ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

If they are charging you $640 just for spark plugs and a diagnosis, I would take your car out ASAP. Seems like this dealer is a bit shady and is out to vacuum your wallet.

Best bet, change the plugs out yourself or have a reputable mechanic do it. its not rocket science and doesnt take very long to do. Here in the states spark plugs cost $75-100

Speedy0o

Yea thought about moving dealers, there's another 35miles from me Lexus of Swindon which I have used before but Lexus of Cheltenham have been good to me in the past and got to know the service adviser there. This was a different 1 today though and he seemed really frosty! He wasn't very helpful really and didn't offer me any options or alternatives apart from waiting and to spend plenty of money!

As for the spark plugs, well funny you should say that, I had changed them myself (qualified ex-mechanic) around 4 - 5months ago and all has been sweet since then around 8-9000miles ago! Which makes this saga even more strange!

Oh and spark plug change price is probably correct... they quote 3 hours labour + the spark plugs so around £400 or under is probably correct! I just converted it into $ at the current exchange rate so you could get a better picture if unfamiliar with my currency Still extortionate and it didnt take me 3 hours to fit them either! PLUS you can access 3 of the plugs without taking off the inlet manifold. so it would be relatively simple to see if the plugs had gone down! Probably should of looked at this myself!!!

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

Well if you have recently changed out the plugs, did you mention that to the dealer? That way they do not bill you for it.

Speedy0o

Yea I did mention it to him, to which he was a little surprised but was still insistent that they would be the first port of call! I think they need to properly look at the car (like they should of done in the first place) and go from there!

I rang the dealer 35miles away and have found that the waiting time is still a couple of weeks, but they said they will ring me if they get a cancellation and I will limp the car to them to look at! I have dealt with them before and they were very good, so at least I have potential options now!

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

Wow, I wonder why the Lexus dealers there are so backed up? After that experience I'd be PUSHING my car home for all I care.... no loaner/Mickey Mouse diagnosis/bad customer service are all signs to me that point to having the car towed to a better dealer. Even if it's 100 miles away

XxGoKoUxX

I drive 35+ mi everytime I go to Lexus of Orlando

It's worth the trip, and the service is, 80% of the time, A+!

One time they ran out of loaners so the service advisor dropped me an actual rental from "enterprise" rental company. I came in on walk-in too! I'm sure another dealership would have made me come back another day.

Does the car misfire at idle? Or does it misfire when you're driving only?

Speedy0o

Apparently they have a big recall campaign going on, on the RX400h replacing inverters, which is why they are so busy! Even so that shouldnt be my problem when I booked it in over a week ago in the first place!

Just picked my car up and was having a good chat to the service adviser, he couldn't be more apologetic and said if I get any troubles they will try their best to fit it in! I'm now taking my car to a toyota/lexus specialist tomorrow, its 55 miles away but they can look at it tomorrow hopefully so at least there will be less waiting! Only downside is there is no courtesy car so a friend has kindly offered to follow me and bring me home again! Fingers Crossed!!!!!

Speedy0o

It doesnt misfire when on idle but only when the engines cold, once warmed up it seems to misfire on idle too but it seems sporadic, as in it doesn't happen continuously but misfires, then is fine for a couple of sec's, then it'll do it again but worse, then it wont do it, then a small miss again and so on.
When driving from cold, it doesn't misfire at all, then as it warms up it misfires all the time. I found on the way to the specialist on Saturday that if I sat at 75mph with 5th selected it didn't misfire at all and I had a small amount of rev range to play with before it misfired again at higher/lower revs!

Obviously driving it with such a bad misfire isn't going to do anything for the catalyst's when its pouring unburnt fuel straight into them and constantly being ignited by the high heat in the exhaust. I did notice a plastic sort of smell the other day which tells me the upper cats are getting very hot and probably starting to melt things in close proximity

Oh, and the specialist's were going to start looking at it today so hopefully I will get some news ASAP!

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

after after over a month in service; 56+ man hours of labor, testing new parts, and flying a hybrid engineer from California I went on a 1000 road trip for the holiday and I think it's safe to say the misfire problem is gone. The final result
VVTi Gear Assembley
6 Port Injectors
6 Direct Injectors
Good Luck on yours

ISFjimmy

iTrader: (5)

Final bill total?!

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

Over $8k but Lexus corp covered that.. I didn't even get to see it

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

If someone were to pay out of pocket for that same work, it would be a lot less.

VVTI gear is roughly $250.00
Injectors can be sent off to a repair shop to have them cleaned and even rebuilt.

Glad they finally solved the mystery.

Speedy0o

Wow that is a lot of work, the direct injectors (straight into combustion chamber) are around £650 each so can imagine around $900 - $1000 each Plus the port injectors which are a bit cheaper but still probs around $400 each! Sounds like a bit of guess work to me if they replaced everything! Obviously a little stumped to have to replace all 12 injectors at that cost! At least its fixed now and you didnt have to see any of the bill!

Got mine back on Saturday and must say its been good as gold! The independent found that my rocker cover gasket was leaking into the spark plug tube and had over time filled it up and caused the coil pack to arc out and not provide the spark to the plug. So they replaced the rocker cover gasket (fairly big job), the spark plug that was on that cylinder, and cleaned up the coil pack and moved it to a different cylinder, he then found 1 of the other cylinders was misfiring and that that coil pack had gone down, so replaced that and road tested it to make sure and all was fine!

He also told me my transmission was juddering slightly and could probs do with an oil change, which I've been after doing for a while now, so Had that replaced at the same time! Also requested a brake fluid change, and my rear silencer(s) was shot away with a big hole and was blowing badly, so had that replaced too! Transmission is smooth as anything now too and brakes feel sharp and ready to pounce once again!

All in all I was very impressed with the work they carried out and would thoroughly recommend them to anyone in the southwest of the UK (not that many uk peeps on this forum I would imagine though lol)

Paid £1124 - $1842.22 in your currency, but they did alot of work and the exhaust was around £470 - $769 of that so not too bad! Think that would have probably been around double if I had all that done at Lexus main Stealer!

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

My car went back today check engine light went back on and I spoke too soon, i did think it seemed like guess work but I figured why not.. 12 new injectors what can it hurt. So it's back at the dealer. This time I got a 2013 RXh loaner.. Fully loaded

Speedy0o

Just tell them you keeping the loaner and that they can keep the GS lol! Hmm I can imagine your none too happy, its spent more time in the garage than in your possession! I would not be impressed either! ECU issues perhaps? Is it misfiring/playing up or just EML on?