Steve58

I took our 2011 GX 460 in for an oil change and just found out I have a leaking front timing cover. How urgent is this repair and is a repair quote of over $2000 reasonable?

BA777

The repair should be covered by the power train warranty if you have less than 70,000 miles on it. http://www.lexus.com/warranty/

How urgent the repairs all depends on how bad the leak is. Regardless I would not put the repair off. It will be more expensive later on. I would suggest getting a second opinion/quote from a different Lexus dealer.

tecman

If the OP is out of warranty I would go with a specialist, not a Lexus delear. The second opinion from Lexus will help to confirm the problem, but I would not pay the dealer to fix this.

OP, who diagnosed this problem and gave the repair quote?

Steve58

I had someone tell me that this has been a common problem with the GX 460. Has anyone else heard this? Unfortunately, we are out of the 70K power train warranty, but this person also thought Lexus might repair it anyway because of the desire to keep our business. This is our first Lexus and have been pleased with it, but this is frustrating.

HRGX460

Engine Cover Question: Has anyone had problems with a leaking engine cover and if so did you have trouble getting warranty to cover?
Just purchased a 2011 GX 460 with 67,000 miles, 1 owner from a Chevy dealer 1 state over (really wanted white). Took it immediately to my independent certified Lexus and Toyota mechanic for review and he said all is well other than a leaking front engine cover on scale 1-10 he said 7 / bad and that Lexus will fix because under 70k / x years power train warranty. Made Lexus apt took car over to local Lexus dealer today / Saturday and they need a master tech to look over because they said little to show Lexus warrenty in picture to authorize. Thank you in advance for any advise. Really want to get it fixed.

tecman

What front engine cover? Plastic or the actual engine?

HRGX460

tecman, great question. I am guessing actual engine. Lexus said that rare occasion the robots don't get a good seal and that it was fairly common on the RX but that they have not seen very many GX. To fix they have to drop the engine to replace the seal and would cost around $2,000. I hope the master tech on Monday can verify it was as bad as my independent certified Lexus Tech. Any thoughts? Thank you

T4Fun

CL needs to hire a troll hunter....

Statman

Do you mean head gasket?

tecman

Any updates HRGX460?

KJ6IRM

I had a leaking front cover (timing chain cover) on my pre-owned 2012. I took it into the Lexus dealer and they told me the same thing. Need a master tech to look at it. They initially found a leaking water pump as well. They replaced the water pump under the Lexus 70k drivetrain warranty, I was at about 63k miles at the time. They then found the oil leak in the front engine cover and were able to fix that as well while replacing the water pump. They just had to use some Toyota FIPG to fix it.

LFIL

We took our 2013 GX 460 for its 70,000 mile service and they told us the timing cover had an oil leak and it would cost $2,200 to repair. Has anyone else had anything similar or does anyone have any idea why this would be so expensive? We check the oil regularly and have not noticed any issues with the level being low. They said it had just started to leak. We will start paying more attention to any drips under the car. This summer it was parked outside on gravel. From now until next summer it will be parked in a garage where any leaks will be quite noticeable. We did not have them perform the service, and did not get any more information. It was picked up and delivered using the valet service, so there is a bit of a disconnect in communication.

Acrad

Are you over 70k miles? If not.. it should be under warranty. I thought I had this issue but mine appears to be a false positive (sloppy previous owner oil change) so far. That being said check out these threads as this is a potential issue... more common on Tundras but can happen on GX as it shares the engine on the base model Tundras.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...ly-gasket.html

http://www.tundratalk.net/forums/tun...-w-pics-5.html

You probably want to check out some independent repair shops as cost should be a lot less. If leak is from actual camshaft cover that should be fairly cheap. If from camshaft tower that is far more involved.

EDIT: If you are really close to 70k miles you may want to reach out to Lexus directly as well via corporate channels. They may step in and fully cover or offer up a significant discount.

LFIL

Thanks for the links. We are just over 72,000 miles, having just done a 1,400 mile trip in the last week from our summer place on an island not even remotely close to any Lexus dealer. We will start with the dealer and then go to Lexus corporate if we don't get anywhere.

NewB2Lexus

Did you ask them to show you or snap a picture of the area they claim is leaking? I would take a look first and contact Lexus to consider it under warranty.

If you are a DIY person you may be able to seal the leak using some liquid gasket without taking it apart by applying a thin layer onto the surface and let it set. It depends on where and how much it leaks.