SWheat

>>I even tried swabbing out the tube and that didn't help. It has never been my intent to go a full 15k miles between oil changes. I thought I was playing it safe at changing at half the useful life of the oil. I think there are two problems: 1.) The dipstick tube is poorly designed (read: defective). The video clearly shows my car with zero oil and a dipstick reading of full. And that is after I checked it and cleaned the stick twice. 2.) The oil pressure system (sensor, light, or whatever) is defective. The low oil pressure indicator has never come on since I've owned the car. My video shows the car running with zero oil and the warning light does not come on. I feel like an innocent man about to be sent away to prison. How will I prove this to Lexus? Will the watch my videos? Believe them? What do I tell the dealer? I'm interested to know if anyone can reproduce the false reading I got. Next time you change your oil, drain the oil and check the dipstick. Does it show oil?

If I was to think you had any affiliation I would think that it would be with Toyota or Lexus rather than a specific dealership. And that would not necessarily be a bad thing as long as you are fair. And apparently you are fair so its all good. What is not good is my poor car. I tried to drive it to home depot and I looked in the mirror and it's blowing huge clouds of smoke! I turned around immediately and drove home. I think the car is destroyed now. I don't know what to do. I don't have the money time or patience to fight with Toyota. Clearly the oil pressure sensor system and dipstick tube are defective but I don't know what it will take to convince Toyota of that. YouTube video 1 Youtube video 2

Yes it appears to be. I did a search of my name the thread did not appear. Was it deleted? No it was not deleted. I searched your name for your threads started and it popped right up with about 4 other threads. Please stop insinuating that your threads might have been deleted. It casts dispersions on the mods and makes us somewhat unhappy. Please accept my apology. As I said I did a search and the thread did not appear. What am I supposed to think? Also in my post I said "I think" it was deleted. I did another search right now and the thread still does not appear. Here is the link. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/search.php?c...p;sa=Search#999

Yes it appears to be. I did a search of my name the thread did not appear. Was it deleted?

What do you mean by bubbling? Is the chrome coming off?

A couple months ago I posted that my IS350 had run out of oil between changes and that I was running on less than a quart when I changed my oil. I also indicated that I had been checking the oil and I never had a cause for concern until I drained the car of oil and discovered I had run out. I think that post has been deleted and I will not be surprised if this post suffers the same fate. This time however, I documented my finding with two videos I am uploaded to YouTube. Since my last oil change, I’ve been anal about checking the oil. I have even been carrying two quarts of oil in my trunk should I need to add oil. I typically check the oil in the morning before I leave for work. I have never gotten anything less than a full reading, just as you see on the video I posted so I have never attempted to add oil for fear of over filling. What I did was drain my car of oil, wait about a half hour, and check the oil twice. On both occasions I cleaned the dipstick and both occasions I got a reading of full. The video on YouTube is actually the third time I checked the oil with the oil pan empty. As you can clearly see the dipstick comes out with oil above the full line. Why the dipstick gives this reading I do not know. Perhaps it rubs against the tube when it’s inserted? YouTube video 1 After draining the oil and checking it, I turned the car on for about 10 seconds with no oil in it just to see if the oil light would come on. As you can see in the video, the oil light did not come on, nor did the check engine light. Youtube video 2 Video Notes: The car is parked in my driveway in the exact spot where I drained the oil. My driveway has a slight slope, however the place where the car is parked is almost level. I jacked the car slightly on the drivers side and completely removed (and changed) the filter when draining the oil. If there is in fact any oil in the car it is a trace amount and should not give the reading the video shows. My car has no oil leaks. As you can see my driveway is concrete. You can’t see all of it but I assure you it’s clean.

Jim you are right – Longo has no obligation to me. However, with regard to the paint, I expect them to go to bat for me with Toyota. They are (at this time) unwilling or at a minimum, dragging their feet, about doing that. I expect more from them (Longo) with regard to the wheels. The company that chromed them is their vendor and they need to control the quality. When I spoke of four or five hundred bucks I was referring to the wheels. Sorry I was not clear on that. I’m still not buying any part of the notion that the condition of this car is even close to what should be considered normal. People, this is a FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLAR vehicle! It is used and stored in Southern California, one of the most MODERATE CLIMATES in the world! I owned a black Ford Escort when I was younger, I don’t recall every nick and scratch but I remember when I traded it in I was pleased with the way it looked and I drove a hard bargain for it. I also had a black Toyota Mark IV Supra (God bless it). I loved that car, drove the heck out of it, and it looked fantastic when I sold it. Not even close to what the Lexus looks like! Please refer to the above post from IS Willie.

.........I actually don't think the chipping looks bad... Sounds like the captain of the Titanic. "What iceburg??" Oh that one. There's an element of truth to what you said (except the above) but a friend of mine has a black BMW that is about four years old. It looks great compared to the Lexus and has roughly the same body style. >Try taking it to a professional detailer and have them clay, polish, and wax the vehicle. It will look a lot better. I'm sure it will. It will look like a clean polished IS350 with big nicks and scratches all over the front end. I appreciate what you suggest (and bguy688) but you have to understand that car polish is not a replacement for paint and this is a black IS350 with big, white nicks and scratches all over the front end. I spoke with the service manager at Longo Toyota and the parts manager at Longo Toyota. They were openly dismissive. The service manager at Longo Toyota told me the problem with the chrome was that I didn't polish it. While in the presence of the service manager, the parts manager at Longo Toyota told me I had put some chemical on the rims that damaged them and that the only chemicals that should come in contact with the rims are soap and water. What I heard from the both of them: "Next time, take your business to BMW and tell all your friends to do the same." In fairness to Longo Toyota they offered to let me leave the car there at Longo Toyota while the Toyota factory rep looked at the paint and the wheel vendor looked at the rims. However the service manager at Longo Toyota was very explicit that Longo Toyota would do nothing - only Toyota or the wheel vendor. So Longo Toyota may save three or four hundred bucks on paint and chrome but at Longo Toyota will loose four times that to a competitor on my next purchase. OK now here's the cool thing. I create web sites for a living. I'm not a graphic artist. I'm a programmer. My current project for one of my clients involves search engine optimization. I'm going to use Longo Toyota and Longo Lexus as a case study to hone my search engine optimization skills. I'm just getting started with this and I've got things to say about the quality of service there at Longo Toyota and Longo Lexus. I've got things to say that involve keywords like unhappy customer and poor customer service. When you type Longo Lexus or Longo Toytoa in your google search box, you are going to get a page full of opportunities to read about how Longo Toyota shot themselves in the foot to save four or five hundred bucks. Stay tuned. There's lots more to read about Longo Lexus and Longo Toyota. Longo Longo Longo Bad customer service Bad customer service Bad customer service :rolleyes:

Yeah I'm really disappointed. I have a Tacoma truck that is over ten years old, has 140k miles on it, and it looks much better than this.

I bought my IS350 on 5/31/2007 - today is 4/4/2009 so I've had it for 22 months. I paid almost 50k for this car. From the way it looks today you would think this car is 20 years old. I am really unhappy with the paint, and have been for several months. I posted about it a while back but I've been too busy to follow up. Today when I washed the car I noticed the chrome on the wheels is starting to rust off at an accelerated rate. I'm going to call the dealer and let them have a look at it. I have never had this car washed by a machine. I wash and maintain this car myself. I don't garage it but it has never been exposed to harsh weather (I live in So. Cal.). This car only has about 24k miles on it. Yes those big white dots on the pics are chips in the paint.

May want to check your brakes. I checked mine at 25k, they looked barely used! I was quite pleased, considering the conditions I drive in. Not to hijack this thread, but can anyone confirm that all you have to do to change the front pads is pull the retaining pin and compress the pistons a bit to get the new pads in? Could it be that easy? Kudos to Lexus engineers if so.

I am using 5-30. If anything saved my car it is probably the mobile 1. I used it because I rack up miles pretty quick and I dont like changing oil. I looks like I'm going to have to babysit the oil so I'll probably switch off to a synthetic blend. Full synthetic will only be used about 1/15th its useful life - why pay the extra money. I'm not going to take the car to the dealer. There is nothing they can do except confirm the obvious. They are not going to rip the engine apart, and I dont want them to anyway. I'll look around or post a thread on a different lexus board and ask about oil consumption. I tried to search for oil on this board but it beeps at me because the word is too short.

Everytime I change my oil I look at it, looking for something, but what it is I dont know. This oil was just black. I remember when I changed the oil at 1000 miles, it was just as black. I'm sure if I was a mechanic I could spot something. Honestly I did not spend a lot of time looking at the oil. The fact that there was less than a quart in there was all I needed know that something was not right. I checked the oil today after a 110 mile trip. I let the car sit for over four hours before checking it. The oil level on the dipstick is way up over the dots. I checked it a couple times, each time cleaning the dipstick but I cannot get a reading. I have noticed this before - it is very difficult to get a reading. At least I know there is oil in the car. You may be thinking there is too much oil, and that I did not drain the oil properly last time. I don't think that is the case: 1.) I changed the oil with the car on a level surface, jacked slightly on the passenger side, 2.) I changed the filter (oil cap all the way off) 3.) The oil is still clean enough that even I can tell it is new. I cleaned the dipstick with a white napkin and looked at the oil. I may take your suggestion and send off a sample. However, if I need to add a quart in 1000 miles I think I'll already have an answer. I don't think the car should use that much oil. But I'm not a mechanic and my thinking is based on my experience with other cars, not high compression cars as you say the lexus is. Do you really think it is ok if the car uses as much oil as the manual says it should? I think the manual is far enough off the mark to make me question if it is a typo. I appreciate your replies, ksJoe.

My experience has been roughly consistent with yours Jim – Except all the cars I have ever owned have burned some oil as might be expected. The lex takes seven quarts (vs. my truck which takes 4.5) so I thought if I use good oil and change it about halfway through it’s useful life it should be OK if I’m a quart low when I change it. I hardly expected the thing to be bone dry. The 1.1 qt./600 mile burn rate in the manual seems way out of line. Even though it is a max it seems completely off the map. I don’t think there is a full service station to be found anywhere in So. Cal. Seriously - I’ve not seen one in twenty years. Not that I’m actually looking for one…… when I get old I’m moving to Kansas!! :D Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately I gave the oil to the auto store where I buy oil. I am certain it was less than a quart because I poured it in the new oil bottle so I could take it back to the auto store. What you say about 15 miles is consistent with everything I've always heard about keeping oil in the car. I am amazed I have a running car right now. I am carrying two quarts in the trunk. I'll be checking the oil every couple of days. I am pretty annoyed with that. I've never had to babysit any car I've owned like that. One more thing...I wrote I drove 180 miles the day I changed the oil... I drove that distance BEFORE I added oil... The oil light never came on. Unbelievable.