satiger

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear all the trouble you are going through with this 600. However, having a solid check engine light will hide any future issues behind it and you wouldn't know unless some one does a scanning on frequent basis. IMO, not worth taking risk.

Oxygen sensors on Lexus are very sensitive. Its worth paying little extra premium to get Denso. Downstream is around $45 and upstream is around $120. Depends on which one needs replacement, could be diy. If proper spec part is not used, can cause issues with catalytic converter in future.

As Tee said, 600 is not fuel saver. If that was my goal, I would've got Corolla. All that said, I am a strong believer in proper break-ins when can first put on service. Secondly, I don't compromise on service by using alternate parts or fluids other than Toyotas or OEM (Denso, ngk etc). All these will eventually catch up as miles rack-up. I compare that with human aging - abused or neglected health will cause issues down the line. Sorry about being little more blunt.

payneiii

Ok. Here we go again. I was driving down the street tonight, on my way home from work to relax and enjoy the extra day off I will have this weekend when the LS600 flashed the warning "check hybrid system" and "check PCS system" lights. The car totally stalled while I was going 40 miles per hour with traffic behind me and was almost hit twice. This is now beyond ridiculous. When does it end ???? I have the Lexus Gold used car warranty I just purchased so I called the Lexus roadside service number included with the warranty. The tow truck just picked up the car and will be dropping it off at the local dealership. Hopefully they are open tomorrow or I have to go all holiday weekend without a car and have to wait until Monday morning to find a way to the dealership and get a loaner vehicle. I'm starting to think "would a Mercedes have really been so bad" compared to this 64 day nightmare ????

Vansibel

Just saw this thread popping again, sorry to hear all your trouble. At least you got so far all the major repair covered. The shock absorber problem is a thing on it's own, but i'd be incline to say that the stuff related to the check engine and hybrid system may be a persistent problem that the dealer may have fail so far to pinpoint. The real issue may not even be the battery you just replaced. As far as I love my car, I wouldn't say that it's actually bullet proof. Sure it's more reliable than a comparable s-class or 7 series, but there is so many parts in the car (made by so many companies)... odds are just against us. I think I read somewhere cjitty spending like 8 grand on repair, i'd be interested to hear the details about those repairs. Although it was covered under warranty, it's still reliability issues. It's not always the lexus quality/reliability in question, but many peoples does thing to the car during it's life and it take only one botched job by a lexus tech for things to spiral out of control. There is a guy here that blew 4 engines on his brand new subaru. That cannot be 4 bad engines in a row, there is a good chance that the dealer just botched the job. In the end, dealer can cut corners and there is no way for Lexus to be aware if it (or care for that matter). Unlike most people, I'm driving my car without any warranties, because my experience with Lexus warranty was less than stellar, but then again the dealer is the one that make the most of your experience. I'm not too concerned because I bought an extremely low mileage car that was in absolutely mint condition (32 thousands miles). But I must admit, I wouldn't want to wonder if I'd see a light on the dash or hear a weird noise every time I take the car. Every time you have to deal with those issues, warranty or not, you're loosing time and money. I don't want to argue with the dealer or Lexus corporate each time wondering what's included and what's not. In the end, like any business, your experience and satisfaction come down to the individuals you deal with.

If you are absolutely certain that the car wasn't in any major accidents, i'd say try to get to the bottom of the hybrid issue and don't give up yet. A brand new battery for the price you paid for the car is still very attractive. Even try another dealer if you have to. Anyways, as a last resort I think you have lemon laws over there in the US. I don't think you got a burned french fry as other might say as this car is still 9 year old and there is no way the previous owner would have drove 70k miles while putting up with that kind of punishment. Keep us updated about your endeavor, documented issues specific to the ls600 are hard to come by.

payneiii

The Lexus dealership called me and told me why my car stopped on me. Apparently, the technician who replaced my hybrid battery a month ago didn't ensure that all of the connectors were connected securely. While inspecting the system he accidentally touched the loose connector and it shut down the entire system which led them to the fix. After giving all connections in the Hybrid systems a once over, I gave them permission to test drive it. They did so and confirmed everything was ok, cleaned up the car and called me to pick it up, no questions asked. I take two things away from this. One, I'm glad this happened in a residential area and not on the highway at 75 miles per hour. And two, for as much money as I'm paying for this car plus the unexpected expense of a Lexus Gold used car warranty, I would expect the Lexus service technicians to be more thorough, especially with a $5000 repair. Oh well, a potentially expensive diagnoses/ repair has been averted. For now. But you can't blame me for being gun shy and wondering every time I get in the driver's seat of this car will I make it to my destination on time, in one piece, or with my wallet intact.

VQT

Up date on your Launch Edition? Any more issues since?

lexus600hl

get the hybrid battery replaced free.
Take the $1000 from mandi.
Try to cancel the after market warranty. That's usually useless. See if lexus dealer would sell extended warranty.
Maybe Have outside mechanic fix shocks? I don't know. I thought 600 had air suspension. I don't know how complicated that is.
I have the same car as you. Had hydrocarbon switch failure. I don't know how rampant that is.
I am not selling the 600 for $24k, for now because it is a great car.

CJITTY

If you knew what 2008 LS600s were selling for at auction, you would cringe. About $18k to $22k.. Value is plummeting, another reason I sold mine while I could stay on top

VQT

Looks like the OP left this forum...

payneiii

Good morning Lexus family. I haven't left the forum. I am off to work now but will give you guys an update when I get home tonight.

lexus600hl

You are chaning my mind.. I might sell it.

riknchar

If 2008 LS600s are currently selling for $18-22K at auction, I think it's fair to say that the value HAS plummeted (past tense), but not necessarily that value IS plummeting (present tense).

I compare this current selling frenzy for the 2008 LS600s to the behavior I see time and time again in the stock market, which is almost completely dominated by herd mentality. "Irrational exuberance" when things are going well, followed by "irrational fear" when things start to level out.

Smart investors always buy when everyone else is selling (irrational fear) and sell when every one else is buying (irrational exuberance). In this case, that means smart car shoppers would actually see today as a PERFECT time to acquire a low-mileage 2008 LS600 for a real bargain basement price (wish I was in the market for an LS right now, I know which way I'd go!).

The last thing I'd do in this situation is succumb to the "panic" and sell my beautiful LS600 for $20K. I'm not saying that prices are likely to rise significantly for the 2008s, but that there's no way they will continue to freefall below the current price point, so the major depreciation we've felt over the past 2 years is history, and we can relax and enjoy our cars for the next few years with almost no additional depreciation (in my view). My car is has the CPO warranty for another 4+ years and 53K miles. If the batteries crap out along the way, I'll try to convince Lexus to cover part of the cost, but I already have an Independent shop that specializes in hybrid battery replacements waiting on deck to help me if that ever happens.

I say now is the time to ****** up those undervalued LS600s before everyone comes to their senses!

R Z

Buying a used car is a risk. Buying an older 600 is a major risk. I personally would never own a hybrid any time soon. I do plenty of good things to help the environment. My home is mostly energy efficient, we recycle everything, and in the office we've gone mostly paperless. I put less than 7000 miles a year on my car. So, risking the farm on a hybrid at this early stage of the game is a no-no for me.

When the LS's become older, the price is very attractive. So, someone wanting the lap of luxury might jump on an 08 or 09 instead of a, let's say, new Honda Civic Touring. However, the one thing many do not factor in, is the cost of maintaining such a used vehicle. While Lexus may or may not have become stingy in it's repair gratis, why should they? You're driving an 8 year old car. Who knows how it's been handled. So anything Lexus does to offset a costly repair, should be appreciated.

Before I bought my 08, I made sure I had enough cash on hand to cover things like control arms though my local mechanic. Something is bound to happen to an older car no matter what brand. The thing is mobile, and "stuff" happens.

While it would have been fantastic if Lexus has totally covered Jitty's battery, they didn't have to do anything. I'm glad they stepped up to the plate for him. He was very wise to sell the car and move on. Brighter days are ahead.

payneiii

Hello fam. I have been away for awhile but I guess no news is good news. I did take the Lexus used car Gold Warranty and was surprised at how easily it was obtained, even though I didn't purchase the vehicle from their dealership. It came in handy on August 07, 2015, when I took my vehicle in for the 80,000 mile standard service. Everything checked good except for the leaking water pump they discovered. My Gold Warranty covered it so they replaced the water pump for free.

Since then I have taken it in for the 85,000 mile service just last week and everything still checks ok. The only real issue is an intermittent chirping noise coming from the passenger side vent when the blower motor is operating when it's cold outside. Some days it's a real nuisance to me and other days it doesn't chirp at all. Their suggestion was to let it go until it chirps all the time. Then they can justify the 100 dollar cost of putting it on the machine for diagnostics.

I still have to find some good leather dye for my seats since the very first time I used Lexol Leather cleaner last year and it removed all of the cheap leather dye the dealership used to camouflage the worn seats. Also, the center speaker on the dash seems to have started to rattle slightly so it may be blown. Other than a bent rim from the potholes here in Northern Indiana and some paint scratches that will need some immediate attention (oh and did I mention, some one backed into my car and hit it in the rear bumper at a local supermarket, which amazes me since I always park very far away from everyone because I have found that if you have a nice vehicle in this area, people always want to "reach out and touch it" in some way). Over all so far the experience has been just ok. In retrospect I wished I had found a LS460l awd fully loaded, but they are hard to find around here. As things crop up I will keep you all posted. The stealership seems really interested in keeping my car up to speed and never fail to remind me every time they see me about how important my Launch Edition LS600H l is and do I really know what kind of vehicle I have ??? Every other week they send me a flyer or an e-mail offering to purchase it from me. For now, it's a no go, lol.

CJITTY

So, am I the only one that finds it amazing that a LS600HL with a nearly $30k premium brand new is worth less than a same year 460L nowadays at auction? As of today, 2008 460L average price is $21.5 and the 600 is $20.6 with about 7 vehicles each used in the sample. Of course factors like mileage and condition are to be considered, but that caught me off guard.

SW17LS

Doesn't really surprise me no...