Stew Ellis Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 I joined this forum and the 100 series forum at ih8mud.com yesterday. I posted the following message there yesterday. If you have responded there then ignore the following. Otherwise, I am seeking anyone else who has similar experience. I bought a factory certified 2000 lx470 in April, 2003. The rear dampers have been gradually getting worse until they finally became unbearable early this Summer. When I took it to the dealer from which I bought it, they gave me the old story about Jiffy Lube places putting washer fluid in the hydraulic reservoir. They said that the only thing they could do was to bleed the system to see if it would straighten up, which I had to pay for(~$300) . It did not help much, and now it is much worse about 3 months later. The car still has 3 1/2 years and almost 30,000 mi. left on the warranty. The dealer said since it probably was damaged by an oilchange place it is therefor not covered by the warranty. They say that the only way to fix it now is to replace the whole system for $8000. They said that one customer got their insurance company to pay for the repair under the comprehensive coverage. Needless to say I think I am getting the runaround. I am more inclined to believe that they do not want to fix it because they are the dealer who carried out the certification. The AHC stopped working for a few days recently , so I took out the 50A fuse next to the fender for a few days. Over the next few days the rear suspension pumped down several inches, so I replaced it and the AHC has been working for the most part since then. However, after a few bumps it pumps down so that the next time I stop it has to raise the rear again. Since I am getting stonewalled by the dealer, I want to know why I cannot just buy new rear dampers or why the warranty will not buy them. By reading all the way through this forum today, I have read that others have experienced the failure at about the same mileage. What have they done? I am tempted to buy a normal suspension for it, but am afraid that would void the rest of the warranty on the rest of the truck. I do not really want to raise it higher than the stock N position. Anyone with similar experience? How would you solve the problem? Stew Ellis - SE MI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mehullica Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 I joined this forum and the 100 series forum at ih8mud.com yesterday. I posted the following message there yesterday. If you have responded there then ignore the following. Otherwise, I am seeking anyone else who has similar experience.I bought a factory certified 2000 lx470 in April, 2003. The rear dampers have been gradually getting worse until they finally became unbearable early this Summer. When I took it to the dealer from which I bought it, they gave me the old story about Jiffy Lube places putting washer fluid in the hydraulic reservoir. They said that the only thing they could do was to bleed the system to see if it would straighten up, which I had to pay for(~$300) . It did not help much, and now it is much worse about 3 months later. The car still has 3 1/2 years and almost 30,000 mi. left on the warranty. The dealer said since it probably was damaged by an oilchange place it is therefor not covered by the warranty. They say that the only way to fix it now is to replace the whole system for $8000. They said that one customer got their insurance company to pay for the repair under the comprehensive coverage. Needless to say I think I am getting the runaround. I am more inclined to believe that they do not want to fix it because they are the dealer who carried out the certification. The AHC stopped working for a few days recently , so I took out the 50A fuse next to the fender for a few days. Over the next few days the rear suspension pumped down several inches, so I replaced it and the AHC has been working for the most part since then. However, after a few bumps it pumps down so that the next time I stop it has to raise the rear again. Since I am getting stonewalled by the dealer, I want to know why I cannot just buy new rear dampers or why the warranty will not buy them. By reading all the way through this forum today, I have read that others have experienced the failure at about the same mileage. What have they done? I am tempted to buy a normal suspension for it, but am afraid that would void the rest of the warranty on the rest of the truck. I do not really want to raise it higher than the stock N position. Anyone with similar experience? How would you solve the problem? Stew Ellis - SE MI ← Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarcara Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 I would already be on the phone with the regional Lexus rep and the corporate offices. Unless the dealer can prove it was neglect or normal wear and tear that is causing the failures you should be covered. I have to say my dealer (in Milwaukee) has been nothing but stellar on any issue I have had. They haven't ever questioned things, they just take care of it. I purchased the extended warranty, they did the inspection and after a long road trip I mentioned some annoyances. Well, $2,800 of covered repairs later everything is great and the warranty paid for itself.. Lexus doesn't want unhappy customers, let them know you are not happy. Good Luck! Joe what is your mileage? is the damper system separate from the struts/shocks? not sure how long they should last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasoil Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 I can clean all the damper valves and recharge the accumulators for a small fraction of dealer parts prices. Send me an email and lets keep you with active suspension Keith Bowers aka Texasoil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pemarsh Posted January 14, 2005 Share Posted January 14, 2005 Lexus can not tell you something is not covered under warranty because of something that MIGHT have occured. Its simple. Get a hold of the rep and take it arbitration if you must. I just took my 2004 Toyota Sienna Limited to arbitration becuase it kept drifting to the left badly......service kept saying it was fine. So, I asked for arbitration....he drove it....pulled to the left badly....now I am getting a new 2005. The point is, dont let the service dept of any dealer be the end all of solutions and opinions. Be proactive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Ellis Posted February 5, 2005 Author Share Posted February 5, 2005 Update: 1/5/05 Over the last couple of weeks, after things settled down after the holidays, I got on the phone to Lexus to clarify what the coverage of the CPO warranty is. They said there is no exclusion on any part of the suspension or powertrain within the warranty period of 3 years from date of purchase or 100,000 total miles, whichever comes first. They also had me talk to some arm of Toyota Financial which is the actual underwriter of the CPO extended warranty, which I had been unable to find out before. An interesting thing: the dealer to which I had taken the car to try to get the problem fixed, the same dealer who certified it CPO and who sold it to me, did not enter the suspension system service (flush and fill) they performed into the cars master service record. I am almost certain they should have, which increases my suspicion that they were trying to hide something. Both the Lexus national rep to whom I talked and the Toyota Financial rep could not explain why the service was not recorded nor why the dealer would not even try to see if the repairs would be covered. In the southeast Michigan area we have two Lexus dealers that I know of, each of whom has 2 Lexus stores (plus some other brands at other stores). So I took the car to one of the stores of the other dealer from the one I bought it from and they were a delight to deal with. Not a word of the old "Jiffylube" excuse. No questions. They just ordered the parts and told me I would have a free loaner when the work was done. When the parts came in there was a bit of confusion because the parts came up under the name of the original leasee of the car, and they could not notify me. When I called to check they were very apologetic. While the car was in for service I also told them about the clicking sound from the engine and intermittent failure of the steering wheel to tilt up when I removed the key. Two days later I had the car back with new rear accumulators (they said the accumulator and the bellows were the same is that true?), a new right front height sensor, new left and right exhaust manifolds, and new motor for the tilt/telescope of the steering wheel, and two days of driving an RX330. As soon as I got in the LX, I could tell why I had loved it so much when I bought it. Anyone in SE Michigan contemplating the purchase of a new or CPO Lexus should be aware of my experience with the two dealer groups. I bought the car in Ann Arbor, but got my problems solved in Utica, near Lakeside Mall. Stew Ellis Once again a happy LX470 owner. :) Maybe now I can think of getting some work done on the '93 SC300 stick shift! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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