rx350guy

Guess what... Just recently returned from a relatively short road trip to Palm Springs, and that dreaded sound is back again. Already made an appointment with my dealership for tomorrow morning. Lexus needs to step up to the plate and declare this issue an official 'Campaign Notice'!

David, Thanks for sharing. Your experience is not encouraging to say the least. So far, no recurrence of the issue in my car <knock on wood> but it's now right at that 18 month later mark that you describe since my original issue. Hoping this does not turn into a full blown 'campaign notice' for the 200t, but if it keeps happening at around 12-15K mile intervals it just might. And if Lexus' fix is to simply replace the part, this doesn't appear to be the long term solution. They may need a redesign of the defective part. I'll post here if my car starts exhibiting the same issue again.

As a quick update, it took 2 weeks for the backordered part to come in. I took the car back in today, and it took them about 3 hours to install the new part. No more noise!

So about a month ago at around 12,000 miles on my 2016 IS200t, I noticed an unusual noise coming from the left side of the engine. As OCD as I am, I immediately took it in to my local dealership for a quick diagnosis. Answer: 'that's a normal sound from these new turbo engines, so don't worry about it'. Okay, sounds reasonable, and after all they're the experts, right?. So I didn't think any more about it (at least for a few weeks) until it continued to bug me, and I thought, if it's a 'normal' sound, then why am I just now hearing it after 12,000+ miles on the odometer and a year's worth of driving? I started doing some research on the web, and quickly discovered that this was being reported by a few other 2016 IS200t owners at around the same mileage. One owner reported that his dealer told him it was a 'turbo regulator vacuum valve that was stuck open'. Hmmmmmm, now that doesn't sound 'normal' to me; so armed with this newly discovered information, I revisited my dealership again and received a completely different response this time. 'Oh yes, I know exactly what that is. We had another IS200t owner in here just 2 weeks ago with the exact same problem, and it's the turbo regulator vacuum valve. Let's go take a listen. Sure enough, as soon as the service adviser heard the noise, she said 'yep, that's what it is, but let's get our senior technician to officially validate the diagnosis'. After the official diagnosis, it was in fact determined to be that 'the vacuum valve for turbo regulator was stuck open'... bingo, finally nailed it down! Service adviser said that the part needed to be ordered (and it was currently backordered), so it may be as much as two weeks before the part will come in, then maybe 2-3 hours to install (all under warranty of course). The technician said that the car was okay to continue to drive in the meantime while waiting for the part to come in, I just hope it doesn't take too long for the dang part to come in. My service adviser did say that the previous owner's part still had not come in yet, and it's been more than two weeks now. And the adviser also said that 'this will likely turn into a campaign notice, as 'it is appearing to be an ongoing issue with the new IS200t engines'. Just a heads up to all you other IS200t owners that may be out there.

Fuel injection, or as it's sometimes called, induction service is a pure money grab and a rip-off. Stick to the factory recommended service in your owner's manual, nothing else and your car should run fine for a long, long time. As was mentioned, the service writer's job is to 'up-sell' service and repairs that are not necessarily needed because thay receive commissions on what they sell. That's why we almost always get that dreaded call back from the service advisor when our car is in the shop telling us that our car 'needs' X amount of additional work done for a lot more money than you planned to spend after taking it in for a routine LOF service.

You'll probably get a variety of opinions on this, but I'm on my second set of tires now. My first set were the factory delivered Goodyear Eagles and they were fine, but now I'm running Michelin Energy and I think I like them better than the Goodyears for a few reasons, including quietness, smoother ride and longer treadwear.

If you haven't already gotten your floor mats, here's a site that I've used with very good results.. http://www.lexpartsworld.com/scripts/default.asp

Oh boy, you're probably going to get a lot of different opinions on this, and here's mine. Consumer Reports rated Zymol #1 overall for all car waxes/polishes a few years ago and I've been using it ever since on my cars. It is an all natural, carnuba/bees wax formula; goes on and comes off easily, protects exceptionally well and produces a brilliant shine. What more could you ask for?! :)

Thanks I will :) Any luck finding the part?

There are lots of threads here about recommended tires, and opinions vary widely, but I just put a new set of Michelin MXVs on mine and love them..

"..sometimes nothing happens..." That's because the DBW system is "protecting the drive train". You are undoubtedly experiencing the 1-2 second re-acceleration downshift delay, SOP. May be SOP, but I agree with Satz; none-the-less, still quite annoying..

I would stick with the 18 inch wheels, but don't get the Goodyears again. I replaced my original Goodyears with Michelins a few months ago, and am loving the quiet, comfortable and smooth ride..

I added the extended warranty at time of purchase, and thankfully have not had to use it yet; but the peace of mind is worth it to me. Nearing 60k miles on my 08 RX and have not had any problems at all so far..

I'd take it back to the dealer and let them deal with it. Should be under warranty still right?

Hmmmm.. My owner's manual recommends: Toyota Genuine Motor Oil or equivalent Oil grade: ILSAC multigrade engine oil Recommended oil viscosity: SAE-5W-30 And I've never used anything else. The Toyota and Lexus dealerships where I have my vehicle serviced always use 5W-30 as well. I never knew there was any question about the correct viscosity to use..