i brought my '09 IS350 to dealer this past Friday for oil change, got a call from them same day afternoon saying when they remove the oil pan, the threading of it was messed up so they couldn't put it back on. they told me they will go through certified preowned warranty for this replacement which my car is still eligible. when i called them yesterday for updates they told me Lexus declined this replacement under warranty for undeclared reason but the dealer will get this replaced free of charge from me. this led me to believe the technician screwed something up while doing the oil change. correct me if i'm wrong, why would they mess with the oil pan for a routine oil change? i thought it would just be lift the car up, unplug the drain plug, let the old oil out, tight back the drain plug and pour in new oil, do they actually have to remove the oil pan? what have i missed here?

 

It sounds like the threads in the oil pan for the drain plug are stripped and they are going to replace the oil pan. I have seen people repair the pans before but if they over tightened the plug and damaged the threads, let them fix it with the new oil pan.

 

This is more like the tech stripped the threads on the oil pan for the drain plug when he try to remove it.This can happen when the last person that did a oil change over tighten the drain plug. At least the dealer is going replace the oil pan for you. I know if i was the tech i would of just put a over size drain plug and called it a day.

 

at least your dealer willing to replace the oil pan and not blame on you from last oil change.

 

well, they can't cuz they did my last oil change

 

thanks, good to know, i will make sure they don't do that now that i know it won't be cover under my warranty.

 

Yeah, though you would think they would use a torque wrench like they're supposed to on that bolt, but it doesn't happen. Probably got over-tightened once the oil change was completed and stripped it, OR the bolt got stripped upon the previous oil change and the service tech this time was the victim of the previous employees error.

Regardless, sounds like Lexus is taking care of you, and yes they are doing to proper thing with replacing the entire oil pan and drain bolt instead of fixing the threads and risking metal shavings in the oil pan.