kaos5000

Not a regular on here but I had to share my expierence:

2006 IS250 145,400 miles, nvr had any issues!

Month ago: I got up in the morning around 6:30 and tried mulitple times to start my car. It was being a pain in my *** until the 14th time. It didn't have a bad starter nor was the battery dead, it just had issues kicking over. I finally got it started and drove to work without any issues and when I arrived at work, I turned it off and started it right back up. No codes, no nothing for 2 days.

3rd day: Get into the car, everything is fine. Going down the road around 45mph and then ck engine light comes on, traction control light comes on, VSC light on and the car is sputtering like crazy and it's not letting me go over a certain mph & a very rought idle. I get it home and turn the car off, turn it back on and it's doing it again. Wait for about 10min, turn it back on and it's idling fine and it's running just fine. Called Parker Lexus in Little Rock, Ar and got an early appt. Drove it all the way there under 40mph and it was acting just fine.

Parker Lexus: I get there and they already have a bill with the clearing of the codes estimated around $450. I tell them I had starting issues and what the car was doing earlier that day and it wasn't doing it at that moment and they told me that if it was a carbon build up issue, it would be constant and not intermittent. I also went to autozone that morning prior to Lexus and the codes were misfiring in cylinder 3 & 5. It takes them all day before they get around to my car, around 3:55 they call with good news and bad news.

Good News: They test drove it, had the same issues and it's carbon build up. Everything will be covered under Lexus warranty and you get a courtesy car.

Bad News: Your starter button is going bad, approx $420 for parts & labor. Oh you gotta find a ride here within the hour to get your courtesy car before we close.

2 days Later: Parker Lexus call me again. My mechanic has some issues while working on your car. He noticed your water pump had been leaking coolant and your drive belts need to be changed. Oh and your spark plugs are badly burnt and have signs of running too hot and lean. He told me with parts and a discounted labor charge, it would be about $1100 without the starter button added on . I told him in a polite way "go **** yourself" and if he hadn't installed the started switch, just don't do it. Unfortunely, it's already been installed...At this point I was getting pissed just thinking these guys are trying to pull a good one on me. I've nvr had a water leak on my garage floor, nvr had any overheat issues nor have I had to add coolant!

4 days Later: They called and told me your car is ready for pick up. Get there and it's not a friendy interaction between me and my service tech. Prior to going in, I locate my car and they smashed my front bumper into the curb as they alwasy do and don't care too much about it. I don't bring it up, simply because it didn't hurt my car this time and they didn't fill my tank up. I thought warranty items were a free full tank of gas, I guess not! Walked out after paying $450ish for a start button and 2 complimentary cookies...lol!

Home Inspection: I ck'd all my plastic cover buttons and 1 is broken and 1 is missing. (those things are really expensive when getting from dealer). My belt has no signs of frayed fabric nor is it dry rotted. The water pump looked fine and looked that following morning for water drops but nothing! Plugs on passenger side were running hot & lean but I can replace those, not paying $550 for Lexus to do a 1hr job! Front bumper was a little scuffed up from the curb but it's unpainted so I let it slide this time.

So there is my whole carbon build up expierence, if you have any comments or complaints, plz post. Btw, don't let Parker Lexus pull a fast one on u as well!!!

Sceanzo

Um wow. So many issues and questions left unanswered.

Why didn't you address the bumper issue?

The water pump leak may not be gushing. It may just have a slight residue from the weep hole.

Starter button going bad? well that is possible, can't really touch on that subject much.

If the belt is OEM and has 145k on it, it is probably due for a change anyway.

If the plugs are original, they probably just wanted to upsell that too

The engine covers missing clips. Well that sucks, it doesn't hurt your car in anyway driving without them, and the tech knew that which is why they failed to mention them.




Warranty jobs for techs are **** work. Through and through. If they can make some extra hours off changing things not called for in a recall they will do so. I am sorry you had such a ****ty experience with that dealer. Maybe try another one in the future?

Moose2514

i work at a lexus dealer and do these all the time. At our dealer we up sell a belt and spark plugs on pretty much every engine we do that has not had them done previously...that being said im not sure if you got quoted labor to do that but if you did thats garbage. We dont charge any labor to do that because the engine is already apart why charge more money for something that you already took off to complete the warranty work. The water pumps on these cars ALL leak at one point. Its not a leak that your going to see on the floor. usually it will leak out of the weep hole and crust up behind the pulley, and when the tech took the pulley off he probably seen the crust. Now at our place if we see that regardless of mileage and were doing a engine we dont charge the customer and we install a new one when we reassemble the engine, so im not quite sure why you were being charged. The only charge you should have had aside from your starter switch and labor, should have been just for the parts (spark plugs and drive belt) as those are not covered under the warranty

maniacbob

iTrader: (1)

Similar experience when I did my carbon buildup at Lexus of maplewood (they really suck). Long story...

SDRider

We had that happen a number of times with my wife's 2006 IS250. We finally had enough with this car when we took it in for the same problem. They said the transmission was bad and needed to be replaced to the tune of $5,000.

We traded the car in for a 2014 Lexus ES350. They gave us $6350 for her car with 120,000 miles on it and a busted transmission.

We have had the pistons replaced under warranty, the camshafts replaced under warranty, the rear struts replaced ($1000 out of our pocket), the front struts needed replacing and the car needed the 120,000 mile service. The driver's seat was pretty well worn but the rest of the interior was in good shape. Exterior had a few scratches and dings and a couple of the wheels had some curb rash.

The IS was just too small for us anyway. Glad to see it go. We love our new ES.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

^Nice upgrade! They really gave you jack for your 2IS, for what was probably not a completely bad trans. Maybe just a solenoid.

SDRider

I don't know. I thought it was reasonable. It was a base model with no upgrades.

I figured on a trade in I could get maybe $8k for it max if it was mechanically fine... it wasn't. I don't think the dealer was trying to screw us for something the car didn't need. We've been going there for years and the couple times we have gotten second opinions on repairs they were on the up and up.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

^Well, if you feel they did you right, no need to re-visit the past. Just enjoy that NEW ES350; sooooo nice!

SDRider

Thanks man. I love it.

My biggest problem now is wrestling the keys away from my wife to let me drive it. I never wanted to drive her IS250. I always felt it was quite underpowered and I always whacked my head getting into and out of it.

I bought myself a new Camry Hybrid XLE last year but now I'm kind of wishing I bought the ES Hybrid. I drive a lot of miles commuting so the hybrid makes sense for me.

They had a nice LFA in the showroom. I was definitely digging that.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Trade in Camry for LFA?

SDRider

Fixed that for you.

skelow401

I love Parker Lexus! Never had any trouble from them and compared to others prices for certain work Parker is usually really cheap. I always feel like they were very fair and never not just out to get my money. I would trust them if they say something is wrong. I had the same thoughts about my water pump and didn't trust them. Two weeks later my coolant was extremely low. You pay alot for work because its a Lexus not because of Parker Lexus.

They do have real, good cookies. Otis Spunkmeyer I believe. I always grab few for the road.

kaos5000

I've had my car worked on by Sewell of Dallas and they are extremely courteous and do more for your buck. Cookies are awesome but nothing smoothes over an *** raping from a dealer. I did call Sewell of Dallas about what they would of charged and the service tech there said "We throw in spark plugs if bad(no cost), no labor charge in neither the pump nor belt, just parts". Parker Lexus has it's ups & downs but being the only Lexus dealership around really sucks!

I didn't bring up the bumper issue because it's unpainted and they probably would of denied it, just a scuff on my lip won't hurt it. The belt & plugs were replaced around 98k miles by previous owner(good friend) along with a couple of issues at the time. That was while we were in Dallas, so we had to go to Sewell of Dallas.

Either way, I saved a crap ton of money doing the work myself! Had some issues with that as well, be sure to ck out my other post once I write on "IS250 spark plug DIY", it'll be a good read! I'm not mechanically inclined by no means, but everything that could of went wrong did! Haha