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Well I had it happen to me again yesterday, on the 401 during morning rush hour. This is the third time in 1.5 years. I still have the engine & traction light on today (traction light no longer flashing though) but it ran fine last night on the way home and again to work today (180km a day). It seems to me, that whenever I let the car sit for a few days, then I see the problem. Back in the spring, I also had the engine completely die on me just as I pulled onto the roadway leaving me suddenly powerless - luckily I was able to coast to a complete stop, put it back in park and then after a little bit of braying, it kicked back up and no more problem (engine and vsc light on again). Once again, this was when I had the rear bumper being repainted at the body shop and the vehicle had sat around for a couple of days. Wondering now if I should be filing a complaint with the transportation ministry - If I had rushed out onto the roadway, I could have been t-boned crossing the road back into the parking lot at work (shorncliffe road is a very busy road used by heavy transport trucks all day long). A friend of mine also has a 2010 is250 (awd) has had this happen a number of times. He's taken the vehicle in to lexus - all they seem to do is clear the lights, I'll have to ask him again this weekend what they give him as the explanation/resolution or if they just play the game that the car is working fine and their not able to reproduce the issue, no know issues. We need Lexus Canada to step-up! Jaime 2008 IS250 (RWD)
Got my Bluetooth obd reader setup this morning and captured the stored fault codes. I'll be ready next time it happens to capture the codes while the check engine is on and traction control is flashing - not sure if there would be any additional codes or whether you would need the Toyota tech tool in order to get more info?
Yesterday night I was driving around Westminster area and my car suddenly started idling funny as soon as I came up to a light. Dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree with the VSC, check engine and traction control light. Drove it back home like that and the lights were still there this morning. Seems like another case of the engine misfire...
Took my baby into Longo Lexus as Graso had suggested. Right off the bat I could tell the overall difference in customer service. I dropped off my car this morning and he is going to get the process started so I can get the overhaul situation taken care of asap. He hooked me up with a Lexus loaner car as well (ct200h). This thing gets like a million miles per gallon.
I'll report back as soon as I hear an update from Mr. Wong, I would highly recommend him for anyone else looking to get their Lexus serviced.
Mr. Wong will deny your claim if you are 1 day outside the 9 year window. And many 2006 cars are now outside that window.
For the record, I never had a CEL come up, just the seemingly random shuddering when slowing down at a stoplight every 2 months or so. My SA still said they got it to misfire and I got the whole service performed.
Driving it so far it seems to rev higher at startup and the mpg is a tad worse. Since this has now become my second car I rev it even more than I did before since I don't DD it anymore. I'll WOT at least through 2nd 3-4 times if I can.
Hi everyone, I just registered here and this is my first post. I am hoping someone can give me some guidance on how to handle a situation I'm having with my 2006 IS250. I'm not very educated when it comes to vehicles, and in researching my issue I came across this forum thread and have read a bit of what is here. I don't know if someone in this nearly 1000-post thread has described a similar situation, so I may be asking about something that has already been answered elsewhere. In any case...
My 2006 IS250 had the service light come on a couple of weeks ago. I took it to AutoZone and they pulled the codes P0300, P0301 and P0303. There are two misfiring pistons and I occasionally experience the shudder during idle. I took my car to my local Lexus dealer (Park Place in Frisco, TX) and was told that the repair would be covered by the Customer Support Program. The next day I received a call and was informed that my IS is 1 month removed from the 9 year coverage, and that Lexus won't cover the repairs. I was given an estimate of $4-5k for the repairs.
I don't know what to do now. I feel that Lexus was generous to cover the repairs for up to 9 years, but I also can't believe that missing that window by a month would swing me from a free repair to a $5k bill. I appreciate advice that any of you might be able to share with me.
Hi everyone, I just registered here and this is my first post. I am hoping someone can give me some guidance on how to handle a situation I'm having with my 2006 IS250. I'm not very educated when it comes to vehicles, and in researching my issue I came across this forum thread and have read a bit of what is here. I don't know if someone in this nearly 1000-post thread has described a similar situation, so I may be asking about something that has already been answered elsewhere. In any case...
My 2006 IS250 had the service light come on a couple of weeks ago. I took it to AutoZone and they pulled the codes P0300, P0301 and P0303. I took it to my local Lexus dealer (Park Place in Frisco, TX) and was told that the repair would be covered by the Customer Support Program. The next day I received a call and was informed that my IS is 1 month removed from the 9 year coverage, and that Lexus won't cover the repairs. I was given an estimate of $4-5k for the repairs.
I don't know what to do now. I feel that Lexus was generous to cover the repairs for up to 9 years, but I also can't believe that missing that window by a month would swing me from a free repair to a $5k bill. I appreciate advice that any of you might be able to share with me.
If you are experiencing the carbon building up symptoms (feels like car almost stalls after slowing down) then you could just do a cleaning. I think cost is like 200-300 bucks. if it took you 9 years to experience carbon build up, a simple cleaning should last you along time. No need to pay for the whole piston replacement out of pocket.
If you are experiencing the carbon building up symptoms (feels like car almost stalls after slowing down) then you could just do a cleaning. I think cost is like 200-300 bucks. if it took you 9 years to experience carbon build up, a simple cleaning should last you along time. No need to pay for the whole piston replacement out of pocket.
Thanks. Apparently I am experiencing two misfiring pistons. Sorry I should have included that info in my original post.
Thanks. Apparently I am experiencing two misfiring pistons. Sorry I should have included that info in my original post.
Well i still think getting a cleaning performed is your best bet. That was Lexus' original solution to this problem. But carbon kept coming back so they eventually changed it to this more radical solution of replacing piston rings. But it took you 9 years to get carbon buildup, so cleaning should last a while. Or you could just do nothing and deal with it. From what i read there is no real damage caused by it, it's just a major annoyance.
Hi guys I'm not sure if this has already been answered, but I started to get the rough idle problem recently and it feels like the car is going to stall so I was thinking about bringing it in to the dealer for this. My problem is that I have a couple aftermarket parts on my car and I was wondering if it would void the warranty they have on the carbon build up problem. I have Fsport intake, Invidia midpipe, Hks muffler, and Endless coilovers on my car and unfortunately I do not have the oem parts anymore to put my car back to stock. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Add another car to the carbon buildup rollcall - have been experiencing issues for several years and was one of the cars that underwent the 'cleaning' to try to alleviate issues a few years ago. Issue started again about 12mos ago but was very minor - rough idle either at start or after getting off the freeway that would go away quickly or after a restart. 3 days ago the car was really hard starting, and then ran very rough and was billowing white exhaust. Stopped it and restarted it and it was still running rough, but a bit better and check engine light came on.
Took it to the dealership and got the call today - confirmed that it's the carbon issue and that Lexus would repair it under the CSP. Car is an '06 250RWD that we took delivery of in July '06. Sucks that it happened, but better to have happened within the 9 year CSP period than afterwards....
2007 IS250 AWD, 119K KM, owner for the last 2.5 years.
When we first purchased the car from the last owners, within a few months i had a CEL and the stutter. At the time we shut the car off and restarted, and by the time i got it on my scanner nothing showed up. Lexus also had said that nothing was showing either (was still under powertrain i believe). I read about this carbon build up issue and always kept it in the back of my mind that it would return.
Fast forward to this morning. I take the car out from work to go and grab a coffee down the block. I'm waiting at a stop light when i notice that if i slightly ease off the brake, the car was very jumpy/boggy like a bad driver with a manual transmission. I let it do it for a couple seconds then to my surprise, CEL pops on flashing and check VSC etc etc. i think awesome i'm just down the block from lexus, i'll take it right there and wont shut it off. At the same time however, i have a bad pit in my stomach knowing that in canada, it has been very hit or miss (mostly miss) when it comes to the carbon build-up issue and that i could be looking at paying lots of fees, but decide to take the risk. Keep in mind my wife is currently on maternity leave, so $$$ aren't easily come by these days.
I drop it off with service and tell them its still running outside, i suspect that it could be the carbon build up issue. Of course our SA's here have basically no idea what that means, and just say the tech's will need to look at it all.
I get a lift back to work from the shuttle, and in about 30 minutes get a call from the SA. she says the tech had an hour to look at it ($149), and couldn't pinpoint what was wrong exactly, and it could be 1 of 3 things, "wiring", "ECM", or something else. Shockingly i respond and ask to know if it had thrown any misfiring codes (since the car performance was exactly as a misfire would show), and she said nope. She requested that the tech wanted another hour to diagnose a bit deeper. I said i was very wary of any more diagnosis as $$ were short, so tried to request more information about what was found already. She said she would need to speak to the tech and call me back. A little later she then says, we're going to hold your fees at 1hr, but now the shop foreman and the tech are digging into this and wanting to know exactly whats up so we'll figure it out. At this point i'm already preparing myself for the worst, $149 diag fee, and the recommendation for a top end cleaning or worse, piston replacement or even something completely unrelated to the carbon, since they were citing wiring and ECM before.
another 1.5 hours pass by, and i finally get a call back. She then says she wont be charging us any diag fees or anything today, because they decided to order new pistons and rings under "warranty" at no charge (she used the word warranty although i'm WELL outside it). The parts are on order and when they come in will need to leave the car for about 4 days for the repair which seems in line with the CSP you're all getting done down south.
I'm so so SO thankful that this was the outcome, both for the health of my lexus, and my wallet when we really didn't have the funds to do any extensive maintenance like that right now. That being said, i guess not all hope is lost for us canucks when it comes to the carbon issue. Hopefully others can start to receive the same treatment!!!
12-09-14, 05:58 AM
