Gbp

Last night, after my car had been parked in a driveway for a few hours, upon startup, a message appeared "Check Parking Brake System" with an additional message to have the car checked by the dealerthe dealer. The red "Park" (as if the parking brake was engaged) wasn't just lit, it was flashing. The light on "Auto" switch for the parking braking brake was a rapidly flickering green rather than a steady green. Pressing the switch had no effect, except to generate another message: "Parking Brake Not Available". Finally, the orangish error/malfunction(?) light was lit.

When I drove the car, a warning beep repeatedly sounded, followed by the "Check Parking Braking System" message, alternating with a "Release Parking Brake" message. There was no resistance or burning smell, however; the parking brake didn't seem to be engaged.

i drove home with the annoying beeps and flashing dashboard lights and this morning took the car to my dealer. I eventually received a call from my service advisor, saying that parts of the trunk had flooded (it has been raining heavily the last few weeks, including yesterday) and that at least two controllers (affecting the parking brake?) were underwater. They had pulled the rear bumper off and disassembled other parts to determine this. What hadn't been discovered so far is exactly how water had entered the trunk area.

Moreover, the original diagnostic fee of $175 (1 hour) was raised to a maximum estimate of $700 (4 hours). The diagnostic would be waived if the repair would be covered under my warranty, except (here comes the bad news) I was told that damage to parts caused by water intrusion and related repairs wouldn't be covered by my CPO warranty. If anyone has any thoughts about this issue, I'd appreciate it.

i'm attaching a picture of the parking brake actuator that might or might not be involved with the repair. thanks in advance for any feedback.

SW17LS

My position would be that the fact that you had water intrusion should be covered by the CPO warranty...so all of it should be covered.

I wouldn't lay down for that one...

hfahmy

Did you have any repairs or paintwork done in the trunk area after buying the car as CPO? if so, whoever done this repair is responsible.

If not, then CPO should cover. It is a defect in a car Lexus decided to warranty and sell as CPO.

I would also ask for CPO inspection report, they might have discovered this during the certification process and they decided to certify it anyways.

Gbp

I won't let a decision to deny coverage of the repair under the CPO warranty go unchallenged.

AFAIK, there were no repairs or paintwork done in the trunk area of the car while I've owned it. I will try to get the CPO check off sheet from the dealer I bought the car from (not my local dealer).

i need to find my CPO paperwork. Its terms might match these:

http://media-dmg.assets-cdk.com/team...145edef087.pdf

Thanks for the feedback!

Gbp

Updates:



http://workshop-manuals.com/lexus/ls...ion/locations/

It appears that the water intrusion is related to some body shop work in February 2016 that had been performed, related to an accident caused by a red-light runner (I started a thread here about that accident.) The body shop has an office on-site at the dealership. The body shop owner was shown pictures of where the water intrusion occurred, and will look at it in more detail.

This isn't conclusive yet, but the body shop might pay for the diagnostic and replacement of the ECU.

R Z

Nice investigative digging. Sounds like you found the culprit. Good luck!

Gbp

Thanks, I appreciate your good wishes! I should know more by end-of-day today.

Gbp

My accident thread is here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...amily-and.html

Although the side impact was between the driver's and the engine compartment, it's possible that when assessing the damage, the area affected by the water intrusion was inspected and the grommets that acted to seal that area weren't replaced -- at least, that's my understanding of what the service advisor said.

comotiger

Good luck with the investigation and hope someone else foots the bill. It's odd that given the accident was near the front end, they are looking for undetected damage in the trunk area. Do you use brushless car washes? The high pressure water used in those could have clued you in to potential problems before the heavy rainfall. In any case, let's hope things out to your benefit.

Gbp

Thanks for the comments. I just received a call from the body shop owner. Here's the information he gave me:

When they repaired my car from the accident, the rear bumper was removed so that the paint could be blended with the paint job they performed on the areas directly affected by the accident. The leak is occurring at the bracket that attaches the bumper to the car. I believe the body shop ordered a new bracket, but I'm not sure. In any event, the body shop noticed from looking at a 2010 LS (with a later production date) that the bracket apparently had been redesigned! The body shop owner had never heard of a similar leak occurring, but we've had a record amount of rain recently, and the sloped driveway the car was parked on just before the parking brake error occurred seemed to have caused the water to pool at the area of the parking brake ECU.

The body shop has a call into Lexus's warranty division about this. The owner stated that no matter what Lexus says, we will work something out. I hope to hear more by end-of-day Monday and my car returned to me by Tuesday. They now have the proper bracket and other necessary parts, I'm told.

Fingers crossed that this will be a minimal or no-expense adventure for me. I'll report more about yhe bracket situation when I know more. It could be an issue for other early-production 2010 LS460's, but I think that conclusion is premature at this point.

comotiger

Looks promising, Gbp. I think the car will be fixed properly, and you are going to be alright

Nospinzone

It sounds like the body shop owner is a stand up guy. Let's hope that proves to be the case.

My wife had rear end damage repaired on her Jag (twice actually from two separate incidents) which resulted in water leakage into the trunk. Eventually it rusted out the module that controlled the rear bumper parking sensors.

Junglequac

That is great news you have some clarity on the issue and truly sorry you are having to go through all of this. Out of curiosity, have you tried going to a different Lexus dealer to see how they might handle it?

As you appear to live in California, I am guessing there are multiple dealers nearby. Granted, now that the body shop is involved it all might be moot, but my Infiniti M45 when under warranty in Florida it was amazing the difference between what one dealer would cover compared to another.

While perhaps not applicable anymore in this scenario, food for thought should there be any other issues down the road,

Gbp

I've been pretty satisfied with the service department of my current dealer, Lexus of Marin. I have two other dealers about 45 minutes to an hour away. I also have a good independent mechanic a few minutes away from me. My local dealer has been good about dealing with CPO repairs. One good sign: both my independent and subsequently my dealer (without my prompting; I was at my dealer due to a battery replacement) identified a slow leak from my front shock absorbers. The dealer took care of it under the CPO warranty. Previously, my dealer worked with Lexus to perform a free 60K service (including the spark plug replacement) that my selling dealer should have done.

In summary, I'm pleased with my dealer's service department, and I'm fairly confident that between them, Lexus Corporate, and the body shop, the parking brake ECU/water intrusion issue will be solved at a no cost or reasonable cost to me.

satiger

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear about all these troubles and thanks for the updates. Hope everything gets resolved to your satisfaction!.

BTW, is it an independent body shop or owned by one of the Lexus dealership?.

Per description, looks like bracket was replaced and body shop has determined that the bracket was re-designed later 2010 production but they received/used previous part. If my understanding is correct and assuming you have not had an accident to replace that bracket, your car would've had original part like all other LS460s and not a re-designed one. If that bracket were to be the culprit, other LS460s with similar brackets would have experienced leak due to rain. Your dealer should be able to comment on that. Also, once part is re-designed and assigned a new part number (typically a suffix), they carry a description as to what as modified to fix what issue. You will be able to get that info from dealer too. Just curious....