IS250 piston recall causing head gasket to leak

[Fishergirlsd]

Hi

New to the forum and apologies if I'm posting in the wrong area.

I was having some "shimmying" with my '08 IS 250 3 years ago. Took it to Lexus and they did the piston rebuild that was a recall at the time. All was fine for the next 2 3/4 years. Then took it in for a battery replacement and oil change. My service guy called and told me I had oil leaking for my oil pan top & bottom, and the ad news is it's also leaking from my head gasket. It would be a 30 hour replair and cost $4.5K with a 1 year warranty.

I drive this car 16 miles round trip to work each day- no major road trips in the time since my recall. The car has 96K miles on it- 22k since the piston recall. 

At this time I've got it at a shop, that employees an ex Lexus mechanic, for a second opinion. 

I am furious over the quality of the repair work I got on the recall and feel that this is all intentional by Lexus to recoup money lost on the piston rebuild.

Do I have any recourse? Is there anyone else out there with this issue?

All responses would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[lenore]

That is ridiculous, obviously the job was done poorly.  Only reason you would have a failure is if you had an overheating condition.  I would contact Lexus of America and see what they say.

[Lexus_DK]

Does the vehicle currently have a misfire? You should ask the dealership or the shop/ex-Lexus tech for a health check report and data list showing signs of any indications of cylinder misfire. They can do this with a Techstream software. The piston recall was a fix for the carbon build and misfire due to the poor engine design. Besides that, does your exhaust emit any white smoke? Usually, you can tell when you have a blown head gasket. Have the local shop you are at perform a block test, then have them inspect for the oil leak. Maybe it's just leaking oil from the valve cover gasket, oil pan or dip stick o-ring.

[Jeff_Anderson]

You can have oil leaking from the head gasket without any white smoke (steam) coming from the exhaust. The steam is caused by coolant entering the cylinders, being heated by the combustion and sent out the exhaust as steam. Your Service advisor described a leaking oil pan and an oil leak at the head gasket which is possible. However it is more likely based on my expiencing that it is the timing chain cover that is leaking and running on to the head gasket. It may be possible to reseal the timing cover without removing the engine so it would be considerably cheaper.

 First step I would say go get a second opinion on the source of the leak, second contact Lexus America with your woes and see if they will do anything for you