up4speed

Whoops made a typo. It's a .2% chance of being affected (1 of 500).
By the way, I spoke to someone at Lexus (I think it was the warranty division) who didn't outright say, but implied that if Toyota wasn't having those quality control issues, he believes that this problem would have gotten fixed as they failed. The 2 factors that made it a recall was that they didn't want any negative media attention, plus the fact that if the engine stalled at a bad time it can cause an accident. I don't think there were any cases where an engine stalled or got additional damage from the valve spring failure. In other words, to me, there is no benefit of jumping the gun and fixing it if it is not broke! The dealer was very anxious to fix my car when I brought it in for an inspection last year. It would have been one of the early repairs w/o that special tool. Even if I were to let them fix my car, I would have waited until they got experience doing it. After I got home, it occurred to me. The dealers make more money from repairs than sales. They get paid over $4,000 for this repair from Lexus! This is a repair that they want!! Like I said, they appeared to be a little pushy to make that appointment. When I spoke to the guy at Lexus, he also indirectly implied that I am probably doing the right thing by just leaving well enough alone until it fails (if it fails....remember 1 out of 500!). Again, please note, these are just MY observations. I'm not trying to talk any of you into doing what I did. I have to recommend that you listen to your Lexus dealers advice (liability disclaimer) on any mechanical and safety issue with the car. I'm not a gambler, or risk taker when it comes to my cars, but, for the above reasons, this will be my first gamble. Of course it doesn't feel like a gamble, b/c in my mind, there isn't anything to lose by choosing my path to the solution. If it aint broke, don't fix it!! If I get any engine noise or roughness that doesn't belong, I will be on the phone to make an appointment in 5 minutes!

Craig B

There have been people on this board who had a failure and their engine quit running. If you don't fix it, and are out of warranty, I would think you would be out of luck. I had mine done and they extend your power train warranty. I have an extended warranty on mine. Why take the chance? Not worth it in my opinion...

vancouverl

I tend to agree with up4speed as whenever iv had an engine or tranny opened it has never been the same as factory again ive dealt with over 30 repairs to different cars and trucks ive owned and once opened the repairs start rolling in !!!

up4speed

Craig, I understand what you are saying. I had the same concerns, that's why I called the Lexus Warranty Department. They extended my warranty even though I didn't do the repair. The guy also said that since it is a recall, Lexus will do the VSR no matter when it fails. If the problem was not covered under a recall, that would be a different issue. If you think about it, I'm sure Lexus would rather fix the cars as the problems approach instead of doing them all, just in case. They would save a ton of money because they would do 1 out of every 500 instead of all 500!! They were kind of backed into the wall with this one because if someone is not "in tune" with their engine, they will not notice the extra clatter noise or roughness. Then eventually the engine may stall, causing a safety concern. Lexus is all about reputation. I've had many other cars with way worse known problems, and the company did not cover them or do a recall. I'll give an example of only one of the several situations. I don't want to get into details because it was a long story, but I'll give a quick version b/c I'm still angry even after 6 years. I have a Nissan Xterra. There was a known defect in the exhaust manifold. The manifold would get a crack in it, potentially letting carbon monoxide into the vehicle cabin. They re-designed the part, so obviously they admitted that there is a problem. I did research and realized a VERY large % of the people had this problem (not only 1 in 500!). Well, my car had very low milage. I had 23,614 miles at the time when it failed. The part was warranted for 60,000 miles. The problem was that I had the truck for 5 years and 1 1/2 months at the time. the warranty was expired for only 1 1/2 months, but I had only 1/3 the allowable milage. I know in theory that it is expired, but based on the fact that it was a KNOWN issue, and possibly a safety issue, I thought that they should good-will the repair. Well long story short, they ignored the problem, said it wasn't a safety issue and charged me $700+ for the repair. I buy a lot of cars and I have had companies good will things that were 2 years out of warranty because of known issues. If it was a safety recall, I believe that they would be required to fix it, warranty or not. Like I said, the warranty dept for Lexus feels that if Lexus/Toyota wasn't in the media so much lately, this problem would be swept under the carpet and fixed only as problems occurred, because of the very low failure rate. Also, the small risk of injury if it stalls at the wrong time, keeps them from taking the risk. I'm sure Lexus would rather pay a few million in wrongful death law suits, than to pay multiple times that for the repairs. But like I said, they are mostly worried about a tarnished reputation......I can't blame them for that. They are in a position where they MUST stay at the top, especially in a competitive environment. I am still working on forgiving Nissan, so no Nissan in my near future even though I really like their products.

Craig B

Oh okay, but your Nissan dealer should have gone to bat for you. My Lexus dealer takes care of me and I've purchased 6 Lexus Vehicles. On my Infiniti QX4, the brake rotors warped at 7000 miles and they would only pay to turn my rotors. On my GX 460, rotors warped at 4000 miles, Lexus dealer turned rotors. I complained to the shop foreman and on my next service visit, they're going to replace my rotors. I'm not a hard braker. I think both times, dealers over torqued my wheels...
I figure if I have an engine problem, my dealer will take care of me, or Lexus will... Good luck with your decision. They also gave me a 500.00 parts and service credit after the repair plus a full tank of fuel...

up4speed

Craig, I agree with you. Nissan should have done something. Like I said I didn't really want to go through all the phone calls and the full story. Lets just say that Nissan North America and the dealer were pushing it back and forth to each other. It wound up that the dealer has control over the goodwill dollars, but didn't want to give them to me because I didn't service my vehicle with them. I tried to explain that it was the first problem I had and obviously I went to them now. He asked why I didn't do oil changes with them, I asked if they used synthetic oil like I do. answer: nope. I then told him that they get my car for inspections every year, that is the only thing the truck ever needed. Well needless to say, the 5 Nissans I bought (not all from them) meant nothing. At the end I had Nissan North america and the Service manager on the line on a 3 way call because I was tired of being lied to and pushed back and forth. In the end they didn't do ANYTHING for me, not even cover just the part $70 or just the labor, or meet me half way. NOTHING!! I am not a happy customer because of it, and make sure I tell my full story before someone buys a Nissan vehicle. It's a shame because I actually like their vehicles.

Craig B

I don't blame you. I purchased my last BMW after my 2009 X5 twin turbo diesel was a lemon. BMW coudln't supply parts for the vehicle and offered to let me trade for a different BMW. I said no, I just want my money back. They said no, gave me $600 compensation, I traded it off at the Lexus dealer for my GX 460. My BMW was new, in the shop over ten times in one year. I've had my GX 460 a little over a year and only took it in for a software upgrade and one other time for an oil change and to have wheels rotated and balanced. I did have my rotors turned on my second service visit. I think the dealer over torqued my wheels and warped my brake rotors. They're going to swap out my rotors on my next service visit. I live 120 miles each direction from my Lexus dealer...

40cpe

If my memory is correct, they said .02 % of the springs were affected. There are 32 springs in the engine, so wouldn't there be a X32 chance of one failure in your engine?

up4speed

I made a mistake, it wasn't .02, I think it was .2%. I know it came out to 1 of every 500.

you definitely have a point, if they are talking about the springs, then it would be x32 which comes out to one in every 15-16 engines on average!! that is definitely a huge number. But all the research I did, from what I understood, was 1 out of every 500 cars. Now you have me second guessing, but even if you are right, I would still wait for a failure b/c there is no additional harm to the engine by waiting. I will just make sure that I am paying attention to any problems with the way the engine runs.

up4speed

Here is one of the many examples of why my car is not getting touched until there is in fact a problem.

"Good news. I just got my 200 LS460 back and the tickling/rattling noise is gone. The previous dealer who installed the VSR did not do a good job. Lexus Hennessey said the following:

Road test car with Chassisear to Engine. Valve cover on Bank 1 & 2, and Engine Block
FOund noise coming from Both Bank. Bank 1 at 1600RPM to 2000RPM. Bank2 2000RPM to 2500Rpm. Removed Valve Cover, found all of the valve cover bolts loose. One bolt on Bank1 was only by 2 turns. Causing oil to Bleed out of lifters. Making Rattle Noise."

up4speed

According to this, I think it is clear that it is .2% of the cars, not valve springs.

"The recall will cover 138,000 cars in the U.S. Lexus estimates there's a 0.2 percent chance that any of these vehicles will actually experience a problem. Yes. That statistic is in the press release."

That's a total of 276 cars out of the 138,000........Like I said, I'll take my chances for now.