My Lexus dealer who has serviced my 01 GS for 85,000 miles was supposed to give the car an oil change. Problem is they forgot the change part, and then drove the car back to the customer service center. When I arrived to pick it up, they told me what had happened and that the engine was making noise and they had to keep it overnight. That was Thursday, and I haven’t heard back from them. Do I need to ask them for a new engine or at the very least a warranty on future engine problems? Please repond and thanks for your help.
First, we need some clarification. Did they simply not change the oil, or (as I suspect you are attempting to tell us) did they drain the old oil and not refill the engine with oil after draining the old oil?
If they simply forgot to change the oil, that should not cause your engine to suddenly make strange noises, so I suspect that they ran the engine with no oil. If that is the case, then they do owe you a new (or at least, a used) engine.
Running an engine for more than a few seconds with no oil will cause major damage to bearings and, in effect, destroy the engine. If they offer you a used engine with 50k to 70k worth of wear on it, I would advise you to accept this–with the addition of a warranty on that engine–since your old engine had over 80k of wear on it.
Good luck!
It’s great that they 'fessed up about what they did. It is reasonable to expect fixing the noise by whatever means necessary, be that rebuilding or replacing the engine with a good used one if needed, and giving you a warranty.
Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry I wasn’t more clear, but they drained the engine, but didn’t refill. I appreciate your feedback.
They need to explain exactly what the problem is. If you don’t understand, get it in writing and post it here. If they choose not to write it down for you, take good notes. We don’t know what happened, so it’s hard to tell what needs to be done. It seems like there is some wear-related damage since there is that nasty noise. Be patient, enjoy the indefinite loaner thay gave you, and patiently wait for them to figure it out. They seem like a straight-up group.
Running it without engine oil pretty much guarantees your engine is damaged goods now. The reason you haven’t heard back is because they’re probably in a bit of a quandry over what to do on this. Another engine, even a used one, is pricy and they’re not going to want to cover the cost.
After this much time, somebody knows something. Analyzing this problem only takes a few minutes.
Just make absolutely SURE you get something in writing and if you can’t do this yourself, I would advise taking someone along who has a bit of mechanical knowledge and make sure that the engine is not full of doctored oil. In other words, make sure it’s not packed with 3 or 4 cans of Motor Honey to keep it quiet.
You may drive off, discover the problem on down the road, and then find out that “It was fine when it left here” may apply.
Thanks to all for the feedback, this is a great resource. Will let you know how it goes, but at the moment, enjoying a new ES loaner!
Resolved, I think. Lexus has agreed to replace the short block, timing belt, water and fuel pump, and provide a 1 year warranty. Seems like a fair resolution, what do you think?
I doubt that you will get a better offer than that, so I suggest that you accept it. And, of course, they have given you a nice Lexus loaner car for the duration, until your own car is back on the road again.
I think that Lexus corporate and/or the dealership are attempting to show that they deserve your business again when you next purchase a car. Contrast your treatment from Lexus with the way that Jiffy Lube treats the poor suckers whose engines/transmissions/differentials/brake hydraulic systems were ruined by their poorly trained employees. There is a major difference.
Congratulations!
Seems fair, except I’d want some independent mechanic to take a look at the cams. They’re in the heads (not included in the new ‘short block’, and might have been damaged. Should be able to tell by a simple visual inspection.
Shouldn’t they replace all internal oil-lubricated parts in the engine?
Case Resolved. Have to give Lexus of Orlando major credit for taking the responsibility and doing everything they could to make the car right. They replaced the total engine, timing belt which I was going to have to replace soon, water and oil pumpsl, and the car runs like new. Don’t need a new car at the moment, but you can be sure I won’t buy anywhere else. Thanks to all for their comments and suggestions
And therein lies the difference between going to a place like Jiffy Lube (or its clones) vs. going to a Lexus dealership. If the OP had gone to J-Lube, he would likely be in litigation for months, and at best, would only get a junkyard engine as a settlement.
Anybody can make a mistake when changing oil or doing mechanical work on your car. The difference is in the way that the business in question deals with their mistake.
Congratulations, jbastiani!
One thing bothers me about these Quicky Lube is the fact that all the times I went to a lube shop (Stopped going there long time ago when it changed owners) is that it was the shops’ policy to show the customer the dipstick showing the new oil level BEFORE you paid the bill.
Then when you paid you had to initial the box next to the comment: ‘customer advised of engine oil level’.
Looks as though they don’t all work like this.
Of course that isn’t to say the oil pan plug won’t fall out in the next 100 feet.
That sounds fair to me as well. Remember if you drive the car at all with the oil light on, you are partly to blame. In this case the results seems fair to all. Good thing you had a dealer who appears to be one of the good ones. Not all of the are.
Doing things like that for customers gets around, just like the bad stories do, and tends to make life long happy customers. To me that is just good PR work and Lexus will reap the benefits of doing that. Hats off to Lexus for making a very happy customer.
According the Pestno and CharPA in the Hyundai Timing Belt post…this dealer should be HUNG.
Sounds like a GREAT dealer to me.
There is only one rapid lube place I patronize; the manager trains his staff well, keps the palce spotless, they have great coffee and don’t try to sell me unnecessary stuff. They fill the crankcase and show me the dipstick.
Thank you for posting the happy ending back here. Most of the time we don’t get any additional information or find out the final disposition.
Great job of the dealer for taking care of this quickly. The only sad part is that this costs the dealer a chunk of money (which it should) and odds are whoever made the mistake became unemployed shortly after this happened.