phillimt

Wow so glad I bought the extended warranty on my 09 2IS when I bought her...

So here's the story. This Monday morning (of course it's a Monday, when else would this happen right?) my girl would not start. I'd replaced the battery less than a year ago at Sears (Diehard... mistake? Perhaps?) so I figured it likely was not the battery since it was so new... had some indicator lights on and such, headlights/radio/etc came on so aux power was working, just wouldnt start.

Okay so called AAA, they came 50 hours later and jumped me. Car started, everything seemed okay. Headed out of my complex and realised as soon as I was on the road that the car would not go past 2k RPMs. At all. Flooring it. Also wouldn't go over 25mph or into the 4th gear (since 3rd is kinda the standard starting gear for these cars). I started to panic. At lights, she'd idle at <500rpm (about 400 ish) and I kept thinking she was going to stall out on me....

She shook too. A decent amount.

Made it into work, albeit slowly. Probably shouldn't have gone, I know, but had to get there. Spent the night at work cuz I was on duty (mil) and returned to the car ~36 hours later Tues afternoon. I expected it not to start. I'd made an appointment with L of SEA later that afternoon.

Of course, since I was basically headed straight to the dealership, she started fine, absolutely totally normal. Isn't that how it always works? Brought her in to L/SEA and they told me they'd look over it and let me know tomorrow (today).

They called me and let me know that she did fine in the road test, and that the battery was absolutely fine. However. They discovered she's misfiring all over the place... She's at 64k mi, so just out of the standard warranty. They told me that they're going to have to rebuild the engine completely. They're replacing all the pistons, rings, gaskets, and valves within the engine itself - basically all the internal parts. I can't pick her up for a week (!!).

So, thinking I was crazy spending that 1.5k or whatever it was on the extended warranty at the time... this whole ordeal I'm sure is easily 3k at the very least... and L of SEA told me it's all covered and won't cost me a cent...

Talk about awesomeness!

pheonix72

iTrader: (6)

Yay, totally awesomeness that your car (from the most reliable brand on the planet) needs a complete engine rebuild at 64k miles
In all seriousness, I am glad you have extended warranty. Otherwise this would set you back at least $5k?

pmanliu

iTrader: (4)

Wouldn't this be covered by the powertrain warranty (72 months / 70k miles)

phillimt

Would it be covered by that warranty? Perhaps it would, actually. I'd like to believe my purchasing the extended warranty helped somewhat haha

and yeah man, kinda crazy that a Lex would need a total rebuild at just 65k? Seems ridiculous to me...

laobo979

iTrader: (5)

Yeah that would if been under your power train warranty. If you have and 250 it's extended from the carbon fiber build up.

phillimt

Oh, well there ya go then! I'm covered either way. Perhaps the extended actually was not worth the cost after all...

pmanliu

iTrader: (4)

Opps, i wasn't downplaying your extended warranty or anything, was just curious if Lexus had mentioned the powertrain or if it wasn't covered for a reason. My 09 is getting up there in the miles too and I was entertaining getting an extended warranty.

Also, $1,500 for the extended warranty is a great deal . If i add it now to my vehicle, it will be 1.5x+ more than what you paid.

phillimt

Oh really? They pro-rate the cost of the warranty? I didn't know that at all! Honestly, L/SEA didn't specify which warranty covered it, he just said it's covered "on your warranty". I did make it clear I had the extended. I'll be sure to ask which warranty covered it next week when it is ready and report back, though!

Still can't believe that an IS would need a total engine rebuild at just 65k......

FSportIS

iTrader: (13)

I keep hearing so much bad things about the IS lately: carbon build up on IS250, oil leak on IS350 and now engine rebuild @ 65k... what the hell is going on with our IS lol????

metaleckz

iTrader: (9)

Im kinda happy that I bought extended warranty

firelikeiy

If it is the carbon build up issue, install an oil catch can when you get the car back to prevent it from happening again.

keyframe13

Your extended warranty has nothing to do with this. You have carbon build up and it is covered 9 years and unlimited miles by Lexus at no extra cost to you. You still throw the money out of window on that warranty
Might tell them to look into changing the water pump and spark plugs since they take the entire engine out.
BTW, the water pump is also covered by your powertrain warranty so the extended warranty is still not justified

rogers2

Still nice you had a extend warranty. I recently got 3 wheel bearing replace on my IS250 under my extend warranty.
Now I notices she's cough at the light. I guess I need to schedule appt to check for the carbon build up issue.

B16da9

iTrader: (7)

I was thinking the exact same thing.

FSportIS

iTrader: (13)

Well, extended warranty can still be good since it is bumper to bumper including not just the engine but electronics etc so it give you peace of mind for some years and that is worth it.