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My 06 is way iver 70000 miles its almost. 100000 miles. So does this mean i have to cough up $400+ to get this clean up?
Pretty much. Or you can try to DIY it with Seafoam which seems to be basically the same thing unless I'm mistaken. I think the hardest part of it is getting access to all of the spark tubs.
I just heard back from my dealership. They told me that Lexus Canada won't allow them to perform the work from either of these TSBs unless there is a fault code.
UGH. There is clearly something wrong with the car, the symptoms are all there and I even brought it in for all of those symptoms before this TSB was even released in the US market. I have to say I'm feeling pretty shafted by Lexus right now.
How the heck can I get the car to spit out a misfire code??? This is ridiculous.
I just skimmed through the TSB. Interesting that they use GM cleaner for the job. The tech will need to go to a GM dealer to find parts to repair a Lexus, how ironic.
Anyhow, I have a GS350 and believe I have some build up also. The good news is that this is covered under the 70000 mile powertrain warranty so hopefully if it becomes a major issue, then they'll perform the procedure.
The bad news is that the carbon will come back. Therefore after 70k you'll need it performed again and have to pay for it. It says 3.5 hours to do the work. So that's $500 for labor at least right?
I tried taking my issue to another dealership in a different city. It ended up getting me shot down by Lexus Canada and was told once again that without DTCs no repairs will be performed.
So, Lexus Canada is telling me that unless the dummy light is on in one of their cars, it is running perfectly! BS. The lesson I am taking away from this experience is to not buy another car from Lexus in Canada.
To Lexus Canada, if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, but doesn't have a tattoo that says "I'm a duck" then it's not a duck.
I'm going to keep driving it as it is hoping for that dummy light to come on before my warranty expires but this whole situation has really taken my faith in the company away. I don't care if the cars are supposed to be rock solid if they so easily dismiss you when you have obviously reproducible symptoms of a problem that has even resulted in a TSB south of the border but cannot produce diagnostic codes.
They even went out of their way to tell the other dealership I went to for help that I had already gone to another dealership elsewhere for the same issue. It almost feels like my persistence to try to get help has resulted in being put on the naughty customers list.
So, Lexus Canada is telling me that unless the dummy light is on in one of their cars, it is running perfectly! BS. The lesson I am taking away from this experience is to not buy another car from Lexus in Canada.
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I have run into the same thing. It is not just a Lexus Canada thing; it is a Toyota and Lexus stance that is taken to avoid all the problems they are having.
You can go to Autos at msn.com and see that these GS’s have a red X (significant problems) next to engine reliability.
Yep, when they screw up they don't want to pay to fix the problem. Only when it turns into bad publicity. Dealers & Toyota alike. It should have been way easier than it has been to have rattles fixed. And this carbon buildup is going to be a recurring issue out of warranty when it is clearly a design issue. Class action perhaps?
Newest dealership I've spoken to told me that in Canada the carbon buildup issue on their cars (talking about IS too) is not a powertrain warranty issue, it's a preventative maintenance item. Apparently they don't fix the buildup issue for anybody, even IS250s, under warranty? I don't know about that...
I said I've had beaters with tons more km in the past that never had this problem and he said it's because these ARENT beaters that they are high performance cars that they have this buildup... HUH. Then they tried to sell me on some kind of fuel induction service for $230. I was polite and thanked him for his time, but whaaa...
Has anybody in Canada had the top engine clean performed under a TSB for their GS yet? I'm wondering if that TSB is out in Canada or if it's still in limbo and perhaps never showing up here period. They did the valve spring replacement on my car and so far it seems to have smoothed it out but I'm still worried about the long term and what kind of buildup is still in there that they didn't get when doing the springs.
Walnut Blasting - Carbon Buildup Cleaning/Fix for those Outside of Warranty
For those of you who may be outside of Lexus power-train warranty, you might want to see if a local shop offers Walnut Blasting (walnut shell blasting) to help clean the intake valves.
I had seen it offered for BMWs (see blog post) and wondered if the same logic could work for us. My questions were answered when I stumbled upon a blog post about this carbon build up issue and found out that they were trying to engineer this service for Lexus GS/IS owners.
Long story short, they did the Walnut Blasting process on my IS250 (but the same could apply to the GS300) and the results have been great! I have seen improved (nearly instant) throttle response and smoother idle.
In my opinion, something like this should be offered by the dealership as a part of ongoing maintenance. One thing to note is that I did have the intake cleaned and a couple pistons and valve rings replaced under warranty at 85k miles, had this Walnut Blasting process done at 118k miles and still noticed a significant gain in performance.
05-30-10, 08:37 AM
