Only 38,000km on the car, my experience with a Lexus is anything but reliable Last Friday my IS gave me the worst xmas present ever. The car lost power, engine, PCS, and a bunch of light lite up like a xmas tree. I managed to restart it on the side of the highway and got it moving (less than 30km/hr) to get off at the next exit. I would have pulled over but the highway was full of ice and snow covered on the shoulder. I wasn't going to sit in the middle of an icy highway. Roadside assist got me a tow to the dealer, only to find out they're closed for the holidays. We left the car there over the weekend. It was quite annoying having to readjust all our xmas appointments because I didn't have a car.

The dealer called this morning. They asked where I park the car, I told them inside at home and at work. Apparently they thought rats may have chewed something because cylinder #5 and 6 are mis firing. If that was the case I would have to pay for it. So I told them to go ahead and open up the engine. They just finished and came back with the bad news. 3 fuel injectors are dead. They have to order the parts. All loaner cars are booked. I'm quite annoy right now. About to give up on the car.

To date:
- stranded 3 times in the last 2 years because of dead batteries. All replaced under warranty.
- infosystem locking up while driving, have to pull over restart the car. Unresolved.
- rough idling at the light in cold morning, very likely signs of the faulty fuel injectors
- 6 months after replacing fuel injectors on cylinder 2,4, 6, and new cat. The same set of fuel injectors died again. We almost got rear ended this time because the car lost power while trying to merge onto the highway.

The car is amazing and I love it but not being able to depend on it is a complete turn off.

 

You should consider to escalate this to Lexus corporate, they might do something in order to take
your concerns and evaluate the situation regarding the car, I understand your situation, really bad experience with another make, may I ask where are you located?

 

Sorry to hear of your trouble. You need to have them replace your radio unit regarding the infotaintment system lockup. Mine was replaced (internal malfunction inside radio unit) and no more lock ups (restarts in my case). I recorded the restarts and sent it to the service manager. PN replaced per work order was http://www.lexuspartsnow.com/parts/l...804-53221.html. However, mine is a Mark Levinson, so yours may be different. ??

.....and have them replace your ecu for the dead battery issue. I've read on this forum that this fixes the parasitic drain that causes the battery drain. Do this before your warranty runs out. Good luck.

 

For the nav unit, they need to make sure the firmware is up to date. That fixed my problems with it. Also note that turning off/restarting your car is unnecessary. Simply hold the power/volume **** down for a few seconds and it'll force a reboot.

Good of luck on your injector issue. That's not a very common one.

 

Yep, I forgot about firmware updates. I think you can check the current firmware version online somewhere, though I'm not sure where.

 

It baffles me when someone says "all loaners are booked". I guess I'm spoiled, my dealer has like 150 loaners and bend over backwards to help you.

 

Some dealerships are just awful... the guy admited to another seller he didn't want work with me because he didn't think i can afford the car...
Im kinda curious how this wouldn't be covered under the warranty?

 

I'm in Vancouver, BC. The dealer is being very polite so I just want to leave them alone and deal with it later. But you're right, I'm very close to crying to corporate.

 

I have ML as well. Good idea on recording the video! Especially when the "we can't reproduce it."

 

Thanks for the tips on holding down the power button. It's frustrating to try every buttons, especially when you have music blasting and it hung! It never occurred to me to hold the power button like on a phone.

Fingers crossed the fuel injectors will be the last issue I have to deal with.

 

I'm done with this dealer. It's really too bad because I've only been using them because this is where I bought the car. I thought I would receive better care. But the last few services I was not able to get a loaner. A taxi voucher is as far as they've gone.

 

anyothers in your area?

 

I'm in Vancouver too, the other day while having my IS for service I heard a couple guys complaining about this exact same issue, they were provided with loaners as they had to leave the cars, I hope this is not a batch of bad ones here in Canada, keep us posted!!

 

One other one that's out of the way but I'm willing to switch. Having a loaner is better than waiting for a taxi!

It's just super annoying because I've never had to beg for a loaner when I had an Acura. My wife still get a loaner every time for her 8yrs old RDX! We've been thinking about replacing our aging, but flawless RDX. I'm trying to sell her on the new RX but she's having none of it because of my struggles with Lexus!

 

Was a rough idle in the mornings really part of this?
I was at the dealer last week about this and they said it was cold engine mounts that vibrate till they heat up.