I Know You Heard This Before But...gs400 Gas Mileage

[BlexusGS]

I like Smithtown Lexus a lot! Great service and prices are fair. I think oil changes are around $50 plus tax.

I HATE Massapequa Lexus! Their service advisors SUCK! I bought BRAND NEW HID headlight housings because mine were old and had the dealer install them because I did not want to scratch them or anything...especially after paying about $700 for the pair! Anyway, the dealer scratched them and charged me $240 for the install to boot! I purchased these lights on my own and the box was only opened by me to inspect them...they were 100% perfect. The service advisor tried to tell me that the lights were already scratched! That is BS. Truly BS. Then he says that he will try to have it compounded out (they were deep scratches mind you) but it will NOT be done at the dealership that THEY would have to drive my car about 5 miles from there to a body/detail shop AND they can only do it during the week! Yeah, like after screaming and arguing with the guy like I'm going to leave my car there for them to drive...I'm not stupid. I worked at a car dealership before and I see what the service techs do to these cars in the parking lot with so called "troublesome/annoying customers"! Eventhough it wasn't my fault!!! I would have settled for them just to take $100 off of the bill but they would not budge! I went home because the service manager was not in that day. I called the Service Manager the next day and he told me that he can't give me a credit and that he needs to see the car again; he didn't believe that the lights were scratched (eventhough the service advisor probably told him). They knew that I live about 45 miles away and tried to make it inconvenient for me. I even requested that I try to bring my car to a body/detail shop by me...again...no dice; they said no and that it has to be their affiliated shop! I just took that one way up the @$$! I never got any apology or credit for any of this...I just will simply NEVER go there again!!!

[BlexusGS]

I just got my car back from the dealership because my car within the last 2 months has not been achieving normal operating temp; every once in a blue moon it will. During this low-temp scenario my idle has been running real high (1200rpm) as if the car is still in cold start-up mode - eating gas constantly! Now, with all this being said my car is NOT popping a code! The dealer scanned it and they say "...duhhh there's nothing wrong with it otherwise the car WILL pop a code." Then when I re-iterate the symptoms to them they say "yeah, something isn't right." They won't fix it because they say that if they start to just install parts it might not fix the problem.

****UPDATE****

After the dealership on Saturday I decided to bring my car to my local shop that I always use for general repairs. I told them the symptoms and they said it's most likely my thermostat. I told them to change it...I took a chance. It was the thermostat after all! The shop showed me the old thermostat and the seal was shot inside allowing the coolant to flow right through it! The car runs great now, my temp reaches normal and my idle is now normal as well! I am very happy...Maybe I should call up the dealership and tell them to take lessons from my local shop! LOL! Oh, one other thing...the dealer said that a code WILL DEFINITELY POP if the thermostat was malfunctioning because there are sensors on coolant temp/regulation; I guess they were wrong! Better gas mileage here I come!!!!

[djspawn00]

I just got my car back from the dealership because my car within the last 2 months has not been achieving normal operating temp; every once in a blue moon it will. During this low-temp scenario my idle has been running real high (1200rpm) as if the car is still in cold start-up mode - eating gas constantly! Now, with all this being said my car is NOT popping a code! The dealer scanned it and they say "...duhhh there's nothing wrong with it otherwise the car WILL pop a code." Then when I re-iterate the symptoms to them they say "yeah, something isn't right." They won't fix it because they say that if they start to just install parts it might not fix the problem.

****UPDATE****

After the dealership on Saturday I decided to bring my car to my local shop that I always use for general repairs. I told them the symptoms and they said it's most likely my thermostat. I told them to change it...I took a chance. It was the thermostat after all! The shop showed me the old thermostat and the seal was shot inside allowing the coolant to flow right through it! The car runs great now, my temp reaches normal and my idle is now normal as well! I am very happy...Maybe I should call up the dealership and tell them to take lessons from my local shop! LOL! Oh, one other thing...the dealer said that a code WILL DEFINITELY POP if the thermostat was malfunctioning because there are sensors on coolant temp/regulation; I guess they were wrong! Better gas mileage here I come!!!!

Glad you found the problem without having the break the bank. Yep, a bad thermostat means your car will take longer to reach its stochiometric point for optimal fuel combustion. Your MPG should be moving on up.

[BlexusGS]

MPG went up a little so far. However, I did about 80 miles of highway driving on my last tank (overall drove 270 miles) roughly 16.8 MPG! Maybe I'm just driving more local/city than everyone else because I hear of GS4xx's getting as much as 18 - 22 MPG!!!

[djspawn00]

I've been getting 16mpg... mostly highway :cries:

I'm switching gas stations....

[dhp2406]

Hey guys, great forum. I just picked up a 1998 GS 400 at a dealer in Miami and drove is back to Battle Creek, Michigan (over 1,300 miles). The car has 63,000 and runs great. During the trip home, I got 350 to 360 miles out of a tank of gas and averaged 22-23 miles per gallon. It would have been better but my average speed was well over 75 mph. There were many occasions were I was traveling over triple digits. At one point I drove for 15 hours straight, only stopping for gas. The great part is that I never got uncomfortable in the car. The seats are amazingly comfortable. I cant wait to put more miles on it.