Had leak repaired at dealer at 98,000mi for something over $1000. Now dealer says another leak at 116,000mi less than 3 years later. What's going on to cause this to recur in less than 3 years and less than another 18,000 miles?

 

Is it the same dealer that did the first repair? I would talk to the service manager and ask them to cover it because they obviously didnt perform the repair correctly. If that doesn't work, call the Lexus customet call center and file a complaint. They might be able to help or get the area service and parts rep involved.
Good luck!

 

This is an '01. Very happy with dealer throughout - same dealer. When prior repair pointed out dealer immediately said it would be taken care of between dealer & Lexus. Loaner for the full time. I'm more questioning whether this is a common problem with this model/generation, why recurred so early, whether anything to do with driving. I drive 10mi/day in easy traffic with occasional long road trip. Lot of 90+ degree heat this summer, car out during day, garaged at night.

 

Ah okay, sorry to take it off topic, I work for Toyota so I really take L customer service seriously.
It's not an issue I've heard of. Edit* pcv clog wont affect rms

I havent researched it but my guess is you should expect the same amount of miles out of an RMS repair that you saw from the factory. Maybe more if there is a TSB improving on any of the original procedures or parts used