BinaryJay

Seems to me that oil consumption test is not the right way of going about it, but I guess some people have been successful getting it based on that. I think that it is probably in the shop's best interest to get the work approved whenever they possibly can - after all it is a large amount of billable work for them. Things that I could see affecting their willingness to help here would be...

1) They are swamped already with higher margin, customer-paid work, like swapping tires seasonally or whatever.

2) They don't have staff that is comfortable with doing this kind of major work, and just "would rather not". Of course you would hope that each dealership would at least have one tech (the foreman) who has gone through every certification and training program there is and could take an engine apart and put it back together again in their sleep... but there are two kinds of people - those who like a challenge and can't wait to do something more interesting for a change, and those who are much happier changing oil and brakes and really don't look forward to a big project.

For what it's worth, the adviser I have been talking to about this recently is one of the few that actually seems aware of this warranty (or at least has not been playing dumb with me about it) so I get the feeling that by now they have championed the effort on a number of other GS and IS already. He claimed that if the work had to be done the turnaround time would be about 3 days to complete.

I take the car in on Tuesday morning first thing. So I will just cross my fingers that it misbehaves enough for their scanners that I can get this over with - it's pretty much my last chance.

Stephon937

Good luck man. I really hope they get that resolved for you because I know from experience how annoying this is. I kinda regret buying this car just because the oil consumption. Keep me posted on what you come up with

snoop562

iTrader: (6)

Got my car back Thursday, I don't know if it's just me but it feels quicker and more responsive.

MX5

I felt the same way, which doesn't really make sense because you would think after the work the engine would be "tighter"....

BinaryJay

Just got back from the dealer and they said they are going to replace my piston rings, thank god. Just waiting for a call back when the parts come in. Will be so happy to put this whole carbon/oil enigma behind me and keep the car for the long haul with less worry and hopefully less feeling like I'm in an old volkswagen diesel bus when the thing is idling.

I asked for prices for getting water pump, belt, and the vvti gear thing replaced at the same time (my car, of course out of warranty, started doing that ghetto clatter on cold startups sometimes recently). I wonder how much the parts for that vvti thing are.

I know I don't need plugs. Anything else you guys had done at the same time at a reduced labor cost that I should be thinking about?

Edit: VVTI/cam gear replacement ... over a thousand dollars for the part?! Should I do it... jeez. It sounds ghetto at most once a day for a second but my understanding is that it isn't actually harmful to anything so spending over a grand to have it done on a 2006 seems excessive.

Stephon937

Congratulations man I'm glad it all worked out for you. I drop mine off Thursday to get an inspection an I'll get word Friday. Wish me luck, I haven't been this nervous since I was in child support court

BinaryJay

Yeah I'm glad they are taking care of it... I mean, the car has already been "repaired" twice for this issue as the TSB to rectify it has been updated twice already... here is the list of major stuff that has had to be done to this car under warranty since I bought it:

1) Rear O2 sensors, TSB stated that they both be replaced along with a new redesigned ECU. So... the car has a new ECU.

2) Valve Springs - Lexus' first TSB designed to solve the misfire/carbon issues. Didn't help.

3) Top Engine Clean - Lexus' second TSB designed to solve misfire/carbon issues. Helped a lot, actually - after this service the car no longer felt like it was going to stall when coming to a stop but was still obviously never 100% and obviously being just a "clean out" is just a bandaid.

4) Piston Rings - Well, hopefully this is the end of the line. It has got to be because by far this is the most laborious fix they have devised yet and I doubt they would go to the lengths they have gone to offer it in the first place if it didn't work... I hope.

My engine has been cracked open so many times now, with this coming fix having the whole damn thing out of the car completely, that I hope to god they have somebody good working on it. It's kind of unreal how many open heart surgeries have been done by Lexus for one design issue - it really did some harm to my image of Lexus/Toyota being a bulletproof product relative to the competition - but at the same time, the fact that they have stood behind the issue and put so much cash into trying to correct it even out of warranty really does kind of make up for it.

It's one thing for a product to have design issues, but if the company actually corrects the problem (even at great cost) I have no reservation continuing to be a customer going forward - knowing that everybody screws up sometimes, it's what they do after they screw up that really matters.

I have been doing synthetic oil changes for a few years now at an independent shop but I am feeling so appreciative of this particular dealership helping me out with this major repair that I think I'm going to start taking my car there for their slightly overpriced oil changes for a while lol.

Stephon937

I respect the fact they do attempt to repair the mistake in design but I hate that it has to show particular malfunctions to be repaired. We all know the rings cause oil consumption but they'll make us bite the bullet if it's not misfiring. I wanted this car so bad and now I'm scared of what I've gotten myself in to. I really hope mine does something that warrants a new set of rings or I'll have to rely on the extended warranty I don't trust.

BinaryJay

Yes, it seems to me like every single car will eventually have these symptoms it is just a matter of time and thus it would have been better for them to just provide the work to anybody with an eligible model that says they have the symptoms. Of course, when it is costing the corporation thousands of dollars per car that they only made a profit on once 9 years ago I can at least understand why they are not making it that easy. With all of the warranty work that has done on my car, I have to wonder if they have actually lost money selling the car at the end of the day (given it's a Lexus with a probably ridiculous mark up over manufacturing cost it still is not likely).

I don't know if every single owner got a notice about this warranty in the US, but in Canada, I never heard anything about it - it was kept very hush hush it seems and even the service people at the dealerships never outright admitted to any knowledge about the existence of the program until the repair was authorized. I suspect most people with 2006's just say to themselves "it's out of warranty, I'll just live with it" and never even bring it in to the dealership once it's out of warranty.

Even though it looks like my car will be safe from the bad piston rings, the main issue I have with not everybody getting it is that over time there are going to be more and more 06's with issues that never got repaired and it is going to probably drive the resale value of the car down regardless of whether it was fixed or not.

Now I just need goodwill out of warranty repairs for the squeaky rattling interior and the clattering ghetto cam gear. I seriously did not expect any of this when I bought the car 5 years ago. At the time I traded in my Matrix XRS for it which had more mileage on it then than this car has on it now and I never had a problem with that thing.

Stephon937

Well I dropped mine off and got a loaner today. He checked my service record and said the previous owner brought the car in complaining of oil consumption 12/17/13 and never attempted to have it repaired, just traded in for newer. The service guy said "so you're here for a misfire test, we do these rebuilds all the time". I told him honestly it's consuming too much oil and he said they'll do the misfire test and if that doesn't get it rebuilt he'll do an oil consumption test and request the rings be replaced. If those don't work he told me to drive it a few months keeping oil in it bring it back for another misfire test an if it passes again we'll contact my extended warranty company. He said by no means does he want me paying for that motor out my pocket and he'll find a way to make it right. Also added it's only been serviced by lexus so that should work in my favor along with all updates have been done. I didn't want the warranty company in on the oil problem just yet because I've only had the car a month. All in all the guy was very helpful and brought up things I've learned on here without me saying a word. Now I'm praying this gets repaired so I can have a nice reliable luxury car.

krava

They are suppose to replace seals in the engine so oil won't leak etc. I did the water pump and everything that wasn't covered under warranty that might needed to be replaced. NOw the question for you, will this happen again? carbon build up again in the car? that is why I am going to get the GS4 model and get rid of this thing.I wouldn't have bought this thing if I knew about the piston ring thing. I would have got a 07 gs350 instead of this car if I new this problem and spent a little more or the 06 430 or something.

Stephon937

From my understanding if you do the top end cleaning every couple years it should be ok. But I really only know (think) what I read. Trust me, had I known this I would've never invested in such a headache but now that I have a loan out I'll have to make the best of it. I'm crossing my fingers they do the rings an if so I'll pay for the water pump and whatever else (with in reason). I'm just taking baby steps towards making this car tolerable.

Stephon937

My car had no misfires so that didn't work in my favor. Now we're on to the oil consumption test which they topped it off after it being a 1/2 quart low. I will return after 1200 miles of driving to check the level. I literally topped it off and drove 55 miles there. But moving on. They want to replace my spark plugs because the previous owner used autolites. They aren't filed out or anything but they want to put in lexus ones to retry the misfire lol. For $450.88+tax I'll buy them and do them myself. Plus if it wasn't misfiring with crappy plugs why would it with good ones. Lord willing either way this will work out because my warranty covers all engine internals as long oil upkeep can be proven and it's 24,000 miles/2yrs so we shall see

aett258

Congrats Jay. I know it was a battle for you. Did you indicate that the O2 sensors will be replaced for this TSB? I had the piston job done last year (Montreal) due to an oil cunsumption test. All ok except for O2 sensor malfunction readings. I already replaced one on my own and have a reading for the other one. Please confirm if the O2 sensors are included. If they are I will call the dealer. Thanks and congrats again.

BinaryJay

That is a separate TSB that only applies while the car is under the regular powertrain warranty.

By the way the service adviser said that this job includes not just replacing piston rings but new pistons too, that wasn't my understanding about what needed to be done. Anybody else get new pistons installed as a result of this? I mean... what do the actual pistons have to do with it?