wrenca91

I bought my 2008 F almost 2 years ago when it was just shy of 30k miles. I am at about 55k now and, since I have to take my car to a lexus dealership for some recall work (Takata passenger airbag and engine coolant fan) anyway, I was thinking about kiling 2 birds with 1 stone and having them take care of a few of the 60k mile maintenance items (spark plugs and rear diff fluid).

Issue 1.
I have changed sparkplugs on other cars before and I expected it would be just as simple for the F. After reading through some of the threads and the DIY, I realized that this was not the case, and the endeavor would be much more complicated than I initially anticipated. I spoke with the people at Lexus of Rockville (MD) and they said they wanted like $430 just to change the spark plugs... I called Pohanka Lexus of Chantilly (VA), expecting that their price could not possibly be any higher, and they quoted me at $650! Is it just me, or does that seem totally outrageous? I am thinking about just doing this on my own, but I must say I feel a bit intimidated by how involved this process seems and how many things I have to disconnect and move around in my engine compartment. What do you guys think? Is that outrageous to pay for a spark plug swap? If any of you have done your own spark plugs, can you give me an idea of how long it took, and how much of a PITA it was? I really wanted to save myself the hassle of swapping spark plugs on my own, but those price quotes really dont seem to leave me much choice.

Issue 2.
When I was talking to Pohanka Lexus, the service guy suggested that I also have my ATF changed. I was pretty surprised he suggested that, because to my knowledge most dealerships try to avoid working on transmissions when possible. By this point I have read the entire "mother of all transmission" threads front to back like twice, so I knew what questions to ask. I asked how many quarts of fluid were involved, if they change any filters/gaskets, and whether my car would have to stay overnight. He responded 4 quarts, 2 gaskets, and it would not have to stay overnight. So, I am guessing they are just doing a basic drain/refill, without dropping the pan to clean it and replace the filter, and without flushing the whole system? Why 2 gaskets? I thought there was just 1... and if they arent letting it cool off overnight to accurately check the fluid levels, that definitely worries me. They said it would only cost around $200-250 (I cant remember the exact amount), but I am really worried about letting anyone mess with it, particularly if they werent planning on taking the time to do it right. I havent really noticed any of the symptoms/problems that were mentioned in the other thread (which typically seemed to indicate a low fluid level, if I understand correctly), so I feel a bit reluctant to agree to having this work done. What are your thoughts on this? Should I just have them do it, then take my car home, let it sit, and attempt to check the levels myself (if I can even accomplish that)? I suppose i could ask them to keep a sample of my fluid, which would give me the opportunity to send some off to BlackStone for analysis... Or should I just hold off on this, until it becomes more urgent/necessary?

I have no problem with letting them change out the fluid in my rear diff. Plus, they were only going to charge me a little over $100 and I have never done that on my own (nor do I have the proper pump to do so)... but I really dont know what I should do, regarding the spark plugs or the ATF.

Any advice, suggestions, experience, and/or opinions would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking about taking my car down this weekend (probably the only opportunity I will have for a while, because I live pretty far away from both dealerships), so I hope you guys see this and have a chance to reply fairly soon.

flowrider

iTrader: (9)

Many threads on transmission fluid. Here's 2:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...id-change.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...tructions.html

Lou

kolyan

$430 to change plugs in ISF. Is that parts and labor? All Lexus dealerships around me wanted about $550 for plugs in my wife's IS350. Also I asked about tranny flush and no one even wanted to take my money, said NOT to do it. The eventually quoted me $650 for ATF. Rear diff was cheap, around that $100 bucks or so.

There is also brake fluid flush, motor oil, and all filters in 60k service. Some do PVC as well (not sure about ISF), and there is valve clearance check, no?

Also IS250/350 trannies seem to go often around 130-150k mark, but ISF has tranny cooler so maybe that why you don't see many fail.

jdmSW20

iTrader: (12)

yeah the cheapest quote I got for spark plugs from my independent mechanic was still $350 for spark plugs, dealership told me $400. So that's going to be expensive regardless, as for trans fluid, I was told not even touch it(im sure an ensuing trans fluid debate is coming). Rear diff was cheap so I got that done a month ago

kolyan

Local indies quoted me more then Lexus dealer lol. I ended up taking it to Toyota they gave me a good deal on a few services

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

1. Changing the spark plugs. Yes, it is easy. No it is not simple, but it is tedious. This chassis was not designed to hold a V-8, so there's precious little room to work which means a bunch of stuff needs to come off to do this.

2. Transmission - no, this thread will not start any debate about ATF changes. That is fully covered in the mother of all ATF changes thread. What is your goal in changing the ATF? To feel better about your attention to maintenance, or to make a measurable improvement? Changing your ATF will NOT make a measurable improvement. I dropped the pan, replaced the pan gasket and filter, and refilled my gearbox despite the Blackstone results indicating the fluid still had life left in it. It made ZERO difference in the operation of the transmission. The biggest issue is when the fluid level goes low, the shifting characteristics change. If the level is set according to the manual, it does not seem to matter if it is fresh or old, it works well. I have done both.

Whomever told you there are two gaskets does not know this vehicle, and I would not allow them to work on my car. If they also said the vehicle does not need to sit overnight to cool, again, they do not know this car and will not do the job according to the factory manual. It is my unfortunate experience with Lexus dealers that they never see these cars, refuse to read the service manuals, and frequently do things wrong. Witness overfilling my GS F with almost 3 more quarts of oil than it needed at the "free" 5k mile service. The car was getting 22 mpg on the highway with the oil overfilled and I could not believe the efficiency could be so poor. When I discovered the oil was overfilled, it was obvious to me why I was getting poor fuel economy, and it was also obvious to me the dealership does not read the factory manual, nor do they perform maintenance according to it.

Getting the dealership "expertise" on our cars is a myth. There are no dealership experts. If you are really lucky, the guy who works on your car owns one, then maybe they'll do it right, but IME, that's a long shot and not worth the aggravation. I just upgraded my TIS subscription to Diagnostic Technician so I can do my own reflashes and can have my own legal copy of Techstream. I am nothing but disappointed with dealership techs. At every opportunity they have had to impress me, they have failed miserably.

mikersoft

iTrader: (1)

As Lance mentioned, changing the plugs is not complicated.. It's just a PITA because of limited access.. I recently did mine, so it's still fresh in my mind. I'd be happy to help you change yours if you're willing to drive to NoVA (western PW county). Working together, it should only take an hour or so. My fee would be no more than a sixer of good craft beer

-Mike

wrenca91

Thanks so much for all of the input, guys. This mainly re-affirmed my distrust of dealerships, so I made the decision not to have them touch anything other than the recall items. I should be more than capable of doing the rear diff and spark plugs on my own, I am just worried that I will end up turning a short, simple job into a long, arduous one (particularly with the spark plugs... I could see that taking me ALL day and being pretty frustrating).

Kolyan, I just had a brake flush about 10k ago, when I replaced my pads, and I just changed out my intake air filter a couple thousand miles ago. So, I should be good on those for the time being, I am not entirely sure what PVC is? and I was reading up on the valve clearance check, but I think that is definitely beyond my ability/experience. I know I should get that done, but I have no idea where. Since I dont even trust the dealership to do simple things, I am definitely not going to be comfortable letting them take my engine apart.

Lobux, my goal is just like you said, preventative maintenance. I just know that if something goes wrong with my transmission, I would blame myself for not maintaining it. Since I am not having any noticeable symptoms of low ATF levels, I think I am going to hold off for now. Hopefully, I can eventually enlist the experience of another nearby F owner, who has done the work before.

Its pretty crazy that they overfilled your engine oil by such a drastically excessive amount. I know they frequently over inflate tires, but overfilling oil is just indefensibly stupid. Thanks for helping me confirm that my fear/distrust of dealerships is based in fact and not just paranoia.

-on a side note: How do you like your GS F? how does it compare with your IS F? and how much does a TIS subscription cost?

MileHIFcar

Holy ****! Assuming the oil capacity is the same on the blue top they put almost 13 qts of oil in your car!

kolyan

I meant to say PCV valve, it was on my 60k maintenance quote from dealer. 60k valve clearance check is in manual I think. But both are sort of preventive maintenance services that are not that crucial and most likely only necessary closer to 100k miles. But hey, spark plugs are probably in great condition too with 60k on them. Correct me if I am wrong....

mikersoft

iTrader: (1)

I changed mine at just under 56K miles, and I definitely noticed an improvement.. Granted, I have 10 track days on my engine, so YMMV. Though, others on CL have reported similar improvements with plug changes at or near the 60K interval.

-Mike

Pushtape

For what it is worth I trust the dealerships here more than other shops, but I am also an idiot. You just have to know the correct tech / SA that knows what the car is.

nks979

Seems to be a tossup between good and bad dealers, I've had mostly good experiences with Lexus. For what its worth I think it makes a difference if you make it clear you know what you are talking about with the SA and give them specifics of what you want done, they don't treat you like the average person who will never double check the work and wouldn't know the difference between shoddy work and getting it done properly.

jdmSW20

iTrader: (12)

WOW 3qt's? Sheesh, yeah I would've been fire hot about that, that's just a blatant screw up. Did you go back or report it?

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Waste of time to ask them to fix it when I can do it myself in 10 minutes. Besides, they don't make any money off me for service. This just happened to be a complimentary one, so I let them do it.

My experience with dealership SAs is, I tell them I know what I'm talking about, and with only one exception, they still treat me like a moron.