year ago(almost exactly) with no problems detected...got the car yesterday and went to get it smogged at a friends auto repair shop...did not pass!!! HC levels 10 times normal and his head technician said a new engine is NEEDED!!! I was floored(shocked) I called the dealer near my home asap and told them the situation and they said that they have NEVER had a lexus V8 go bad at 60,000 miles Oil was regularly changed and I have detailed service records from the previous owner....In fact the last service was the major 60000 mile service and it was done one year ago!!! only 2300 mile driven since then!!! So the dealer has the car now and will check it out to see what is wrong...here is the main problem...

1) When you turn on the engine and it idles, there is a faint noise that comes from inside the engine compartment when the belts turn...like a constant "shook, shook, shook" but not extremely loud can notice it only when idling and when driving slow speeds...at higher speeds engine runs smooth...

2) when the smog was being done and the engine was revved high, oil seems to spurt out from BOTH exhaust pipes!!!

3) Smoke comes out when the car runs, expecially when you step on the gas when accelerating...

4) ANY EXPERT OPINIONS OUT THERE or anyone have the same problem???

PLEASE HELP PLEASE HELP!!! I am worried about this situation...The dervice manager at the dealership said that he's seen a similar problem once before when some power steering fluid leaked into the system somhow and it came ou the pipes and was mistaken for engine oil!!!

kentchoi

STEVEN(the service manager) at the dealership said that he was shocked....but one of the "RODS" are shot and it will need a new engine(OMG I COULDNT BELIEVE IT)...there are detailed service records for the car and I am still a little baffled.....59,600 miles now last year july 3rd, 2003 there is a detailed receipt for a 60,000 mile service and the car had all fluids changed and the mileage was 57,000 miles!!!
ANY LEXUS REPRESENTATIVES PLEASE HEAR ME OUT I NEED HELP!!!!
I WOULD LOVE FOR LEXUS TO INSPECT IT TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE SUCH AS ABUSE OR DRIVING WITHOUT OIL>>>BUT THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT NEVER WENT ON....ONLY THE OIL LEVEL LIGHT BECAUSE IT WAS BURNING UP THE OIL...SINCE THERE ARE DETAILED RECORDS...THERE IS NO REASON FOR ME TO BELIEVE THERE WAS NEGLIGENCE OR ABUSE!!!
I've owned an RX 300, now a GX 470, my friend drives the LS430, I am a hige lexus supporter!!! but what will i say if this is a faulty engine at 59,600 miles !!! This may be the first defective engine ever???
If lexus decides to extend a warranty based on the miles and not the year...I will be truly impressed and appreciative....CUSTOMER SERVICE #1...but if not....what else am i to think about these cars or their engines...most importantly about lexus' committment to their loyal customers???

ANYONE PLEASE HELP>>>GIVE ME SOME LIGHT AT THE END OF THIS TUNNEL instead of the blue smoke and black oilspewing out of the exhaust!!!

Woogie

Blue is a sign of oil being burned inside the cylinders and black means that the fuel is too rich. What you should do is remove the spark plugs and check them out for signs of carbon deposits and oil smudges. From what you've told minus the story about the connecting rod, I think your valve train prolly needs to be redone or you've got bad piston rings and oil is going past the pistons and into the combustion chamber. Valves prolly need to be lapped or your valves are prolly busted up. eh, i doubt you would need a new engine unless one of the rods broke off and really did some damage on the crank shaft or ran the rod against the block a little bit... you wont be able to tell until you part the engine out. 60 thousand miles on the vehicle, good service records, i dont know what the heck went wrong. Maybe the previous owner drove it kinda rough, cuz thats how the valves would get all messed up. Hmm only other thing that i can think of... is the car prolly over heated way too many times. Over heating a car is worst than running it on really really old oil. Good luck man.

kentchoi

I'm glad someone is trying to help me out here...greatly appreciated...dealership said that you MUST take apart the engine to see exactly what is wrong with it....Of course they said that the rods were bad based on their tests(by listening I guess or whatever they do) The guy who sold me the car is willing to give me a full refund but I would be pleased if lexus would do the work for me under "warranty" based on miles rather than years/ the "whatever comes first" policy I do not like especially in my predicament of course. I would rather not cause anyone else any headache...if lexus would just be willing to open up the engine and get a definitive diagnosis for their own records....STEVEN at the dealership siad it would cost me at least $800.00 out of my pocket for them to take apart the engine too see what is wrong....I AM REALLY CURIOUS AS TO WHAT THE PROBLEM IS...this is more than just about the money...it is like soving a mystery to me...I'm sure the experts out there will try to help me!!!

IS IT THAT EASY TO TELL SOMEONE THAT YOU NEED A NEW ENGINE DUE TO BAD RODS??? or can the "bad rods" be mistaken for something else???

In my profession, some problems often overlap others so getting the exact diagnosis is sometimes difficult to do....or in this case if a master lexus technician says it is a bad rod is there anything else?

Woogie

Bad rods... If you've got a busted rod, it'll be real obvious. What you can do is take your car the the dealership and get a compression test done accross all 8 cylinders of the vehicle and a cylinder with a busted connecting rod should read zero compression. I dont know how much you know about cars... but The crankshaft is at the bottom of your engine in what you would call the crank case. It's connected to the flex plate which is connected to your automatic transmission. Connected to your fly wheel if you're a manual tranny. But anyways, these rods ride on the crank and they're what push the crank and help is revolve thus driving the car. gas enters the cylinders along with air, and spark happens and then that combuston pushes the pistons down... called "power stroke" and the pistons push the rod, which turns the crank. as far as saying out of the blue "you've got bad rods".. they can't really tell if you've got bad rods or not. There's no way in hell they can tell you that unless they tear your engine down. Next time they tell you that you've got bad rods, ask them how do they know - they'll just give you some real BS answer. You may want to try looking into different dealerships around the state. call them up, see if they will honor the warranty. If you own several Lexus in your garage or have in the past, make sure you mention it to them. They might hook you up with a customer loyalty kinda deal like Ford does. Good luck, keep posting.

miketyler

I think if you had a bad rod bearing(s) the noise would be apparent across the whole acceleration spectrum. An old school method for checking bad rod bearings is to pull one spark plug wire off at a time while it is running. When you pull the wire off of the affected cylinder, the noise should lessen - not go away, but quieten slightly. Never doen this on a Lexus engine but the principles are the same.

Regarding the fluids exiting out the exhaust, you may have other problems. There are a lot of nice Lexus cars out there - if the seller is agreeable, I would take him up on the refund

Woogie

Pull it off while its running huh, wouldn't the fuel injectors keep dumping fuel into the cylinder? I've never heard of that done before, sounds interesting. however, if you choose to try this... when you pull off the spark plug, make sure you get something to hold it with like a spark plug holder or else it'll ground out to your fingers. When you put it back on, make sure you torque back down correctly

miketyler

Yes, its an old tried-and-true method to pull the wire off of the spark plug to determine which rod has the bad bearings. The injectors will continue to pump fuel into the cylinder but it will exit out just the same as if you had a dead or fouled spark plug. Havent done it in a while but it goes without saying to use insulated gloves as it can shock the hell out of you.

I agree with you, If he had a broken rod he would definitley know it and probably wouldnt have bought the car to start with. The slight noise he describes only at low RPM and coming from the front of the engine makes it hard to diagnose unless you really know the internal frontend componentry of the 1UZ-FE.

I think with the strange engine noise, fluids in the exhaust, and off-the-chart emissions, he should cut his losses and take this back to the seller.

Woogie

i would definately give the car back to the original owner for the refund and in your case, you're lucky because he is okay with it. It's just too much of a hassle to drop your car off in the shop, weight quite a while for them to rip it apart while you get a loaner car and have to fork over a whole pocketful of cash. ehh it's just too much, it would be nice to find out what the problem is though.

if his car is squirtin out the back end then that's definately gotta be a problem with the valves wouldn't it? your exhaust is only hooked up to your cylnders. hmmm. bad piston ring + bad exhaust valve combination can cause that.

TxLexus

[
1) When you turn on the engine and it idles, there is a faint noise that comes from inside the engine compartment when the belts turn...like a constant "shook, shook, shook" but not extremely loud can notice it only when idling and when driving slow speeds...at higher speeds engine runs smooth...

2) when the smog was being done and the engine was revved high, oil seems to spurt out from BOTH exhaust pipes!!!

3) Smoke comes out when the car runs, expecially when you step on the gas when accelerating...

4) ANY EXPERT OPINIONS OUT THERE or anyone have the same problem???

PLEASE HELP PLEASE HELP!!! I am worried about this situation...The dervice manager at the dealership said that he's seen a similar problem once before when some power steering fluid leaked into the system somhow and it came ou the pipes and was mistaken for engine oil!!! [/B][/QUOTE]

Hey guys, heres my opinion. I am not an expert, but I do all my own work on my SC4.

1- its kinda hard for us to understand what your motor is doing because we dont see it shaking and dont hear it knocking. you mention the engine runs smooth at higher speeds. Thats hard to tell because the motor is well insulated under the hood. Its hard to tell.

2-Smoke should come out when you floor the gas pedal. thats normal. but just regular excelleration should not have smoke coming out the tail pipe.

3-Dealer said your connecting rod is bad. Forget everything else you hear. If your connecting rod is bad. It will knock like a mothertrucker. It will be very obvious. Any experience mechanic can listen to a motor and almost tell you if your connecting rod is broken or knocking.

4-Try the old school spark plug wires will let you know which cyclinder is bad.

5-Now, you have a 93 sc400 v8. If you have to folk out the money. Dont rebuild it. Buy a use motor and have a reliable shop install it. You will save more money and time.
My guess by the time the dealer and any shop rebuilds your motor with Lexus/Toy Internals. It ll cost youas much as another used Lexus.

If you need to replace your motor. Think about what I said in number 5.

Lastly, lucky you, the seller offer to refund you full amount. I ll take it. Let him have his problem back.

Just my .002.

Chris
sc4 200++++k

dinobert

Take the refund, how attached are you really after 2300 miles?

Get your money back on a car that's a year older & get something else.

my 2 cents,

~J

kentchoi

The previous owner is sending to the dealership a used engine@ 38,000 miles and is paying for it....we will then split the cost of installation by the dealer at $1250 each...I do not trust anyone else to do this work...the engine is guaranteed for 6 months....I really believe that lexus has great reliable engines....and I hope to drive this car fow a few years then pass it down to a family member...It would cost $1000 to ship back to the east coast(more wasted money)....I hope that I am making the right decision....

I am a little surprised that LEXUS will not take a look at it at their expense....the ONLY NEGATIVE RECORD IN THE SERVICE HISTORY IS THE PREVIOUS OWNER on 3/30/04 not heeding the dealership's advice to get the valves checked due to low oil levels/low oil light going on!!!

Dont you guys think that THIS ENGINE MIGHT BE FAULTY AND LEXUS SHOULD AT LEAST OFFER TO TAKE IT APART TO SEE DETERMINE IF IT WAS A MANUFACTURER DEFECT???

THEY SEEM TO BLAME IT ON THE PREVIOUS OWNER WITHOUT HARD EVIDENCE....

remember I posted before the dealers' theory...the car was not driven enough and probably sat around for a few months before being drivin again and this was supposedly bad for the engine and contributed to its downfall...It still drives OK just burnd TONS of oil!!!

I still appreciate the replies!!!

THANK YOU

Woogie

Pay some money for a fuel injected crate 283. lol it would be tight.

Fisher503

Call 1800-25-LEXUS and tell them your sittuation made they will have it done under good faith and you will get a brand new engine.

kentchoi

tried but to no avail..They said that the only way they would consider it is if i bought a NEW engine through lexus $8000.00+ then they would consider it!!!! what a joke....al I ask is that they look at the engine and see if there was some sort of manufacturer defect...
thnks for the suggestion though!!!