My 99 ES 300 puffs out blue smoke when I start it. It doesn't do it every time, but it doesn't seem to matter whether its been sitting for a long period of time or not. The car has 89,000 miles but I've only had it for a year during which time I have maintained it properly via Lexus of Sacramento. Everything I've read leads me to believe the car has the sludge problem, so last week I took it in to the dealer to see. Well, the service writer explained that Toyota's offer to fix such problems has expired. My car was originally sold in February of 99 so it is less than eight years old, but the guy insisted the program is over. He told me the problem with my car is no doubt the valve stem seals, rather than sludge anyway, so it wouldn't matter, and that t would cost $4,200.00 to fix. (I wonder what he would have said had my husband been there.) I asked him why would the valve stem seals be bad on a motor with only 89,000 - he said due to lack of oil changes. I argued with him that sludge is caused by the same thing and why was he so sure sludge isn't the problem. So he started spewing the bit about Toyota not fixing sludge problems blah blah blah...
He suggested I have an oil consumption test done but since my car doesn't use oil, I told him I wanted the valve covers pulled. About an hour later, the service writer took me to look at the motor. The mechanic showed me there was no sign of sludge, that it looked really good and has been well taken care of. He said the valve stem seals looked good. (Compared to some of the pictures I've seen today on this site, I'd say it looked slightly varnished.) Anyway, they changed the oil and said to come back in 2,000 miles so they can check the level. Oh, and the tech said he could not detect any blue smoke on start up after numerous tries. And of course no one was paying attention when I started the car and it puffed blue smoke.
Now I'm really confused - if the car has been so well taken care of like the tech said, why would the valve stem seals be bad, as the service writer said. (He walked away before I could ask him.) Would the tech be able to say for certain that the seals are good just by pulling the valve covers? Is it possible that in about one hour's time they could have cleaned up any evidence of sludge before showing it to me? Or if the dealer from whom I bought the car cleaned up any signs of sludge under the valve covers, could a Lexus tech be fooled exactly one year later? Has anyone heard that Toyota is no longer fixing sludge problems on cars less than eight years old? How would I go about getting my oil analyzed? I'm sorry for all the questions but I'm not about to plunk down $4,200.00 until I know the car needs it. :( Thanks!!
