Hi. This is my first time posting. I know this post is long but I just wanted to be thorough to get the best advice from the forum. Thanks for your help in advanced.

I recently bought my first car, a new IS250 AWD. The car only has 3600 miles on it as of right now. I was driving on I-80 late at night trying to get back to Pittsburgh from Boston. Due to fog and complete darkness on the Interstate, I ran over an already dead deer lying in the middle of the road. Afterwards, there was abnormal sound at cold start and while accelerating. I drove my car back to Pittsburgh; however, I couldn't accelerate past 62 mph and had to keep rpms between 2000 and 2500 to reduce the engine noise. There was no body damage other than the engine cover.

On Monday, I called the Lexus dealership to schedule a repair. They said they couldn't see the car until Friday. So, I brought my car to a Toyota dealership. They said that the engine cover underneath car was dent inward causing the problem.

After having the engine cover replaced (cost me $578 for parts and labor), the car still has a noticeable engine sound at startup and while accelerating. However, now I can accelerate to 80 mph before it tops out. The sound is more pronounced while in drive and park compared to neutral. I mentioned this to the Toyota dealership. They said they can't do anything because it is consider warranty work and to bring the car to the Lexus dealership. There are no warning lights showing up on the dash.

Does anybody here have an idea what is wrong with my car? This is my first car and first time getting into an accident. So, I am a little clueless what to do here. Should I contact my insurance company? Is this repair covered under warranty? Does anybody have any recommendations for me? Thanks.

The engine must be in limp mode to try and prevent damage. Could be low oil pressure reading from a dented pan, or maybe a damaged sensor on the transmission. Are you getting a check engine light?

No warning lights has shown up on the dash. Someone suggested to me that the oil pan might have shifted the crank. But, wouldn't the Toyota mechanic have seen this and notified me? Is this case a strong possibility? How much do you think a repair like this costs? Thanks for the reply.

Wow, sorry to hear this. But honestly, without being able to actually get under your car to see what damage was done we would all be poking in the dark here. How fast were you driving when you hit the deer? When I was 17, I hit a deer doing about 50 mph in a 442 Cutlas, and that deer mangled the front end of that car. So the best advise I think you can get herewould be to take it in and have it fully inspected. I'm actually thinking that you may have damaged the all wheel drivetrain in the front end somehow. Maybe the transfer case. It's also possible a pulley got whacked or something. Again. without having the car in front of me, there could be a whole section of damage under there your not aware of and therefore not able to tell us about.

So, once they do a full diagnostic and estimate, then come back here and post what they said along with a few pics and then we can go from there. Have you reported this accident to you insurance company? You may need to do that if the bill starts adding up.

Good advice. They guy at Toyota may not have had all the facts--hitting a deer is NOT covered by your warranty.

Most car insurance covers damage by wild animals with no deductible I think.