SonnyD

I have an 04 RX330 with 93k miles and have recently experienced a sudden increase in steering effort. Did some research and noticed that a recall was issued for cars manufactured from June 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005. My car has a manufacture date of May 27, 2004 and thus wasn't in the vin specific recall.

Anyway, the symptoms and issues that I've experienced recently are to a T for what the recall was issued. I noticed a louder at first but attributed to the cold weather. Then last week I had the illumination and flickering of the battery indicator light (flickered for about 5 min and went away). Then just the other day the loss in power steering and sudden increase in steering effort.

I called my local Lexus dealer and was told because my car wasn't in the recall list, I was SOL. Called Lexus spoke to a case manager and was advised to take my car in and have the dealer inspect it and they would go from there. $85 later and after15 minutes of inspection, the dealer concludes that the crank pulley is within factory specs. The recall states that "dealer will check the crankshaft pulley to identify whether it was produced by the US supplier. If so, the dealer will replace the pulley with a new one at no charge."

Can the dealer actually tell whether the pulley in my car was of the defected production run by the US supplier in 15 minutes? Wouldn't the assembly have to be taken apart? Is it just a coincidence that the symptoms my car experienced is directly in line with this recall, only that my car had a production date 3 days prior to the June 1st production date under recall?

The case manager said they were closing the case and that they would do nothing about the issue. Oh and to top it all off, I have a possible timing cover leak too even though I've meticulously maintained the car over the years. A timing cover leak at 93k miles?

Any suggestions from anyone out there? I've had Acura replace a trans with no questions asked after speaking to a case mgr after they acknowledged being aware of trans issues. Needless to say I'm very disappointed especially since I don't feel enough was done to properly diagnose the problem. And even when I asked the case Mgr if they would honor the recall IF the recall issue was indeed the culprit of the problem, the answer was "No, we can't assure you anything." So my dime, my time and even if the crankshaft is the issue still no assurance they'd honor the recall.