k9shelly1

Allright, so I've been let down by my RX in a way I never thougth I would be. We don't experience much rain down here in South Texas but when we do, it comes down.

We've had our RX since October of 2010. This past weekend we experienced our first significant rain since. Well, my wife attended a training at her middle school that took four hours. When she came out to the car the driver's side of the roof and the window pillar were soaked with water dripping down to the floorboard.

Since our '08 GMC Acadia did this to us on more than one occasion, I did the research on Lexus vehicles leaking. I could not, and still haven't, found one site on the internet that mentions it. I fealt comfortable buying the RX since I didn't want my wife to deal with hassels.

On top of the leaking roof the rear hatch has begun to act up. The automatic feature will not work at times and it usually happens when you have armfulls of items. It just lets out a ten second beap then remains closed. When its open, it lets out the beap and stays open.

I am very dissappointed. I didn't think history would repeat itself and had a horrible experience with the Acadia. Once one thing went wrong with it, it was like a domino effect that led to getting rid of it. I hope the RX comes back better that it did and I hope this doesn't lead to more problems.

rxsuperman

Assuming your doors, windows, and sunroof were completely closed during the rain, I am shocked to hear about this water leak for any 3G RX. Under warranty service, will the dealer only repair the leak, or will they also take care of any consequential water damage to the interior of the vehicle?

InRBigness

Has the windshield ever been replaced? That is the #1 source of water leaks in cars. Fortunately water leaks are also relatively easy to replicate. If it is a 2010 the warrently will still cover the repair and the damage.

As for the rear tailgate, are you trying to open witht the button on the actual door or with the remote. Does it behave differently depending on what you use?

k9shelly1

First thing I did was confront my wife on the items being closed. Big mistake! Yikes. Anywho, when she got home and told me I immediately went out to the car and checked the sunroof and door for closure. They were closed. I opend and shut them just to be sure they got a good seal. Well, I sat in the car and the water just continued to drip. I went in the house and waited another hour or so. Sure enough, when I went back to the car the water was still coming in. I know it wasn't because we left something open.

Windshield has never been replaced. We just got the car a little over a year ago.

As for the rear hatch. It doesn't matter what you use. Whether its on the remote or the button on the hatch itself we get the same result. It has been in to the shop once before on this issue and they did replicate it. At the time, the hatch would only do this once in a while. The response that I got was that they didn't know what was wrong with it and could not just "replace parts" to try and figure it out. I was instructed to bring it in if the problem persisted or got worse. Well, it got worse.

The leak really surprised me. I cannot believe that our RX would do this. Like I said, I researched this and I cannot find any sites with Lexus roof leaks. I hope they find the issue and repair it as it is under warranty. I never thought of the clean up but I'm sure they'll take care of us.

BlueSurf

Sorry to hear your problem. Your leak is most probably due to a clogged sun roof water drain. All roofs that open have two drains located at the very back, usually in the corners. If you get one clogged and its a heavy rain the water has to overflow into the vehicle. The dealer will clean out the drain channel with something like a the black wire on your cable tv. If you have an older (no warranty) car you can use a 5' length and send it down the drain hole and it will pop usually by the rear fender. You have to be careful to do it very slowly or you will pop the plastic hose drain channel off the roof frame corner. Its also possible your drain did pop off when the roof liner was installed. Years ago Cadillac and Lincoln were plagued with the clogged drains and the floor carpeting would get soaked.
If you have a newer car take in to the dealer don't get involved.

k9shelly1

I'm thinking exactly that BlueSurf. The drain tube must have popped off at some point as that is where the water seemed to originate. It is not clogged as the sunroof is rarely, and I mean rarely, open.

I just got off the phone with my SA. He said they were unable to recreate both issues. Fortunately for me the guy who picked it up witnessed both. Also, they were trying to recreate the leak with a water hose. That probably won't do it, but the SA mentioned that it was raining in San Antonio. I told him to park it in the lot for a while then go out there. Hopefully this does it.

I'll keep those interested posted.

Evitzee

Sorry to hear of your leak. We bought our RX in November 2010 from North Park Lexus in San Antonio and it sits outside all the time so it has experienced the same type of moisture as yours. Appreciable rain has only fallen since about October this year but we have not had any leaks, so it must be an isolated issue. You need to make a stand for them to fix the mess that this has caused, primarily with the carpeting which will mildew and only give you problems down the road. I suspect they will want to fix the leak and do the minimum on the floor. Fight for them to fix the floor carpeting if it has gotten wet.

Your back door problems sounds like another isolated issue.

Good luck with getting your issues attended to properly.

k9shelly1

Got the call from my SA. The water leak in the roof was caused by a faulty drip rail located above the drivers head in the window pillar. This really eeks me. How did I get stuck with the one Lexus that has a leak? I feel very discouraged after experiencing this for the third time with the third straight vehicle.

Vehicle #1 - 2008 GMC Acadia (Fully loaded)
Issues
Leaking manifold (230 miles new)
Faulty brake lever (250 miles new)
Leaking roof (2,700 miles new)
Stereo/Navigation head unit goes out (8,500 miles)
Leaking roof (10,250 miles)
Head unit again goes out (15,000 miles)

Vehicle #2 - 2008 Lexus ES350
Issues
Leaking roof/front windshield *****Immediately returned car to dealer (carmax) at a loss of approximately $1,000 or so. Had it for a total of 32 days

Vehicle #3 - 2010 Lexus RX350
Issues
Rear hatch will not open and close automatically (5,000 miles new)
Water leak in roof (15,000 miles)
I feel like this is the Acadia all over again. Does anybody know or have some advice on what I can do. The GMC dealership refunded me the price of the extended warranty while still upholding it. I did not get the extended warranty with the RX but now I feel that I should. Would Lexus be willing to do what GM did?

Any advice would help.

Evitzee

You can always get the extended warranty up until the 4 year/50,000 mile mark so I doubt that your dealer will comp that for you since you are still under the general warranty. But they may sell it to you at a substantial discount to keep you happy. I had an issue with Lexus of Austin earlier this year and they gave me a coupon for a free detail and a $100 service coupon. You should get some goodwill gesture from them. Although the water leak was a mess and an inconvenience if they have found the problem and corrected it, and if there is no water damage to the interior, I'd call it a day and move on.

What's the assessment on the back hatch problem? That may be more tricky than the leak.

I don't think you will have Acadia type problems with your RX.

k9shelly1

They can't pinpoint the hatch issue. They replicate it but don't know what the problem is. The response I've gotten is that the dealer is not allowed to "trouble shoot" the problem by replacing parts (i.e. hatch motor). Still, the hatch is not working as it was intended so this is an issue.

Alpy64

I fully agree with the message.
In addition to this, if you live south of US this means you often use your roof (open position). This means that dust and leaves, etc. may enter and then make a physical barrier for draining water during strong rain.
Another possibility would be that when closing the roof, something may be trapped by the gasket and then result in leaks inside the car... frankly speaking, there is always a reason why water enter the car unless there is a default (design, quality control, etc.).

InRBigness

Take the car to another Lexus dealership and tell them that you were unhappy with the first one and that you are looking for a new dealership to do your business for. If it is under warranty then the dealer is stupid not to fix it as it costs them nothing and makes them guaranteed money.

Evitzee

It does not appear that the dealer doesn't want to fix it, rather they can't figure out what the exact problem is. Lexus won't allow replacing various parts under warranty unless they are defective, which is why dealer can't just order a bunch of new parts and hope for the best. As for taking it to another dealer the next closest one to San Antonio is Austin, and that's 90 miles up the freeway. Not too convenient for someone that lives in south Texas.

jeffmust

Before I converted to Lexus RXs for my wife years ago, we lived in the "ADA" - Automobile Dark Ages - i.e., The World of Chysler Minivans.

This is the world of...
a. The dealer Service Writers' first response is always, "I've never seen that problem before" or "That's not covered." Or, my favorite, "I've never seen that problem before but - anyway - it's not covered."

b. No problem, no matter how minor, was EVER fixed on the First Scheduled Repair Day.

c. Loaners? Certainly you jest.

It always amazed me that of the millions upon millions of Notso-Grand Caravans that had been built, I had the ONLY one with such unique problems - master brake unit and ABS circuit that failed and almost killed fellow drivers, rear hatch glass that shattered when the DRIVER'S door was closed, rear hatch strut that broke off at the roof mounting bracket nearly decapitating several people as the hatch came slamming down.

It took me a while to understand that we had purchased the minivan version of Christine...I know, pretty dumb.

Good luck on the rear hatch problem; I had several RX rear hatch motors replaced over the years so that might be the culprit - or a pinched wire or short in that system.

k9shelly1

Whatever the issue is I am extremely dissappointed. Christmas time with cold weather and drizzling rain coupled with arms full of gifts with a malfunctioning rear hatch have made for an even bigger dissappointment.

This is truely ridiculous and I am truly let down. Not only that, but I look at my interior ceiling and I can see hand and finger prints. I don't blame the dealer on that one as it is nearly impossible to touch that material and not get it dirty. And to clean it would mean altering the apperance.

Once again, very let down with Lexus.