On 10/13 I took my car into the dealer to have them look at what I felt was a possible downshifting issue when coming to a stop. They checked it out, couldn't duplicate the noise and told me everything was fine, the car shifts fine, everything's ok.. Next day I check the tranny fluid and notice its low by 1/3 qts. I add 10 ounces of fluid and the thud/clunk noise was gone. Original thread was 10/9 "Thud/Clunk when coming to a stop". I closed the thread loop on 11/16. They then recommended to get the timing belt done.. After receiving the professional diagnostic on the vehicle I agreed to the preventive maintenance (timing belt) for the car.I had not driven the car more than 20 miles from the time it was returned to me on 10/16 I took the car in on 12/1 and insistently stressed to the service associate the importance of my transportation and if there were ANY issues whatsoever that could require further work/parts or areas of focus for the vehicle that I need be notified while the vehicle is still open/apart. I did not want good parts going on top of bad parts. I paid $1342.00 for the timing belt. The next day I get a call from service saying "cars ready, everything went smooth, no problems at all .". I go to pick up my car on Sunday and this is how it sounded (: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MtN...ew?usp=sharing ) So I call the next morning and they tell me to bring it back down to them. He listened to the cars loud whirring noise, I played the video and the service rep stated he wanted to keep the car overnight. He asked me to return it to them Wednesday. On Wednesday morning I head down to the dealership. I drive about 7 miles and the gears began to slip, car wouldn't go into gear and was revving real high. I coasted into the dealer service department. A few days later they tell me the transmission is gone. When I took the car in it had no problems shifting .
I paid $1342.00 for the timing belt, I got my car back sounding like this ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MtN...ew?usp=sharing )
I go to return the car, drive 7 miles and the transmission fails.. Coincidence? Maybe. I requested my money back for the service of the timing belt since the job was never completed correctly. Matter is still ongoing. Any feedback is appreciated. Is there ANY correlation whatsoever between timing belt and transmission or could new timing belt somehow affect transmission performance? Idler pulley's bad tensioners...etc

 

Did you write down the exact mileage on the odometer when you dropped the car off?

Worst case, could the test drive after the timing belt have turned into a joyride? If you could show that 30 miles were put on while they had it. (example).

Cause and effect could be difficult here. Timing belt/water pump have nothing to do with the transmission. Very strange indeed.

 

Thanks for reading. I documented the mileage and now that i look I see it was (prior to timing belt) 166,624 on 12/2. I got it back 12/5 took it home and parked it. I live 7 miles away. I took it for a test drive exactly 11.6 miles. Took it back on 12/5 returned home then back to the dealership on 12/7 and mileage was 166,706.. home and back, home and back plus 11.6...7+7+7+7+11.6 =39.6 miles.. Car had 81 miles put on it. interesting. I am going to request some service documents from them tomorrow. They did offer to refund me the $$ for the service to the vehicle, $1342.00. which raises some questions

 

Getting the refund is fine, but here you might need to be cautious and possibly hold off on accepting the refund. You are getting your car back with a transmission issue which could equate to a much more expensive fix. I'd look for some professional/legal advice with accepting the refund when you have a considerably more expensive issue looming ahead. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

 

Very interesting indeed... First, the timing belt replacement does not involve work anywhere near the transmission. Secondly, there is no need to take the vehicle out for a test drive since the timing belt will only impact the engine performance. You don't need to drive around the block to know if the job is done correctly. In fact, it would be more appropriate to leave the car on the lift and start the engine to inspect for leaks and strange noises from underneath the car.

 

I'm wondering if the tech could have detached the trans cooler lines for some reason during the TB job...?

 

This thread already started out bad with the "..... took my car into the dealer...". Not sure what year your LS430 is but I would not trust any car dealer with an 11+ year old model as they are setup more for warranty work on newer cars.

A trusted independent (or 2) is going to be way more skilled and have reasonable rates in most cases....

Sorry to hear about your challenges but the dealer should be avoided unless it is paid for warranty work (IMO and experience).

 

The trans cooler lines must be disconnected for radiator removal which is part of the timing belt replacement procedure. What is your trans fluid level now? They might have let a bunch of fluid leak out during the timing belt service and never checked it. It is very possible they damaged your trans by driving it with low fluid.

 

The photo is when I did my timing belt I took the radiator out and the tranny cooler lines need to be detached from the radiator I put a bolt into each line to prevent fluid from dripping out if the lines were not plugged they could have been leaking the whole time, also they should never have driven your car you can start it on the lift to see of it starts after the t-belt install. Your story sounds like they messed up and beat on your car I have personally done my timing belt and water pump on my ls430.

 

You posted what I was gonna say while i was typing it out and trying to find the pic lol

 

Off the bat, no correlation, but noises after TB job to me means full refund, see you later.
The tranny is another story--however, if I brought it in for that, and you brush it off as no problem, and it fails within let's say 100 miles, we have something to talk about. You are the experts, you should not be upselling me on unneeded jobs when you haven't addressed what I originally came in for. In plain English: I am not concerned that much with your commission.

At minimal, get a refund of the TB. If possible, stress the tranny "may" be the fault of the dealership. I've only been to Lexus 2X for service, and I personally feel there is a low level of competence. An indie "cares" about their reputation, it's their bread and butter, imho, so they would do a TB job way better.

I've only had one AWFUL experience at a new car dealer ever. And my first new car was in 1998.

This was only a couple years ago at a BMW dealer near my work. They broke something on my car and denied it. Now this is hard to do and far-fetched, because as every car rolls into reception, these interns with iPad Pros take pics of your vehicle all around (my normal dealership does not), check your wheel alignment, and read your key for faults. So without going into the details, how does my car have a warning upon pickup 3 days later, as I'm leaving (haven't even driven off yet, and they said oh, it was like that when you dropped it off). I fixed the issue myself but decided I would not let it go, because they are doing this to other peoples' cars too. I got the part for free from FCP Euro. They said doesn't matter, you say a dealership broke it? Lifetime warranty.

Anyway, my general impression is new car dealers' biggest fault is they don't care, not that they would truly be totally incompetent (look at the gear a BMW dealership has, 40 bays, and the best tools available), but they don't care about your car like you do. Society is a lease mentality nowadays, so if we damaged your vehicle, it's not your loss, it's the leasing cos, let it go. Long story short again is BMWNA said we believe you, but there really isn't anything we can do since it's a franchise not a corp. dealership. In the end, only the BBB lowering their rating from A+ to C- got their attention.

So if you don't get satisfaction from the dealer, Lexus corp., then try the BBB....good luck...

 

There is a huge corillation between the two when doing the timing belt you have to diconect two hoses from the transmission that leak it not plugged up and the timing belt and water pump take 6 hours book time to do so the hoses were leaking for 6 hours that is a substantial amount of fluid dripping from those two lines, this is all directly connected.

 

I guess I would consider that so basic that it wouldn't be something a dealership can possibly make a mistake upon. Meaning, if I were to say I had my oil changed at Lexus, and later that day my motor stalled, can that be possible? Yes, very possible, motor could have seized, but not putting any oil back in or forgetting the drain plug is so remote, it wouldn't be what I consider correlated in a general sense...that's all

 

The people that work at dealerships are generally morons and I would not trust them to tighten my lug nuts i was apprehensive about having them flush my transmission but I could not do it my self and I double checked there work soon as I got to my friends shop to make sure they actually flushed it and there was a new transmission pan gasket no issues etc.

My friend who own his own shop has worked at numerous dealerships he once told me about how another tech at an audi dealership put brake pads on backwards so the metal backing was on the rotor instead of the pad took the car out for a teast drive and brought the car back and switched the pads around.

Then when he was working at sabb someone forgot to put oil in a customer car the car overheated and shut down. So they added oil let it cool down it started it and then drove fine.

 

According to the OP, the transmission had been experiencing " Thud/Clunk" problem prior to the timing belt service, and running with 1/3 quarts low on ATF.

The ATF cooling lines are located fairly high up off of the ATF pan. The transmission is equipped with a pump to circulate ATF through the cooler, but with the engine off, the line does not hold significant amount of ATF (I'm sure it is less than 1/3 quarts that can drain out).



The OP mentioned that the dealer may have put on 41.4 miles (81 miles minus 39.6 miles), which should not cause much more damage to the transmission than how it was before the OP added the 1/3 quarts of ATF a few days prior to the timing belt service.

Now, the loud whirring noise from the engine is another serious matter that must be investigated and fixed.