Thanks for the input. I will definitely look into finding a indy shop around Dallas.

It would help to see the quote for the "dead" transmission. If the car overheated, then it may have lost coolant (bad water pump repair at Firestone?) and maybe you lost transmission fluid too, and damaged the transmission. What year/model is your vehicle? Things look dire. I hope you are not looking at very expensive repairs. Good luck.

Just got off the phone with the service advisor. He said they could go talk to Lexus to see about footing the bill for some of the repair but mentioned that other things might crop up in a few months even if we everything that needs to be done with the car. His comment raises a red flag with me. He mentioned Lexus might do something like 50% of the bill. He gave us a qoute of close to 10,000 to replace the transmission. All 8 control arms also need to be replaced (although the arms themesevles are ok but the bushings are bad) And we we also need to replace both fuel pump gaskets for the driver and passenger side. Right now without any assitance from Lexus we are staring down about 16-17k in repairs. Very dire indeed.

Sorry to hear the bad news. It would be amazing if Lexus agrees to give a 50% discount on your entire repair bill! It may be a goodwill gesture or maybe the dealership messed something up in previous visits that contributed to your problems. If the discount applies only to the transmission work, that may still be good value. As discussed extensively on CL, you would be better off getting the CAs or bushings replaced by an indy shop for 1-1.5K.

Yeah that would great if they agree to 50% or even the whole thing?!!! I can dream right. Thanks for the input. Much appreciated. Keeping fingers crossed.

omg... 'gets wet with transmission fluid'. what imbecile wrote this??? tras fluid is dielectric - 1, 2 - it's supposed to be submerged in the fluid...

Where is Firestone in all of this? Are they coming to pick up the vehicle to repair the poor waterpump job? Have they refunded your money?

Is this a new car to you or have you owned it for a while? Lot of issues to be just suddenly happening all at once.

Right now I am dealing with Lexus for the Transmission. I want to get an idea what's going to happen with the transmission first. Plan on contacting Firestone tomorromw after I meet with they guys at Lexus. It's my wife car. She bought it in Houston in 2010. We got married in 2013. She brought the car up here to Dallas in 2014. She never had any issues while in Houston and since it's been in Dallas. All of this stuff has just started cropping up recently. The transmssion debacle really hit us out of nowhwere.

Sounds like the solenoids weren't activating based off the codes you listed, you probably fried the transmission when you drove off with it without having it fixed. That's what I'm guessing. I have heard of this harness failing, it looks like the part is not expensive, but the labor is (once again something we've come to expect from the dealer).

The whole thing still sounds strange to me, especially the engine overheating. Even a place like Firestone should be able to handle a water pump on one of these cars. How long ago was the pump replaced? I wonder if the tech leaned on the radiator tank and broke the nipple causing coolant to leak out=overheated the engine?

What is equally a concern is the overheated engine...I believe the block is aluminum and the heads are something else...magnesium? Either way I'd worry about warped heads. As for the transmission...I'd buy one off eBay and have a transmission shop install it. Let them deal with it, they can send it to Lexus for the reflash procedure. Cost you pennies on the dollar for what Lexus wants to charge.

It looks like Firestone may have contributed to the overheating problem and should pay for it. If the Lexus tech noticed other issues like warped heads, they would have noted it in the quote, so hopefully that is not the case.

I also wonder why Lexus would consider a goodwill discount on the transmission work unless they feel some responsibility for the problem, even though the OP should probably have fixed the harness issue right away.

That's a good point Doublebase. We replaced the pump at the end of Apirl. My wife think someone either at Lexus or Firestone broke something and didn't do the right thing by taking responsibility for it. When we were getting the water pump replaced by Firestone, they said they noticed the hose going to the Radiator was glued on and called for the Radiator to be replaced. Now Lexus says the water pump and radiator was installed incorrectly. I have images that the service guy from Lexus took when they let us know about the bad water pump/radiator work. See attached.

That flipping sucks, but it is about the quality of work I would expect out of a Firestone, Midas, or any of those types of places.

Thanks to everyone who has made a comment on this thread. I had been saying for months I would become more involved in the forums. I never thought it would be like this but I am learning a lot. Hopefully everything will work out and the universe will take care of my family. While we're dealing with this mess I am on the hunt for a sweet minivan! <---- ASP (Always Stay Positive)

Good attitude

Check out the 2017 Lexus MV300. Just what minivan owners have been waiting for, a luxovan!! Beats driving a Sienna

If this were me I would be on the phone with lexus corporate. I would be furious that an 8 year old car with less than 100K miles needs a new transmission on their flagship model. Completely unacceptable, if the damage is not due to a negligent repair.