djwestf

03 GS 300 268,000 miles and was running strong until 8 weeks ago
LITERALLY NEVER ONE SINGLE PROBLEM~~~~ until dun dun dun~~~the timing belt/water pump change
So my precious baby is sitting in mechanical purgatory as I (joined the forum for advice because apparently my mechanic thinks I'm just a stupid girl) so I can at least pretend to be smart while deciding her fate Considering I DROVE it there to have it diagnosed~~~hour later phone call "your timings off for whatever reason , You need timing belt kit and water pump ($617). Take him the $, he said would take 7 hours~~~~9 hours later next phone call "it's not good, You have one and only one bent valve, need to pull the head, (how does he know it's just one valve?) replace 4 valves I he said he would just do all 4 valves in that cylinder. re-machine it, put it back together and charge you $1600.00 more. My one and only question to him before I gave him the go ahead on the belt and pump was will this fix my car? After 2 months of a gazillion Radom misfire codes cylinders 2 and 4 and running terrible. He said YES this will fix all your problems! It took me all of 5 minutes on Gates power grip website to find out that this IS AN INTERFERENCE engine.... He never mentioned one thing about possible engine destruction (that's sorta off a big deal) when you have jumped timing.. My question is will somebody be my friend and advise me honestly as to what I should do? Is it possible he installed incorrect ,cranked engine and bent? Did I somehow jump timing , bend valve and still drive it for 2 months? Because wasn't upfront with me from rip should intake elsewhere for valve repair? Buy a rebuilt cam?
I want my facts straight when I go to see him. Would like to know is there any way I can prove that the valve was not bent when I brought it to him 9 hrs earlier? During his 2 hr diagnosis process that morning not one thing gave him any indication I had a bent valve he felt he should mention?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

FrankT

Sounds like whom ever replaced your timing belt did a poor job and resulted in bent valves.

If it was running fine before the timing belt replacement and then bad after I would hold that mechanic 100% responsible.

I'm a bit confused, did the mechanic that did the timing belt also do the diagnostic?

djwestf

first of all let me say thanks FrankT for responding to my very first post and making me feel welcomed. I took the car to auto zone the day before mechanic appt to have them run diagnostics so i would have a baseline to compare to shops diagnosis. (trust issues). multiple random misfire codes. I did drive the car to the shop general poor performance. Almost like limp mode. Starts perfect idles perfect. no coolant leaks oil usage. just acceleration issues mainly. OK so drop it off to him sat morning (17 years at lexus opened his own shop) so he says. 10 oclock am 2 o clock pm he calls your timing is 'off for whatever reason" you need a tb and pump. didnt know the right questions to ask except if i give you 617$ to do this it will fix my problem. he said "yes" no mention that this is possibly an interferance engine (it def is) and you could have bent valves. He asked me to bring him 250 for the parts. (which i thought was strange but ok, its Cincinnati, go figure) i took him the $ he walked me out to my car. assuming to show me where general vicinity of belt was. Nothing was removed radiator fan nothing. Not sure how he knew timing was off by 15 degrees is what he said. I left he said he would get started. he called me 9 hrs later and said i have a bent valve. he says hes positive only 1 but will replace all 4 in that cylinder. Told him i didnt know what to do yet to wait and not touch anything else. I went up last night. He turned the cam thing on the not exhaust side and it lines up but then makes the exhaust side one not be able to turn at all (where he is saying a valve is bent in the way) he turns it back i guess to where it slipped and he then can turn the exhaust side cam or crank or whatev it is. My concern is Did he have it at TDC when he took my belt off? Could he have done that if so called bent valve in the way? Why was he so positive tb and pump would fix, and had no indication after 2 hrs of diagnostics that a valve or many were bent? If he couldnt line up old belt ( i think your suppose to BEFORE you take it off?) why did he take it off? why cant he tell me what caused jump??? bad pulley or tensioner or pump? I only had random misfire codes. Should i let him do the valve repair? How is he so positive its just one when all the info states that if you jump a tb on interferance engine you pretty much destroy all valves. Just need some advice before i let him go any further or if i should tell him to put everything back as is (he said he never even installed new belt cuz cant line up) and technically cuz i drove it there i should be able to drive it out and say to the local toyota dealer? This is a gourgous car with 268,000 miles but every single recommended maintenance has been done at Lexus on time. I was expecting another 200,000 miles out of my car and now its shot and from what he says according to blue book not worth fixing. well i can tell you i cant find a car as nice as my baby for 1600.00 (repair cost) hes also claiming thats the estimate it will not change and this will fix my car....he said that before. sorry so long. I need to tell him my decision today...hes awfully pushy

FrankT

Sorry about your situation, it sounds awful.
It's easy to check timing by removing the top timing cover.

Ok so the car was misfiring before you took it in.
A compression test will confirm which cylinder is bad and a leak down test will show if it’s an intake or exhaust valve.
Sounds to me something happened to your motor before you brought it in, but I’m just guessing really.
At some point you have to trust your mechanic and in turn he should try to explain the situation.
$1600 doesn’t seem out of line for a head job but at that price you may be able to replace the motor with a lower mileage.

Good luck

burny

LOL $1600 for a head job

GSJake

iTrader: (21)

Personally, I would not spend the money ($1600) on a 268K GS when you can get a whole new lower mileage one for about 5K?

djwestf

The mechanic who I was supposed to meet with yesterday apparently went out of town until sometime next week but "left me his lexus to borrow". I talked to his lil helper guy he told me they couldn't get it TDC . Told him I was coming to get it. He said you can't we couldn't get it to start. It always started no problem....having it towed to lexus befire mechNic comes back into town. Thankfully at this point he only has 240.00 of my $. I bought a lincoln LS for 1200.00 for now until I get an answer from lexus. Thanks for your input....even you mr 1600.00 head job lol. I don't think its funny...glad you do

djwestf

Yes frankt same Guy did diagnosis did timing belt, I took it to him to replace 02 sensors and coil packs. Codes I got day before were p0057 p0031 p0300 p0302, 04,06. Took to him told him random misfires need o 2 sensors. He called after his dx and said I needed the timing belt. I know he didn't set it tdc before he took my belt off. He never even installed the new one he can't get exhaust cam to line up. Only thing he took off car was radiator. Thrittle body still on no plugs removed. No compression test done. The way I inderstand if wasn't to tdc he shouldn't be turning cams at all with belt off. Gonna go ahead and assume he had no ideal was interferance engine.

djwestf

His diagosis

aliga

iTrader: (147)

throw in a used lower mileage motor and call it today. i have a few 800 shipped to your door.

djwestf

Was a broken wire on a coil pack, mechanic bent valves. Won't own up to it. I filed a report.....going to court. On cincinnati Craigslist for 1000.00. Over it.

ttaylor993

Now this makes a lot more sense. I have followed this thread with some interest and it just wasn't making any sense. Now it does. The mechanic was trying to screw you over and ruined the car in the process.

Deadpool88

Who did you take it to there in Cincy?

djwestf

Yesttaylor993 screwed with no lube! Sleeper auto in Cincy but now going under name Watson auto, I will post a BBB complaint filed against him. He screwed another guy out of 4000.00 in 2012. I will put him on blast as soon as court proceedings are over.

djwestf

He won't give me my cash back either ON TOP of him destroying my car