mossman

Newbie to posting here, have lurked for many months learning and yearning....
Finally got the IS250 AWD in Matador Red for my wife. Waited 8 weeks for it to come in. Love the car and so does she. Noticed about 1 1/2 months ago, a small spot on the garage floor. Thought to myself, maybe you spilled something while working in the garage. Wiped the spot up, smelled and looked like oil. Next couple of weeks, I notive the spot is back and of course it is right under where the wife parks the IS. Wipe it up, put down some white cardboard. More oil. Wife goes to get her spoiler put on, I mention to have them take a look at the possible oil leak. Spoiler is installed (looks great), they take a look ......."Yes, you most assuredly have an oil leak, we can't see where it's coming from. We've put dye in the oil, drive it around and let us know when it leaks again." Within a week.....you guessed it....more oil. Wife takes the car in, they give her a car to drive, she heads off to spend some money. She comes home, they've made an appointment to take the car in..........my wife tells me "a gasket is leaking".....OK...I'm thinking oil pan, something like that. Well I'll now list exactly what was replaced on the car after it was in the Lexus of North Hills shop for one week.

Gasket - Water Pump
Gasket - Cylinder
Gasket - Cylinder
Gasket - Timing Chain
FIPG - Oil Pan
Supe long life C (not sure what this is)
Replaceable Element (oil filter I guess)
Gasket
Oil 5w30

Here is a summary of the write up:

"Customer states there is an oil leak SOP"

Cam housing sub assembly leaking oil, removed ENGINE assembly from vehicle and disassembled oilpan, front differential, timing cover and timing chain assembly, removed both cam housing assemblies, cleaned and resealed and reinstalled cam housings, timing chain and cover, reinstalled oil pan and front diff., reinstalled ENGINE, bled cooling system and road tested the vehicle.

Car has 2,450 miles on it and they are very easy miles. Wife drives very conservatively and I'm **** about most anything to do with my cars. I've got 5 vehicles to keep up. This scares the ever living turds out of me. So, lets here what it is you've all got to throw at me. Wife is out driving it right now, I've yet to check for scratches due to hood removal and all of that......I'm pretty much sick to my stomach and I'm thinking about that bottle of scotch in the top cabinet !!!!
Sorry for the very long first post..........I know that you will all be interested in this one.

And yes,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I said they removed the ENGINE !!

Pittdawg

Most states have so-called "lemon laws", at least that's what they are referred to here in California, basically they say if a brand new vehicle has certain major defects the dealer is required to replace the whole vehicle, I would look into this if I were you.

Bichon

Not a lemon (at least not yet) in either PA (original poster's state) or CA (your state).

PA lemon law: 3 repair attempts or 30 calendar days out of service

CA lemon law: 2 repair attempts for a defect that might cause death or serious injury or 4 repair attempts or 30 calendar days out of service.

BN06

Damn, and I thought my flawed paint was a problem. I've read a few posts about oil leaks. You might want to search those threads as its sounds familiar (but not common).

Style2k6

Well you could look at it as a problem or you could see it as the dealer being very through and replacing all the gaskets to make sure they do take care of the leak. As alarming as it sounds are we sure all this needed to be done or was it just done as a precautionary measure. Maybe the dye did not pinpoint the precise location of the leak so better safe that sorry let's replace all seals and gasket. I call it the Christmas light theory...It's easier to just replace the string of lights than it is to try and find the burnt out bulb.


My glass is half full

mossman

Style,
Exactly how I'm choosing to look at this. Patience....I tell myself. We will keep an eye on things and if anything seems amiss, back to the dealer it goes. No complaints about the service department, they have always taken care of us (this is the second Lexus, the first was an RX) my wife loves the salesperson we use and they throw a pretty good Hawaiian party, the sushi wasn't bad. Trying to think positively about this, just checked under the car and don't see anything, checked for scratches and don't see anything. I'll ask our service person about details later, but I'm sure there haven't been many IS250 engines that have been removed and torn apart. I'll get more details as we go along.

socalJD

It's not the dealer's fault for a factory 'oops'. Send a carefully worded letter to Lexus corporate in Torrance, CA and let them know your displeasure. See what they respond with. As long as the work was done by an authorized dealer, you have it on record. If anything should arise, even after the warranty period, you now have something to go back on. Not sure how long you keep your cars or how many miles you put on them, but I would expect that you will have no more issues arising from this episode - just my .02 . . .

mossman

socal,

Letter is composed and ready to go out. Not bashing them, just expressing displeasure and hoping this is the end of the problems. I kept trying to get my wife to go with the IS350, but NO....said it had too much power and our son was drooling to get his hands on one. Honestly, I trust they over did the gasket thing......I believe they wanted to get it right. Time will tell.