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!