nickeltime

I hate being so harsh on our 2006 GS but it has been by far the worst car that Ive ever owned and I've owned a lot of cars. Just picked up a new BMW X5 and was planning on giving the GS to my daughter for her first car.

A bit of history…Bought the Pre owned GS back in 2010 with 44K miles on it.
Engine had to be rebuilt at 86K miles (Lexus said defective engine and repaired at no cost even though out of warranty) Now the transmission has gone out at 105K miles.
Dealer wants $4500.00 to replace the transmission. (Something about bad solenoid)
Car runs great after computer reset for awhile.

While this car is still a beautiful, its been nothing but trouble. Cant believe engine and transmission failure has occurred with such few miles. I really thought we would get 200K miles out of this car.

Bottom line question….Is this 2006GS worth spending $4500.00 on a new transmission or should we get rid of the car? And are these transmissions good when dealer installed? I believe the factory is rebuilding them. Thank you for your thoughts and opinions!

LexRuger

I think you probably just got a lemon. I would get an estimate from an independant mechanic because I know they will charge a fraction of what the dealer will charge.

krava

I had a 2006 GS AWD until totaled yesterday, I got it with 36K miles, I had to get engine redone at 142,000 because it was eating oil. I got it up to 181K miles and then totaled it. Transmission shifted perfect no problems. and only had 1 repair

NickTee

Take it to a Lexus-proficient mechanic and get a second opinion on the transmission, because they may be able to replace the defective shifter solenoid at a much lower price.
You can also do what this guy did(https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...gs300-rwd.html) and call corporate Lexus to see if they'll work with you.

jbuffett

Here's JD Power for 2009, which measures reliability for 2006 model year cars. Lexus is #3, one of the few years when they haven't been #1 in this survey (there are 2-3 instances in the last 20 years where this is the case).



Dead engine and transmission in this many miles means you definitely got a lemon. You say it's been "nothing but trouble", what other issues have you experienced? Not that a dead engine/transmission aren't enough, but there's powertrain lemons and then there's Hurricane Sandy rejects that will rot from the inside out.

If the problems have been exclusive to engine/powertrain, and both of those would now be fixed, I'd spend the $4500 then keep the car. You can't buy a car this nice for that kind of money on the used market. If you think there are bigger problems, I'd get it back to running as cheaply as possible (because it's worth a lot more running than not) then sell it.

Gotcha350

Take that $4500 and go by a corolla or accord....problem solved.

That's not a lemon...the car is 10 years old and every damn thing is electronically controlled...along with the fact that those solenoids have been bathing in 10 year old transmission fluid...its a crapt shoot

jbuffett

A GS300 with a new engine/transmission and 100K on the rest of the car is worth less than a 150K+ mile Corolla (because that's what you get for $4500) that is still on the original engine/transmission? You're advocating the replacement of one old Japanese car with another. This would be valid if the car in question was a used 5-series or a Volkswagen.

Depending on what other problems the car has had (the OP hasn't said), I'm not convinced that it's a lemon yet. It might be, and that might be the fault of whoever owned it for the first 44K. You hear horror stories about people who buy luxury cars and then run regular gas and don't change the oil.

Worst-case, you fix the car then dump it on someone else. The difference in your sale price between this car running and not running is more than $4500, so fixing it is a no-brainer. Whether or not you keep it is the real question.

LoveThatV8

iTrader: (1)

Plus one on this, I'd get it fix... using the money on purchasing another used would be a total waste of money, headache, and time to go through the history of the vehicle that's worth 4500? Why go through that when you can repair and be ok with the GS. I'd trust myself with a car that I've driven for the last 66K miles and needs a new trans versus buying a pos $4.5K car that has 200K miles w/ no luxury amenities.

BinaryJay

Take it to another shop or two first to see if anybody thinks they can get it going for you for less money than total replacement.

Another cautionary tale of the so called maintenance free transmission service schedule (In the US, not elsewhere!)

gr8fulRed

having Lexus fix the tranny is going to be your most expensive option, period. They will remove the old and put in a used, but rebuilt tranny....and charge you the moon for it. I would check with transmission shops in your area, and find one who is knowledgable on Lexus. They will either rebuild (more expensive) with new components as needed or "remove and replace" the old for a used tranny (usually provided through auto recyclers). That will be your least expensive option, imo. Just have them look for a very low mileage used trans. I think you can get that done for less than $4500 and you'd still have a lot of life left in the car. Or...get if replaced and then immediately sell it. I doubt though, that you'll find a comparable car for $4500. Better to dance with the devil you know...rather than the devil you don't know.

Gotcha350

No...put the 4500 towards a newer one...he is still taking a gamble that nothing else will fail on the GS that he owns now. To me if you have to question whether to fix it or get something else then in your mind you are already questioning the reasonableness in doing so. That car is 10 years old and everyone knows they are not Lexus bulletproof as the 2 gen GS.

OP said that this was the worst car he has own and has been nothing but trouble. With that being said and the comment about the other cars being 'junk', they are still way cheaper to fix and maintain than the GS. It is for his daugher...her first car. Now if he wants her to ride in luxury then mostly likely the best option is to bite the bullet and fix that car but if luxury isn't that important then you have options.

Before someone flames me...my first car after getting my license was a nice luxury car that we had owned for about 6 years when my parents gave it to me. That got totaled 3 months later after dropping 1900 on repairs...lol...so I understand what he is thinking. Either way it's a gamble.

Now if he can get it repaired cheaper by just replacing the solenoids then I would keep it.

XxGoKoUxX

last I checked, a lot of people with transmission problems on here are having ECU issues. They also said that Lexus told them to replace the solenoids also, which the problems still persisted.

You said after an ECU reset it drives okay for a while. I'd say that's a good indication your ECU went faulty. Replace it and let us know if that's resolved!

GL OP

sheriffwoo

A junkyard transmission is only like $800 including shipping from a wrecked car all day long. Even the awd trans is under $1000. Its an easy install because its not fwd. $1500 total tops. Look on the internet for junkyard search websites.

Othic

Is the solenoid no good? Have them tell you exactly what diagnostic steps they took to fault the solenoid. If that's the actual problem, they can replace them separately. To me it sounds like they're guessing. If they didn't drop the pan, they didn't check it.

Gotcha350

So are you saying that they pretty much just hook up techstream and don't really do a diagnostic check like the service manual tells them to?