Latest: Apparently there is no way around the tearing down the engine because the warranty company has to know exact reason and even if we see the leaks, they need to find out exact spot.
so it will be a 2K charge to tear engine which is one me if warranty claim is denied. However, i talked to senior tech at the dealer and he said that they have seen multiple cases in the past with similar issue and warranty company always blames the driver for negligent and will not cover overheating. they might pay for the part that failed like water pump or radiator, but thats it. and they say that the subsequent failure is because of driver's negligence and wont cover. So, it will be taking chance with 2K to see if it covers.
i found some threads on this forum which has almost the same situation

this guy got it covered
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...riences-3.html

very similar experience , but lexus covered in original mfg warranty
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...e-stalled.html

this guy got it denied.. similar case.. however, in my case i didnt get any chance. it all happened in 15 min
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...-warranty.html

 

Well BEST of luck to you, I certainly hope this works in your favor and please keep us posted on the outcome!

 

im still confused
when you drove did you actualy keep driving untill it overheated ?
another thing is if you didn't and maybe they are the dealer drove it or started it and let it overheat its on them id think
but the thing is from what you wrote i thought you said that you stoped and didn't drive and let it overheat did you smell smoke or see smoke comming ?
if no and you didn't hear any bad noises coming from the engine i don't understand why they can't just cover the one part that went bad and have them fix that first and then see if it starts up and runs over after fixing where the leak itself came from
if its a wp that was leaking or something els that is not the engine itself then have them get Lexus to fix that then see how it turns out
i didn't read in your first post where you mentioned anything about how they know for sure its the engine is bad maybe i missed this

another option is maybe check with your insurance company i know its a bit out of reach but just to explain how they look at things
i had a year and hlaf ago my tire blew out no nail not bad road the tire just blew out
that then cause me to go into a ditch then jumped into a pot hole they paid for the entire cradle to be replaced on my cadillac at the time over 4000 in for the cradle and new electronic struts and control arm and stuff like that
but would not cover the tire itself
because the tire blowing out was what caused the issue
so
see what im saying it wasn't form an accident that mine was covered it was covered because a part whent bad but they don't cover the cause of the issue just what what caused after

so if there was a hose leaking and that caused your engine to overheat after coolant leaked out
they wont pay for the hose
but they will or should perhaps pay for the engine and parts that when bad from where the leak happened itself

 

The first sign was that my AC stopped.. so i was thinking that may be there is a leak in freon system and ac mist have stopped. Then the check VSC sign came on. Because of the AC sign, i kept on associating the next signals to AC and not something major. I was driving with the check VSC sign for like 8-10 min.. but when check engine light came on, i did pull over. it may have taken a few min to move over and find a safe spot. from the posts i saw by others, they also didnt see any sign till CEL came on.

When i stopped, i did see smoke from exhaust, but nothing from hood. after i stopped, i called dealer and then i thought i will get off the freeway, but the car wouldnt start at this point.

The dealer says that engine is seized. it wont start.

i will check with insurance.
there are several cases i saw on this forum though.. isnt this is fault of lexus that check AC sign comes on when coolant is LOW?

 

I just do not see how they can have any grounds not to cover this...

 

The dealer says that engine is seized. it wont start.

This is the new news to me and would explain why the engine needs to be opened up. Usually there are 2 major issues that would cause this. One would be loss of oil pressure and the other would be extreme over heating of the motor. I still am surprised that there was no warning. Your temp gauge should have been pegged to H (red zone) and you would have had to driven more then a mile to cook the engine. I would think you would have seen a lot of smoke out of your rear view mirror when it happened as well as smelled the antifreeze in the cabin. Hopefully your warranty will cover it but if it is a lack of maintenance you may be out of luck. Good luck and let us know what the cause was.

 

The OP already stated that the dealer found "no coolant in the car". That info alone would probably give one a pretty good idea of why the engine overheated to the point where it seized up. It also accounts for the temp gauge being down in the "C" range and not indicating an overheat condition. Because the dealer accomplished the oil change and "fluid checks" just ten days before this issue do you really think the dealer is going to be totally upfront?......he's in a major conflict of interest here. As I stated before, the dealer ain't that stupid.......they already know where the coolant leak originated from! Unfortunately though.......they are quite possibly correct when they state that the transmission may also require replacement. Good Luck!

 

Nautilus,

I've been following this thread and I just cannot believe that Lexus will try to squirm out of this repair. What reasonable person would consider a "check AC" light, or an illuminated VSC light to portend an engine meltdown? You have all the maintenance records, you have it serviced at the dealer, it was there just 10 days ago, you pulled over when the "check engine light" came on, any reasonable person couldn't be expected to do anything other than what you did.

When you deal with the dealership be extremely clear, firm and consistent about how careful you were to pull over when the "check engine" light came on. Do not be ambiguous with this portion of the ordeal. You did everything possible to mitigate any damages. Don't be rude ( and from the tone of your posts I can tell that you are not), but be steadfast in the defense of your position.

I would be speaking to a regional Lexus manager at this point. I would explain to them, just as you have here, that the reason you bought a premium brand and a premium warranty is to protect you from this very type of occurrence, and that you fully expect them to comply with the implied promises they made to you.

I would expect my car to be covered for such an issue and you should too. I would not expect to pay one cent for this issue, much less a $2k diagnostic fee. If the part that failed was a water pump, it's ludicrous to cover that part only and not the results of the failure of that part....your engine seizing. I'm not an attorney, but the proximate cause of the engine seizing is the water pump failure (or whatever part they determine to have failed), not any negligence on your part. You did what anyone else would do, pull over as soon as was safe once the "check engine" light came on.

You did the right thing, now it's up to Lexus to do the same. Make sure they do so. Good luck.

Tom

 

Yeah I think this is the key. Theres something to what old grump mentioned in that the dealer last touched the car 10 days prior...bringing their own liability into question...

I think contacting Lexus would be appropriate...

 

No way in hell I would agree to pay any cent. You bought the platinum warranty to be covered when unexpected happen. Well, the unexpected happen and all you need to pay is the co-pay which is $0. Don;t agree to pay anything. Agreeing to pay is accepting a fault. Talk with Lexus directly and don;t settle for anything less.

 

That's what is sooooo frustrating.. The car is broken, we know what needs to be done to get it working, just get it fixed dammi!!! I am not even able to reach a point to be able to file a claim yet....

 

Any other dealers in your area?

 

Tom, I talked to the warranty company couple of times. Under hypothetical scenario ( since my claim is not fully filed yet), they mentioned that if the claim is denied for whatever reason, they will not cover even the failed part such as water pump, even though water pump failure is covered as part of warranty.. We get extended warranty for peace of mind.. The experience has been anything but that..

 

I had created a case with lexus and got a call that they will look into it. No word yet.
Btw, sorry for confusion, but the last oil change was at another dealer (big dealer, but non lexus) where I purchased the car used 4 yrs back.

 

Is this a genuine Lexus warranty? I'm wondering why you're even talking to a warranty company? I never did that any of the times I used the factory extended warranty.

It makes sense that if a non-warrantable condition or negligence caused the failure of the water pump they would not cover the water pump. My question is what sort of issue could have caused the water pump to fail that wouldn't be warranted.