I have been reading this forum regarding the manifold and flex tubing on the RX300. We live in Sacramento CA and have just encountered the muffler noise and/or tail pipe noise. We have 75,000 miles on our vehicle and have never taken it off road or treated it in any manner except with great care. We took the vehicle to Lexus of Sacramento where the vehicle was purchased. We explained that we had researched this forum and were aware of the inherant problems with the manifold on this 1999 model. We were refused any free service despite the fact that we presented knowledge of the faulty parts on this model. We were quoted a price of 1050.00 to fix this problem. We spoke to the district manager, dealer owner, dealer manager, corporate office, to no avail. We were still refused the repair at no cost. We called a different dealer in Roseville, CA near our home and explained the problem we were having. We were just going to have them sell us a manifold and have a welder repair it. The service manager there and the young man in parts, Dennis, said they disagreed with the Sacramento dealer and would do their utmost to fix it at less cost or no cost. They were aware of this problem with this model. Our vehicle was fixed free of charge, we were treated with dignity and respect, and also found out that we were lied to by the Sacramento dealer. Our vehicle did NOT need a manifold, simply the flex tubing attached to that. It was an outright lie by Sacramento Lexus. I emplore anyone wanting to purchase a Lexus to purchase at Roseville Lexus and NEVER at Lexus of Sacramento. It will be the biggest mistake you will ever make. They want the sale but not the customer service attention given after the sale. Stay away from this Dealer!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Welcome to CL jeffbob! Thanks for using the search function - as you found, there's a great deal of information in the years of posts by as many as 40,000 Lexus owners and enthusiasts. Somehow, sometime, we've pretty well addressed everything. As you demonstrated, specific problems - especially those resolved several years ago - can be found in the archives when they may have been forgotten by most of us.

Thanks for the great report on your Roseville dealer. While Lexus invests a great deal of effort to provide the "Lexus Experience" for all owners, some dealerships are more committed than others to this level of customer service. Fortunately most dealers understand the economic rewards of satisfying their customers: It is always cheaper to help an old customer than find a new one.

 

I too would like to welcome you and invite you to post your experiences in future..

Great to see that a terrible situation/experience turned out positive.

I also had an unusually high exhaust noise in the wife's '99 RX about 3 months ago (70k miles on it at the time) and Lexus of Richmond Hill, Ontario found leak at gasket after flexpipe where it connects to cat converter...

BTW repair cost just over $100 CAD- still left me with a smile at the end of the day.. They also tried to scare me with the "beware eventually exhaust manifold gasket leak scare" but, if and when it happens, I will deal with it.

Rest assured it was only after I played the "informed" card, that the repair cause and price was identified thanks to this forum.- Don't know what would have happened if my wife would have walked in there with her Gold Visa flashing in the air.

I am a member of other car forums and by far find this one, one of the most intelligent, mature and informative ones out there.

Kudos to the moderators and members of forum.

 

Fern,

About a month ago, I heard a strange rattle and thought at first it might be my cat, but then realized it could not be since it is so new (the Magnaflow High Flow Cat below). Took it over to my muffler show (the one that did all my piping in my signature) and they replaced that gasket...parts and labor...300 pesos, slightly less than $30 USD.

BTW, welcome to CL Jeffbob.