Just have the Certified Warranty. Extra three years and up to 75K. I do have the list of everything they perform to label it Certified. I do believe Lexus corporate is involved,or they wouldn’t run national TV ads telling you to buy a just-like-new car that’s been Lexus Certified (BTW,I didn’t go looking to buy a Certified car, just so happened that’s the one I wanted). Trying not to freak out and get the cart before the horse, and called the original salesman and told him the situation. At this point, I’ve had more problems with it than my last three cars combined,and it’s only been 7 months. Sad statement on the supposed quality of a Lexus/Toyota. Just have to see how it plays out. FYI, the local dealership could once again “not replicate the problem”, so I guess I have to wait until I’m in traffic on the interstate when it dies at 70MPH again to tow it in and have them once again check the codes. My local mechanic says they are FOS,they know they have a problem and don’t want to deal with it. They even said the most previous code was “erased”, and my guy didn’t do it as the lights remained on for 2.5 days before going off. He thinks they might have erased the chip, and to bring it in when I get it back to put on his machine to check the history,which he says never goes away unless its manually erased. This could get interesting,but not necessarily in a good way.
I’m confused. Do you have a driveability problem that the vehicle dies at highway speeds or are you running out of fuel? If you are running out of fuel the fault codes have little meaning.
Having the vehicle pre-inspected by your mechanic isn’t helping the situation.
Yes, very confusing. You ran out of gas several times, you didn’t mention having the engine die with a full tank of gas. Is that what happened?
And your mechanic may be right, or may not. Folks love to make out their competition as idiots/liars/cheats, whether or not it’s true. The next time the light goes on you can have the codes read at most car parts stores.
And while Toyotas and Lexus cars are reliable, they’re not perfect. No makes are. But you still haven’t laid out a consistent set of problems.
If the dealership had the fuel gauge calibrated to an accuracy of .01% the problem would then be a 2% inaccuracy of the odometer which would be as much, if not more unacceptable than the fuel gauge error. And has the rear view mirror mounted compass been calibrated to be accurate to .1 seconds? Is the GPS accurate to within 3 meters?
And the public wonders why the service manager was in a bad mood when they dropped their car off for an oil change.
I’m curious if you’ve ever driven this thing to the point where it was bucking because of a very low fuel level.
If so, that could mean sucking air and those high speed electric fuel pumps will not tolerate much of that at all before becoming damaged goods. Once damaged they can be prone to intermittent failures even with a full tank.
Gasoline not only cools the pumps, it lubricates them also.
Who the heck drives until it says “8 miles left”?
OP deserves his issues.
Fill the damn tank once it hits 1/4 tank, you bozo.
Uncle Turbo, yes, I feel cheated. I finally bought what most would consider the most reliable car going, a Lexus IS250 (Toyota Corolla base), and I’ve had more trouble with it than my last three cars combined (ten years), in just 7 months. “Disappointed” is a mild term.
Nothing in common with a Corolla. Different chassis, rear wheel drive, etc.
But let us know - does the car die with a full tank of gas?
UsedEconobox2UsedBMW,really??? “OP deserves his issues.”??? Besides being a jerk for making that comment, I’ll just say I’ve drive about 10-15 years (estimate 200,000 miles) with cars that had low fuel light gauges and have NEVER had my car run out of gas as long as I got it to the station before the mileage hit zero. And then never run out of gas even beyond that. Nor have I ever had any fuel system problems. So what is the difference between all those cars, gauges and the results? NO, I won’t ever drive this one again much after the low fuel light comes on, but past experience is the best indicator of future behavior, and most people would think with the experience I had in the past that cars should be able to make it to close to the miles left in tank based on the gauge. Now, based on my experience, I won’t do it anymore.
Nevada_545, the car is running out of gas after the low fuel light comes on, but before the mileage left is expired. On this car, the low fuel gauge comes on and then says “30 miles to empty”. The first occasion this happened, I was driving 70MPH and it said 13 miles left to empty and I was waiting until my exit to get gas. It didn’t sputter, hesitate, or anything, there was a clunk and the “Check Engine” light came on simultaneously, and it stopped. I glided over to the exit (luckily) and glided until I was in a store parking lot. I didn’t attempt to restart it and had it towed to the Lexus dealer where the code came up about the fuel system. But at this point, they could not “replicate the situation” and just gave me the car back. It ran out two other times same way (no hesitation, no sputtering, just died) when I was in the neighborhood headed to the gas station.
As far as having my car “pre-inspected” by my mechanic, the last time the engine light came on, I was a few blocks from my friend’s and went and parked it and left it overnight. I started it the next morning and the light was still on. It was either get it towed 11 miles to the Lexus dealership (again), or drive five blocks to my old mechanic so he could check the code (which he did not erase, as it was still on for two more days). BTW, to check the most obvious (and dangerous) situation, I checked the engine oil in the morning before I started it. I thought it was a reasonable way to handle the matter. The first time I got it towed, all Lexus did was tell me “it couldn’t replicate the situation” and give it back to me. Based on that experience, I thought a second opinion wouldn’t hurt, though I can see how Lexus might decide to use this against me.
Texases, the car does not die with a full tank of gas.
Nevada_545, one of the first things the service coordinator (or whatever they call them) told me was about the misfiring and piston problems. He told me this afternoon (they still have the car and have the situation elevated to regional or corporate) they are going to look at the pistons, but that my car does not currently fall under the piston problem based on the VIN. However, if the same problem does exist, they may have to expand the recall. I will say, they are really on the stick about the situation at this point. Supposedly some higher up from out of town is coming tomorrow for them to check it out. At this point, the dealership is following Lexus corporate’s lead.
One odd thing, the code for the misfires supposedly was erased and is not in the system. My mechanic deliberately left it on and did not erase it when he checked it out. I know an Auto Zone could have probably done it too, but the light remained on two more days. I think it’s strange the code is not in the car computer, but I don’t know enough about that to even have an opinion.
General comments:
Thanks for all the comments about where I buy the gas being a red herring. I had read that before, but nice to have confirmation. They did call me today to ask what kind of gas I used, regular, mid-grade, or premium. I’ve used premium every single fill-up save one, when I grabbed mid-grade instead by accident. So still trying to place blame on me.
I’ve had more than one mechanic tell me Car Fax is a very limited instrument. One guy I set up a detailing for my car (should I ever get it back), said that things like my bumper never get reported. And that even more stuff can be hidden. He said it’s his experience only frame damage and serious accidents show up. So much for the worth of a Car Fax report. Better to get a once-over by a good mechanic.
No, I won’t drive my car so far anymore when the low fuel light comes on. But, as I noted in an earlier post, I’ve driven 3-4 cars about 200,000 miles or more and NEVER had one run out of gas before they said it was empty, and never had a fuel system problem. Obviously, it’s different with this car, either because of a problem or because it works completely differently than all the others I’ve owned.
Many people . . . myself included . . . would not consider getting a bumper repainted to be a major body shop repair, as long as it that’s all it was
Now, if the bumper was repainted, along with having the whole front end repaired and repainted, due to an accident . . . I would consider that to be a major repair
You seem to be mixing two problems into one. You now have an intermittant misfire problem. “Unable to replicate” does not necessarily mean there were no fault codes. Lexus wants a snapshot recording of the misfire event before a major repair can be started. We are required to duplicate the problem and record the event with the scan tool. With your VIN I can check if any fault codes were recorded in a diagnostic report.
It seem now they have opened a technical assistance case on your vehicle, that is the normal proceedure after multiple visits.
Running out of fuel with a value displayed on the DTE display is unacceptable and should be repaired. The problem would be how would you demonstrate this. You could drop the car off when it reads 20 miles to empty and ask them to check how much fuel is in the tank.
Did your mechanic open the fuel tank to remove the contaminated fuel in June?
Nevada_545, no disrespect, but based on your comments about “We are required to duplicate the problem”, it sounds like you work for Lexus and it would not be very smart on my behalf to have a conversation with you regarding this matter, especially since I’m in a situation with Lexus to try to fix problems that, it seems to me, Lexus wants to find reason to blame me for the problems . If I’m taking this in the wrong context, I do apologize. If you do work for Lexus, and are doing some spying, shame on you.
Very well, I’m not in Texas or Japan.
db4690, it is a poor and cheap paint job, based on a mechanic, a body shop owner, and the Lexus service coordinator, who, after running his hand over the bumper, also pointed out that there was a bump, and that it appeared more was done than paint the bumper, that there was probably some structural work done also. Now I have to have the entire car checked. I have referred this to the dealership that sold me the car.
Correct me if I misunderstood . . .
It sounds as if the car may have been involved in a front-end collision
If this is the case, and if it can be 100% proven that it was like this BEFORE you bought the car, Lexus realistically should take the car back and cancel the transaction, retroactively
I worked at a Benz dealer, as a mechanic, for many years. Anyways, a car wasn’t allowed to become a certified used car if it had been involved in an accident. Touching up a bumper and buffing out minor scratches was allowed, but a car that was visibly involved in a collison was disqualified.
While I don’t condone “just pushing all the used cars through” and making them all certified used cars . . . I can see how it might happen. The mechanics are under pressure to get the cars ready to be flipped. If a mechanic says a car isn’t a good candidate to be a CPO (certified pre owned),
he is questioned about that.
There were a few cases where cars that shouldn’t have been CPO were bought back.
Any car that has 13 miles of fuel left in the tank may die at any time due to fuel starvation. That is not a car problem.
The Lexus dealer and corporate Lexus are separate business entities. You may (?) be able to go after the dealer legally and corporate Lexus may help prod the dealer along if this car has been hit hard in the past and depending upon what the CPO list shows.
I’m still curious about one thing. Have you told the dealer about the engine dying with 13 miles worth of gasoline left in the tank or have you simply stated the car is quitting for reasons unknown?