joeybowtie

Leased car. No problems ever. All the warning lights came on. Took it in to Sahara Lexus Las Vegas. Ascent Group owns it and many others. 30,000 miles. Wife picked it up 5 min before close.
$535.00. All the lights still on. Even the check engine light. Why? No clue and neither do they.
Now I get involved. I take it back in. They tell me wrong fuel in it not covered by warranty. Wanted $450 to drain tank and flush. No way. What does that have to do with the check engine lights? No clue.
Wife drives it one week. Starts smoking making really bad noises. She made it home and they towed it in. Still claiming bad gas. Tow truck driver points out fluids dripping heavy when he raised the car to tow. I explained again. Very unhappy man am I. They have had it 4 days.
No word. Finally get to manager. He explains it is a rare problem. Coolant tank contaminated from factory. Factory man there now. Car is torn apart. Telling me something about salt water rinse and fresh water rinse of a holding tank was not done contaminating the coolant system. My VIN number matched the very few cars in that group that had this problem. I have a loner and they are going to compensate me in some way.
How I do not know. All I know is I do not know how this will affect the lease if any. Has anyone heard of this problem? Does anyone know Kevin Whalen from Ascent? He needs to know how screwy this dealer is being operated. Many other crazy small customer service problems there as well. Too many to mention. Hope somebody can help me.

carguy07

Why do you think this would affect your lease in any way? Sounds like a very rare problem that the dealer/Lexus is going to take care of.

RX330inFL

Would definitely contact Lexus Customer Service. Number is in your Owner's Manual.

Will not affect your lease. Am sure you are not going to be interested in purchasing it at lease end.

mandyfig

Keep us updated. Your case is a weird one.

mandyfig

You are on the right track. Call Lexus Customer care and let them know your predicament and open up a case number. Good luck.

infinirx

Ditto. Stealership needs to refund and do good on this.

stunt66

I've heard of bad gas problems before but they could be just shady dealers screwing customers out of warranty. Good thing lexus is stepping up to the plate.

joeybowtie

I will keep you posted. I did contact customer service an lodge a complaint. The customer service was so bad I had to get involved. It is my wifes car. She called to make an appointment for the 30k. She told them all the lights were on. Was told it would take about 3 hours but this service did not qualify for a loaner and besides they did not have any. She called me. I called them. It is a central number. Ascent owns many dealerships. She told me it did not qualify. I flipped on her. She put me on hold. Magic. Yes it did. Who knew?
She gets the loaner. 5 pm they call. She picks it up. $533 and all the lights were still on including the check engine light. He said she should have told them about when she brought it in. It was almost 6 pm everyone gone. She is in tears. She calls me. I say bring it home. It is my problem now. I call the next day. A Friday. I ramp it up to the service manager Ted. He seems clueless but concerned. Bring it it. I said I can Monday. I did. It was like a brand new day. Why are you bringing it. Do you have an appointment? Who is your rep? You say the check engine light is on? When did you have the 30k? Why didnt you tell them the first time......on and on. Now I corner Ted. No problem we will fix it. We will call. They did 4 times. 1. You need new tires $1200. No thanks.
2, You need an alignment. $$200. No thanks. 3. You need a new battery and it is covered under warranty. Go for it. (why didnt they see all this the first time?) 4. You have the wrong fuel. We need to drain, pull tank and flush. Not under warranty $450. I said the fuel light was on when I brought it in. I took my daughter to school and did not have time to fill it. (women never fill up the tank I said it ran all week on that fuel. Let me come and get it and fill it up with premium.
I did. She drove it for a week with no problem. She calls me all upset. The car is smoking and making a loud noise! She was 2 blocks from home. I call them. Tow truck shows. Lifts it up.
Fluids dripping and running out. Driver points it out. I ride in with him to dealer.
Nobody talks to me. Ted comes up. What is the problem. You tell me big guy. I am just standing here. He goes out and comes back. (20 min) Tells me they do not see any problem. This time I go ballistic. Like she is making this up or is crazy. I ask about the fluids draining out. He said we did not see any but we are going to look into this. They still have it. I have had to call each day until he finally tells me this loony tunes problem and they had to call in the Lexus engineer.
He also said they would have it for a while.
Oh well. Back to work.

Adamjeeps

Are you still under the factory bumper to bumper warranty of 4 years, 50,000 miles and power-train warranty of 6 years and 70,000 miles?

Did they somehow test the fuel?

What did they do for $535? 30,000 mile service?

If all this is true, this sets a new low for dealership service horror stories.

joeybowtie

Yes they tested the fuel. They said it had traces of 85 in it. I had to ask what that was but the tank was almost empty at the time. If it was 85 it ran for 2 weeks on it. The car was not running bad either when she took it in only after the second visit.

Every word is true. For the 30k they gave her 3 options to choose from all the way up to over $800.
I would post the receipts if I could. It was almost like they were trying to find things wrong to charge me or to charge Lexus under warranty. The battery failed test code 88PP it says. This was AFTER my wife took it for the 30k. Why didn't it show up on the first 30k visit? Ted the service manager said "ya just never know about those thing." I asked repeatedly how a service tech could let a vehicle leave the place after a customer pays over $500 for service with the check engine light still on. I got no straight answer from Ted or the rep Alex. I am going to look into this.....is all I got. I do not know what is going on but it is the end of the day on Wednesday and not a phone call from them. One other strange thing. My wife was very lucky about 4 months ago when an accident happened while she was stopped at a light. Some one ran a stop light and plowed another car in front of her. It hit the light pole and the light came down on the street. Shrapnel put a chip in the windshield she did not see....until it cracked. I was trying to get insurance company to pay for it. When I called Ted yesterday. He said he noticed the crack in the windshield. I thought jeez now he is going to try to sell me an over priced windshield too!. He said he will replace it with no charge.
Very nice but why? For the inconvenience? I am baffled. I will keep the board posted as to the outcome.

Rainbird

I am still not clear. Did you contact Lexus Corporate (1-800-25-LEXUS) and lodge a complaint with customer relations there? If not you need to. They are the only ones that can light a fire under this dealership and get this resolved.

Lust4Lexus

What the heck does that even mean? "Traces of 85? 85 octane? WTH how do you get traces of an octane, as far as I know it all just makes a mix of octane. Example. 1/2 87 and half 93 would be a tank with roughly 90 octane. It't not like oil and vinigar. These people sound like crooks my friend.

RX330inFL

WOW!!!

I want the stuff they are smoking. They actually have a test that can determine if a molecule of gasoline is 85 octane there at the dealership?

BTW, can you even purchase 85 octane in your area of NV? Thought that was only sold in the high elevation areas. For the record, the second generation RX350 should be run with premium 91-93 octane. Nothing else. It is what the Owner's Manual states it needs. The RX330, and I believe even the newest 2012 RX350, can run regular 87 octane without much gnashing of teeth. Plenty of existing threads on that topic already so will let it drop.

This dealer is bordering on libelous.

hypervish

This dealer needs to be taught. What the hell are they smoking?

It really stinks to know, there are still crap dealers like this. But, it happens to all companies. Make sure you report this to corporate, and have them handle it.

igzy

Well, the story from dealer is certainly unusual. Nevertheless, seems that they will fix it at no cost to you See to get the original money you paid back if this failure is related to the first visit...