Fausty

Sorry to hear this man. What is it that drives up the cost of these Sort of repairs for Lexus vehicles? Aside from it being the dealer and probably sourcing the oem parts. No reputable independent shops can take in this sort of work? Is it because the technology needed to work on these cars?I'm curious as I'm new to the Lexus world.

Doublebase

It is insane, but we are talking about replacing two heads, plus probably 16 hours labor. Still you're right, it's ridiculous.

I have 130,000 on my 07 LS460 and it's pretty rare. There are members with 200,000 plus miles on their cars with no issues, but it's not unheard of either. There's certainly been reports of hesitation issues and I want to say there's been maybe two or three members that have had the valve guide problem. There's probably some that have it and don't realize it too, I imagine. At this point if it happens to mine I'll probably just drive it till it blows up.

I feel bad for the guy who needs the heads, that's a headache no one deserves.

snoball

Lexus has agreed to pick up the tab!!
With me not in warranty this is definitely above and beyond in my book. I should have my car back in 2 weeks or less.


But it never stops with me though. I was in their loaner Saturday and hit a coyote. So here comes a insurance deductible claim. When it rains it pours. LOL

TRD_Power

Dang, that's awesome! Which Lexus dealer? May have skimmed past it while looking through the thread. I'm moving to The Woodlands in the next year or so, so it would be nice to have a good Lexus dealer on hand. Every Lexus dealership here in WA has been absolutely HORRIBLE.

snoball

I am in the woodlands as well. Northside Lexus is your place to be.

TRD_Power

Good to know See you in a year or two, soon-to-be neighbor.

snoball

LOL
HA! look me up.

bluulexo

That does not sound normal at all.. The 8 speed should be a fairly silky smooth tranny. Should never feel like she is struggling to hold onto a gear, certainly does not sound correct.

fuad384

Do you think over time with the wiring harness getting dirt and fluid that if not address will make the transmission go dead???? I am having this issue right now. Was taking the car back to dealer to get the wiring harness replaced and the transmission ended up dying.

fuad384

Wow. Having the same issue with my LS 460 except before they could replace the wiring harness the transmission died.

snoball

Latest update..........

Got my car back Friday. New rebuilt heads by the Lexus certified machine shop. Heads now installed by the dealer.

Drove it a bit this weekend. Drives like a dream. True test is to drive it for a weeks. But so far so good.

Doublebase

They rebuilt your heads??

Or are they new heads?

I can't picture Lexus going through the trouble of rebuilding heads, it's labor intensive and there's the risk of something going wrong. But if they did, I think that's pretty interesting because that means that the valve guides can be purchased and pressed in and out.

snoball

They are REBUILT heads. The service drive manager told me that they will have to send "my" heads to the dealers certified machine shop to be rebuilt. Total down time for me car was 2 weeks.

Doublebase

Ok that's interesting, thanks.

Glad everything worked out for you. Sounds like the car drives like a dream now.

snoball

OK, Let’s recap…..

The dealer has changed the transmission wiring harness that is notorious for collection dirt and road grim as well as the seal wearing out, which cause trans fluid to “wick” up the wires. This did not fix the problem.
The dealer sent diagnostic screen shots to Lexus and they determined that my valve guides were worn out and that I need my heads replaced. This worked fantastic…….until now!!!

My car is back at the dealer with the same issue and same symptoms. I just got my oil changed by my certified Lexus mechanic (not the dealer). This is the first oil change since the heads were done. The dealer is stating that my mechanic used the wrong oil. Therefor I provided a receipt proving that the correct oil was used. According to the Owner’s Manual there are two different types of oil that can be used. 0W-20 and 5W-20. One is for warmer weather and the other is for colder weather. Well let’s face it, Houston does not get cold. BUT, the difference between the two is not enough to warrant that one is better than the other.

I have a certified Lexus mechanic that is close to my house that does all my maintenance. The owner of the shop is an ex Lexus mechanic with 15+ years of experience along with his partner of close to the same experience. So combined these guys have about 30+ yrs experience. The only reason I am saying this is just to state that my mechanic is not an idiot when it comes to Lexus. Or any other car for that matter.

My wife took the car in and at this point we only deal with the service drive manager. Between Lexus and me, we have about $12k invested in this one problem. The Service Mgr. pulled his top mechanic to test drive the car with my wife. So now we are in the hands of the top mechanic and Service Mgr., which means the only people higher to deal with this is the owner of Northside or Lexus themselves. After a 45 minute test drive to finally get the car to act up again, the Lexus mechanic is saying that it is a “Transmission Gearing Issue”. As if the trans is either slipping in second gear or just won’t engage from 2nd to 3rd. But when you manually shift the gears it will roll through them just fine. But the car wants to haul *** when that is done.

So the dealer has charged me for another oil change even though I just got one. This way the can eliminate the “Wrong Oil Used” theory. This sounds like a bunch of BS!!!? Then if it continues to have the problem, they will send off screen shots to Lexus…….AGAIN!!!

I swear if I didn’t love this car so much (and it being paid off), I would just ditch it. But I can’t afford a 2017 GS F.