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Recently bought a 2007 Lexus ES350 from a large local reputable Lexus dealership. Car has 159k miles and I got it for a really good price. The car ran very well for about 19 days. Of course their dealership warranty is only 15 days after purchase.
On the 19th day, I noticed it started to idle rough after about 20 mins of driving. I didn't think much of it as all the gauges looked normal. Then, while accelerating onto the freeway, the car just limped and started shaking pretty good. I slowly accelerated to the next exit and pulled off. I turned off the car, turned it back on, and the shaking had stopped. However, now the Check Engine light, and Check VSC light were on.
I took the car to the near Autozone to get the codes read:
The next day, I drove it slowly and carefully to the Lexus dealership with whom I purchased the vehicle. I am now on the hook for $500 diagnostic fee for them looking into the issue. They are quoting me $7000 to replace the headgasket, spark plugs, coil, oil, thermostat, coolant, and gasket set + labor @ $145/hr @ 27 hours of labor. They claim the head has to be shipped off to be machined for a new gasket. The head gasket is leaking causing low compression in the cylinder/s. This is ridiculous. I didn't even pay $7000 for the car.
I am at a loss for words at this point. I bought a used Lexus to save money and headaches, and yet, here I am. I bought a Lexus for reliability and dependability...
Not sure what to do at this point. I am calling different shops around to see if they can do the job, but the car would have to be present to get a real estimate. This involves towing the car around. I am trying to contact the Salesman who sold me the car to see if he can do anything for me at this point. Is there any Lexus corporate contacts I should try?
Sorry to hear that.
So was it worth while buying the car(10 yo) at a real good price. Sounds like it is more than a gasket problem. For 7G you can buy another vehicle.
You should try other independent shop. Even if they did all the thing listed on the quote, at least their labor rate would be lower somewhat. They
did not mention timing belt???
Given that they charge $500 for estimate, I suspect this dealership is a big rip off and the price doing it elsewhere could be half the dealer price.
Why cant you get estimate from good non-dealer shops on how much it will cost to replace head gasket? They dont need to physically have a car to give you the estimate range for this job.
If you can have it fixed for 3-4k, it might be worth keeping it, if not, you better walking away.
Its possible this problem existed and they cleared the code before sellling this car
Set up a meeting with the dealer general manager. Also contact Lexus US to have them go to the dealer ship with you The problem is that when they sold you the car ALL fluids should have been checked . If there were any leaks I would think you would have seen them in the 19 days you owned the car. If you get no satisfaction from the GM contact the state attorney general and list a complaint. Last would be to get a lawyer. I don't know your state but there may be a 30 day period with used cars that the dealer will own up to.
Don't take the car to any other shop until you go through the complaint. Be tough and be pissed at the dealer as they hold a lot of responsibility here. Now if you were negligent here then you'll have to eat the cost. If you cooked the head it may not be repairable and it will need a new head. Hopefully it will only need to be resurfaced. Now the cost of parts won't vary much but labor costs can go from $90 an hour to $150 an hour. Good luck
Dealership says they will take back the car and cancel all the paperwork if I get into a 2008 ES350 Premium Plus they have on the lot. It's priced at $12,999 and has 75k miles. Seems like a high price but they said they would give me a deal, whatever that is supposed to mean.
Not sure what to do. What if this new car has the same issue in a month? Then I'm out even more money. Are headgasket issues very common on the ES350s? Is it worth it to buy an aftermarket warranty?
Your symptoms and codes are exactly the same as I've had in the past.
I replaced an ignition coil and all spark plugs. $150 in parts and an easy (for me) DIY. Issue resolved.
Again, same situation as you. Same exact symptoms. I'm not convinced it's a head gasket.
Does it blow white smoke? Is coolant disappearing? Is the oil contaminated with coolant? Is there oil visible in the coolant reservoir?
See. A lot info is missing. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this is simply a bad ignition coil. Coils can operate just fine and then start failing once they reach a certain temperature.
The dealership may have truly found that it needs a head gasket, but please get a second, third or fourth opinion!
I’d swap into the newer one if you could pull off the higher payments. The 2010+ are way nicer and with that mileage you should be good maintenance wise for another 20k plus. If the dealer hand picked that car for you it means that they probably got it hella cheap as a trade in so do try to low ball them and take it from there.
Just move into the 2008 and be done with it. On a 10 year old car with 160k, you aren’t really entitled to anything.
This! I don't see the 2008 listed on that dealers site so I'll guess you made a deal and are motoring into a happy 2019. Cars are like a box of chocolates.....most are good, a few go bad.
As Elless400 said, a bad ignition coil will have the same symptoms and the same codes. My RX300 has had several coils go bad so I know the symptoms. You can easily change coil #2 (since code P0302 indicates a misfire at that cylinder) as it is in the front right of the engine (leftmost cylinder as you look at the engine with the hood up).
First check the oil for evidence of coolant in the oil. The oil level will be high on the stick due to the coolant entering the engine, and the oil should have a milky appearance. Also check the coolant reservoir as it should be very low or empty, due to some of the coolant entering the engine.
If the oil is clean and the coolant level is normal, get the car the heck out of that dealership and change the ignition coil.
Take the car back, get all spark plugs and 1 coil from amazon, and replace them, and start from there.
Guys you are making the assumption here that the OP knows how to find the spark plugs and has the know how and tools to do the work. The initial posts doesn't give me that feeling.
So what happened? The suspense is killing me. I ditto the likely-bad-coil scenario. That's about the mileage our ES350 had when it's first coil went bad. It now has 220K and have replaced two coils - luckily, they were in the front, #s 4 & 6. Your #2 plug is near far left as you stand in front of your car. My first bad coil did not generate the P0300 code; but the it did the second time. Assuming your car was serviced at the 120K, the plugs should be good until 200K. Let us know what happened.
12-21-18, 09:10 AM
Head gasket repair in the several thousands
