So with all this back and forth and me going through it right now, the Car Care Nut suggests replacing the plate/heat exchanger itself while you're in there, due to possible damage from removal and reinstallation. Cost is around $200 extra. Not sure if anyone does this.

Seems to me like other than minor stuff like the infotainment screen change in 2016, the 13-17s are basically the same car, and if Lexus recognized the issue and corrected it, others would know. Also, this happens in other cars with the same engine--not exclusive to the LS. I heard it can happen on my wife's 2015 GX.

 

As well as every single V8 tundra

 

the 2007 had a much worse than average it’s first year in the engine major due to the valve spring recall. The following years of its days it bounced back to better than average. And the 07-09 did drop to average in the cooling at around the 6 year old mark. The later years never dropped to average in the cooling except for this latest 2017. Im pulling this all from memory so don’t quote me verbatim.

either way I think this lexus should cover the costs for this defect

 

Its not a "defect" its a characteristic of the engine. In the grand scheme of what can go wrong, this is a big snooze. All engines have specific things that are common issues, this just happens to be one of those things.

I think the Brake actuator is an issue much more deserving of additional warranty coverage, which it has.

 

it most definitely is a defect. When repaired properly it shouldn’t leak again. Its a problem toyota lexus should have never allowed to happen.

 

Makes it past warranty doesn't it? That's all that matters.

 

spoken like a true Audi fan🤣🤣🤣

 

All manufactures only care about making it past warranty, don't kid yourself and think Lexus is special otherwise they would offer 10/15 year warranties.

As someone who started with Lexus I'll tell you right now it's cheaper to own a D4 A8 and easier to work on. The 460 is a pricey car to repair even just parts wise vs them and has critical failures that are very costly like the brake actuator, rack, arms, valley plate that even diy are expensive.

I've also noticed that near every 460 I've seen needed the exact same things, vs having seen A8s up to and exceeding 250k miles that if maintained don't need anything and in most cases are on original air suspension, arms, and cooling systems.

That's what made me leave Lexus, I was driving cars that drive far worse with less features than rivals that cost more to repair, buy, and maintain. There was no upside so I left since I'm one to want a car working as intended/repair everything.



Sure an ES350/RX350 etc will be highly reliable and all that....I'm not interested in that segment though so the whole Lexus reliability thing doesn't apply nearly as much in the segment I drive. If you want a car of this tier it's going to cost more to own, period. The other reality is on the high end the Germans are simply better.

 

your last two comments are saying two different things at once. Let me know which position you decide on and I’ll have a better response for you.

 

No it isn't two different things, you simply don't understand the difference between the tiers of car.

 

I is it one way, you see it another. I’ll leave it at that.

 

So a strut is the same as a forged multi-link?

 

If you expect perfection, you're going to be really disappointed. EVERY car and EVERY engine has things that typically require repair after a certain period of time, this happens to be a typical issue with this engine...many other engines have dramatically worse things.

This is a big yawn.

Striker is saying that the less complex and sophisticated cars have fewer problems, but thats because they are less complex and sophisticated. He's saying the LS is less reliable than something like an ES, and since its more similar to a German car in reliability he chooses to just drive the German car. He is not saying anything contradictory at all.

 

if I’m to be disappointed, then you are to be surprised when you find that if the valley plate is fixed right it doesn’t leak again. SHOCKER!!!

That’s not perfection, that’s a correction, a problem that was SOLVED.

 

Why would I be surprised? I’m not surprised at all.

And there is no guarantee that a repair will last forever. Nothing lasts forever. If you repair a valley plate leak on a 16 year old car, do you know if it will fail again in another 16 years? Most of the cars at that point will be in a junkyard.