grandsport

New to the club, signed up because looking for info on my "new" used GS. Have it a few months and it was fine. Now i am getting check engine light and a stumble every now and then. I also used a quart of oil the last 1000 miles. The car only has 70k on it and it was a one owner, dealer maintained car. Anyone point me in the right direction? freaking out. Also live on Long Island, who would you trust to look at it.

Thanks

tbilisi79

Gs 350 , 430, 300?

grandsport

Sorry 2006 GS300

designo

iTrader: (6)

Cylinder heads/gaskets?

Boron

Plugs changed at 60K?
Valve Springs recall been done?

I'd be inclined to throw BG Products engine flush and 44K at it, in case it's just a build up of crud.
You might also want to clean the MAF while you're at it.

Before that though, how long have you had it (time & mileage)?
If a good while, when did this start?

Drzava

I have somewhat similar symptoms. 2006MY GS300, 100k miles. Often get a slight 'tremble' in the car for about a minute after starting from cold - presumably from the engine. Burning about a quart of oil every 4000 miles. I've had mine 18 months/30k miles and I've been getting the cold tremble for quite a while - a year I'd say. Burning oil seems to be more recent but it's a bit hard to determine*. Have never had a warning light or error code. I'm vaguely thinking the tremble could be due to carbon build up on the back of the valves because of direct injection (seems to be a recognised problem on the GS) and oil burning related or due to PCV valve problems forcing oil behind the valves.


*is it just me or is it difficult to get a good reading from the engine oil dipstick? Mine often seems to be streaked with oil, making the correct level quite difficult to determine.

Road Rage

Time for pistons and rings. Look up L-SB-0069-11 which effected only the 2006 model. We do these about once a week.

Some 2006 model year GS 300 vehicles may exhibit one or more of the following conditions:
- MIL 'On" DTC P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304, P0305, and/or P0306.
- Runs rough after coming to a stop with the engine at operating temperature.
- Runs rough with engine misfires present after a cold soak startup.
- Excessive oil consumption.

Solution: R&R Piston Ring Set, Valve springs, and valve spring retainers (if applicable)

Covered under Power train warranty for 72 months or 70,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

Dealer will have your car for a few days for the overhaul and parts acquisition.

silva1181

Road Rage what would a dealer/mechanic shop charge for this type of work you describe?

I too have a 2006 GS300, and I have noticed that at least once a month, maybe more frequent but I can really recall that my car starts to tremble when I am at a complete stop. Doesn't feel like its going to turn off and it last 30 seconds or so. I than take off and its fine. I just recently had a full throttle body service done which including the cleaning/removing of carbon build up from the housing.

I too noticed that at about 4800 miles during the first oil change I did on it, the low engine oil light came on, which freaked me out since I have never had a problem car that burns oil in between the changes.

BinaryJay

I had both valve spring tsb and carbon tsb performed, or so they told me, after a very lengthy process of the dealership not really wanting to do it. They wouldn't do it until I brought the car in with misfire codes... it didn't matter that I was telling them it was doing all of the symptoms.

I got the car back spewing smoke out the back whenever I hit the gas on the highway. I brought it back and they told me it was because the oil was overfilled - but I don't know, seems like it was an excuse for something they did wrong. Anyway they "fixed" it and it was fine after that except the rough idle thing didn't go away really completely. Later I got the other TSB for the top engine clean for carbon buildup done and the car has been fine since.

All of this took place with the car having around 60,000 miles on it. Out of warranty now, but assuming I still have the car for another 60,000 miles I will just pay to have the top engine clean done again at that interval though it is likely not to be that cheap - perhaps it will cost next to nothing if done coinciding with a spark plug change.

My roughness never got as bad as lasting 30 seconds, usually just some shuddering when coming to a stop for a few second but enough to make me go hey isn't this a luxury car... anyway, if you research it isn't just Lexus it is pretty much all of the direct injection cars though I don't know if by now they have figured out how to design them better so the carbon doesn't build up on the valves. The 350 and 460 are spared since they also have port injectors so the valve tops get washed by fuel unlike the pure DI engines.

Boron

Id have thought since NA fuel isn't as "clean" as UK/Europe's, you'd be prime candidates for using BG Products' 44K regularly?

Road Rage

Dealers are getting 31.3 hours for the 2WD and 32.0 hours for the 4WD models. If done under warranty. Otherwise you're looking at about 48-50 hours for customer pay. So if you're paying $100 hr then the math is easy. I've heard of some dealers working out 50/50 deals to ease the hit to your wallet but that's done on a dealer specific basis. Right now ours is doing so poorly they wouldn't do it. But a high volume dealer might be more able to work something out.

grandsport

i investigated it and found it would fall under the service bulletin, but the local dealer cant do it because they did not have anyone "ok'd" by the factory to do the work. My other choices are going to Rallye Or Massepequa. Anyone know about them? I dont want to get jerked. I also found out from the guy at Rockville center that lexus is going to make it some kind of special recall but not a recall and might cover it up to 100k. he said most dealers are not making anyone pay who is out of warranty and they are doing "goodwill repairs". They also have to do it on IS models too,. To me having to have my engine torn down and rebuilt is not why I bought a Lexus and it seems it is a known problem. Not cool and not happy about this.......

Any help with the dealer on Long Island would be a help

Thanks

The Newbie

Road Rage

The qualification for doing this job is a combination of certain ASE certification and Lexus certification. Not everyone in our shop has all those either. We also are NOT doing these under goodwill because frankly our dealership is bleeding money and can barely stay open. I can also tell you some dealerships flat out won't do these because it's so easy for something to go wrong and require paying for a new engine (as the tech 2 bays down from me found out) just like the valve spring campaign on the LS last year.

The problem with the IS250's is a little different than yours. The GS suffers from too much cylinder wall-to-piston clearance along with intake valve caking. The IS250 problem is mainly just intake valve caking. Though the solution/repair is the same with both. And those are happening under warranty, but that's for another forum.

silva1181

Guys I am not a mechanic and won't pretend to understand a lot of what's being discussed here. I will admit that most of what I am reading and have read about the engine tremble/oil burn has me concerned and confused. I bought my GS300 from lexus back in June 2011 with 83000 miles. I did not buy a warranty my first mistake! I currently have 90k miles on the car and I only just noticed in the last month the engine tremble, maybe 30 seconds was an exaggeration on my part, more like 10 seconds or so until I press down on the gas pedal and it goes away. I looked up the L-SB-0069-11 and still don't know what if anything I should do. My car was a one owner, lexus service car, I have the full service history since 2005 when it was shipped to dealer. Based on the history this is what has been done:

PERFORM SERVICE CAMPAIGN 9LB--INSPECT REAR BRAKE CALIPERS AND REPLACE REAR BRAKE
PERFORM SERVICE CAMPAIGN 9LA--REPLACE FUEL DELIVERY PIPE
PERFORM SERVICE CAMPAIGN 9LC--REPLACE POWER STEERING LINK
RECOMMEND TUNE INSPECTION/ GUEST HAD PLUGS REPLACED OUTSIDE. RANDOM MISFIRE CODE
COMPLETE FUEL SYSTEM SERVICE - PERFORM INDUCTION AND THROTTLE BODY SERVICE, ADD
RECOMMENDATIONS:FRONT ENGINE COVER LEAKING-$2340 LABOR PLUS PARTS
WORLD STANDARD TRANSMISSION FLUID REPLACEMENT

There are six pages of service history a lot of it regular scheduled maintenance and than what I provided above. Would you suggest I take my car to a Lexus dealer to have another inspection done, and is it safe to say if my car does need some major repair due to a recall/tsb bulletin that I am stuck with the expense since I am obviously out of warranty?

Thanks for any input on this.

Road Rage

Not every one will have this problem. Long story short: if your oil light comes on between oil changes then you have a problem. What will usually happen is the dealer will top off to proper level then mark the dipsyick and ask you to drive 1000 miles and return so that they can check the level against the mark. This is verification of excessive oil consumption.

The other issues are related to engine codes coupled with rough running/idle. If you have either of these then a dealer visit to get the ball rolling is in your best interest. Reports are that many are getting this done at no cost to them. You won't know until you try.