Our 2015 RX 350 blew a head gasket with 88K miles. We followed the maintenance guidelines and Lexus and Toyota dealerships did the inspections. Dealership said the motor is no longer being manufactured. Have to acquire motor from a wrecked vehicle. Dealership and Corporate said they are not willing to assist with any discounts or help with the cost because it is out of warranty. Sounds like Lexus IS going to disposable cars after the warranty runs out unless to purchase the extended warranty which the dealer makes the majority of money. anyone else had problems like this? Were you able to convince any dealership of corporate to assist?

 

Unless you had the Lexus extended warranty you are out of luck on this. A head gasket can fail at any time. I doubt any manufacturer would cover it after 8 years and 88000 miles.
Maintenance does not have much to do with a blow head gasket. It just happens, or as they say, anything can break on any car at any time.

There is nothing wrong with getting a used motor and many do that in this situation. It is what I would do if it was my vehicle.
Toyota-Lexus used this engine in many vehicles for 15 years and there are a lot of nice low mileage used ones available. Find a good independent repair shop who will find and install a used motor. If in the Northern Virginia area I recommend contacting Brandywine Used Auto Parts in Maryland as they are a huge operation with many lots and also do their own installations. My cousin blew the motor on her Mini Cooper and they sold and installed it for her. https://www.brandywineparts.com/

If you want to look around for good independent mechanics use this database as start. You can search by city and state. It has shops recommended by listeners of the Car Talk car repair radio show.
https://www.cartalk.com/mechanics-files

Good Luck!

 

Can't buy the entire engine complete (discontinued) but can get a short block which is far cheaper. $20,000 vs $4,000 plus maybe $2,000 to install. Be careful if you get used most salvage 2GR's out there are well worn.

 

Dealership is charging $9.5K What makes me more unhappy is they are charging full price for the oil and filter as well as the alignment when they currently are running a special the is on their website and good until the end of the year. Greedy.

 

That's absurd but entirely expected from a dealer.

 

Which Lexus dealer in Virginia are you going to?

 

dealers have high overhead costs compared to an independent garage. As suggested, shop a couple of Indies. Yelp often has reviews for Japan car experts, which I recommend. Pay extra for a low mile engine if you have a choice. I imagine there are rebuilt engines available but not really necessary. Sorry you had the misfortune of a blown engine. It's less common in Toyota products than many others.

 

After the shock and anger, refocus on the next step.

Check the price of a used RX similar to what you had.
Check the price of used/salvage engines [many vehicles are declared totaled and you should be looking for vehicles with damage to the rear or transmission.
You can obtained used engines from Asia.
Can the head be rebuilt?

Salim

 

2GR can't be rebuilt at all, meaning no machine work. Replace gaskets and seals if anything is out of spec the engine is scrap.

 

As previously advised, find a trustworthy indie shop if you opt to go ahead with the job. You should not allow yourself to be screwed by any dealership.

20 years ago, Lexus Corporate would have covered this job for you under their customer "goodwill" program and not charged you one penny for it. Sadly, their goodwill program has essentially faded into obscurity during the past decade or so. Lexus build quality and customer care efforts are simply not what they used to be. My wife has had three different RX vehicles during the past 20 years and we have witnessed this gradual decline first-hand. Sorry for your current situation -- that is quite rare for these vehicles if they are maintained (and it certainly sounds like yours has been properly cared for).

 

sorry for my noob question , can’t the head gasket be replaced ? Or is there any irreparable engine damage ?

 

I hope Lexus remains faithful to their customer base, we are how they got here in the first place. Did you speak to corporate yourself? Or through dealership?

 

Generally, when a head gasket blows on an all aluminum engine the engine may have over-heated and became warped. Which means the head and block will not align properly for a good seal; even with a new head gasket.

The problem with the 3.5 V6 is that it has a VVT timing system which can be affected if the head and block are resurfaced to be flat again. The process removes metal and changes the engine compression and lower the height(or thickness) of the block and head. The height is important because of the timing chain being a set length and will become loose after the machining process. Therefore, the engine will not run properly after the head gasket repair. Hence the engine replacement recommendation for a head gasket repair if the engine over heated even for a short time.

 

Almost no one realizes this. It applies to any engine but without VVT you can get away with it to an extent.

 

There's something wrong with that site. It only found one shop in Los Angeles. Really?