dychen85

Hey guys,

My car was accepted for a piston ring recall and they told me that my whole exhaust pipe is rusted. I do hear rumbling noises from the exhaust.

They told me that in order to take the engine out they would need to cut out my front exhaust pipe and that would cost 260 in order to get the engine out to do the recall. They told me it is mandatory due to the extreme amount of rust. They can't remove it without ruining my whole exhaust. They want to charge me extra due to Lexus not covering weather and rust.

"Cut off and replace front exhaust pipe nuts(4) and bolts(4) (Exhaust pipe hardware completely oxidized and rusted to pipe flange, must be cut off and replaced)"

Is that a legitimate charge?

Sylvan

iTrader: (6)

I wouldn't pay it, if it's "mandatory" they should cover it

dychen85

Sorry I mean it is due to the extreme rust that they say they can't remove the pipe and keep it in one piece. That is why they aren't covering it.

Mike_1GO

iTrader: (2)

give lexus headquarters a call. tell them about your concerns, they should cover it.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

What year and mileage is your 2IS?

NotADood

Don't pay a penny. I am a Lexus master technician that has done dozens of the carbon build up/piston ring warranty extension jobs. Lexus has a special procedure for unforeseen circumstances such as rust. It is called "Z time" internally. it covers things such as rust and broken bolts. I have even seen an entire engine dropped down with the entire exhaust attached (with jack stands supporting it.) The dealership that I work for would NEVER charge anything to a customer for a job that is covered under warranty.

dychen85

It has almost 150k miles. 06.
They informed me that it is so rusted that they cannot get to the engine unless they remove my exhaust but in order to get the exhaust they need to do a different work due to the extreme rust.

They told me that they will not do the recall if I do not agree to the extra charge.

liqB

Have you tried taking it to another dealership?

dychen85

Not yet. There are only 2 in my area. Also my 9 years are up in the next 3 months. I have to be careful.

DKIS350

$260 sounds a bit extreme for labor for something like that, but I also cant see what they are dealing with. i would think there is a better way other than just cutting the front pipe. Calling Lexus would be the first thing to do. Most likely with the age and miles there isnt much they can do.

Z Time is basically designed to get a technician extra time for unusual repairs and situations like rust, snapped/stripped bolts and nuts. Z time wont cover any parts.

I worked at a Toyota dealer for a long time and when we did the Tacoma and Tundra frame recalls, Z time was a rare thing. Most Z time was kicked back by Toyota, though not every time time.

It also wasnt uncommon for the customer to have to pay for labor and parts on items not covered under the recall, but necessary to perform the frame replacement.

For example, many of these trucks had power steering racks and lines that were so rotten that we knew the second we tried to remove them they will snap and need to be replaced. This was NOT covered by Toyota. Most customers would call Toyota and eventually end up having to pay anyhow. Now in situations like this, all we could do at the dealer level was give the customer a fair price (usually well under retail) on parts and labor.

dychen85

He said the best he could do was 10% off. Should I try another dealership? Or tell him about z time.

DKIS350

10% doesnt sound like much to me. 10% was something I could do for almost any customer and still make some $$ when i was in the dealer world.

Now...every dealership has different mark ups. I know the dealer i worked at had some pretty high labor rates and parts mark ups so I could discount pretty easily with out destroying my own paycheck.

You could ask them about Z time (most manufacturers have this Ford is M time, GM is OLH and the list goes on, I train dealership software for a living), but they know about it. Some dealers are reluctant to use it too often as it can throw red flags to Toyota Corp. We used it in my dealership once in a while, but usually it was used so the tech wouldnt lose their *** on a difficult job. Usually when a dealer uses Z time, the claim goes into a pending status and might need to be approved by an area rep before the dealer get paid by Toyota/Lexus. They usually come into a dealer monthly to sign off on claims like that. No dealer wants that money to be held up of course. Now this of course doesnt happen every time.

I would ask if they can do better on the discount...maybe ask if they can show you what needs to be done to justify the charges. If they are just taking a cut off saw to the front pipe and replacing 4 nuts and bolts and saying that labor is $260, that seems excessive. If its not that simple maybe the cost is somehow reasonable.

Wht95scort

ask to speak to the service manager. You shouldn't be being charged for anything. I've seen badly rusted bolts at the flange but noithing you can't get off. And if you can't you sure as hell shouldn't be rebuilding an engine.

dychen85

Corporate gave me a deal for a whole new exhaust system. The whole new exhaust system is 2k and corporate is paying 90% of it. I accepted that deal.

I took the car to a place beforehand and they commented that my exhaust looks like it was peppered with a machine gun. It sounds loud as well.

DKIS350