I took my #Lexus #LS500 to the local Lexus dealership recently to address some minor issues. I had five concerns for them, which included a slight coolant smell that I noticed sometimes after getting out of the car. I also noticed that the coolant level in the reservoir dropped over time.
Second, the car was not sitting level when I looked at it from the rear. I had measured the rear height from side to side a few times, one time it was out by 6mm, and the other time it was out by 20mm.
Third, the steering wheel was not aligned, it’s slightly to the right; I was told that the only way to fix that is with an alignment;
I also inquired about the slight squeak noise from the firewall when I press the brake pedal hard.
And lastly, I wanted new wiper blades installed.
I showed up at the appointment time and they gave me a loaner car which was a 2019 Lexus ES350, it was also pearl white but had black interior. I kind of liked that I got the ES as a loaner because I’ve sat in one before but didn’t really check it out all that closely.
So, regarding the coolant smell & loss, the tech could not find any leaks so that was that. I suspect he may have pressure tested the system but I do not know for sure. I had topped up the coolant a week prior so it wasn’t low by the time I brought the car in.
Second, he found a bulletin regarding the air suspension lean so he ran through the procedure to reset things. There was some kind of an error on the last step of the procedure so he asked me to measure the car I got home. The technician told me that official spec says it can be out by 10mm from side to side and that is fine. When I got home I measured the car’s height at all four wheelwells and the front was out by 1 mm side to side and the rear was 6mm side to side so that issue is resolved.
As for the steering wheel being slightly out of alignment, they did not do an alignment because the air suspension issue may have been affecting that. In fact the steering wheel was a little better after this adjustment. The steering wheel is just a very slight bit off center but I can live with it now.
Regarding the brake squeak noise, I was told that’s normal because basically the system increases the brake pressure when you press the pedal down harder, I believe to prep for an emergency stop. When the pressure goes up the actuator makes that noise.
And lastly, they were out of stock on wiper blades.
So overall my first dealer service visit was a little bit hit and miss. I discovered later in the day a few dirt marks on the headliner of my car that weren’t there before, they must have been caused by a tech at the dealership.
Long story short I got an email from the service manager apologizing for those marks and that they would clean that up when I bring the car back. I then setup a followup appointment for the headliner cleaning and wiper blade replacement.
So I think it was the next day or day after that, I was out for a drive around the city for nearly an hour, for the most part just gentle cruising. Then I decided to go to the highway and floor it. Well to my surprise I saw a cloud of white smoke coming out the exhaust when I did that. The car was warmed up obviously and the temperature was nearly 20 Celsius so the first thing that came to my mind was “oh no, the coolant is being burned internally, probably by the turbos”.
So I setup the GoPro on the rear window of the car the next day and went for a short drive, and then some spirited full throttle accelerations. As you can see in this footage there is white smoke coming out of the exhaust when the car is under boost and wide open throttle.
I let the dealership know of this and waited until my service appointment.
So the next time I dropped the car off again, I got a loaner right away, this time a Lexus UX250h which is a compact crossover hybrid. Let me tell you it reminded me so much of the Priuses I used to drive. I like that the gas engine shuts off on a regular basis while stopped, that makes so much sense.
I told the service advisor that I had a video of the white smoke out the exhaust but he said they didn’t need it.
So a few hours later they called me and I picked up my car. They cleaned the headliner, replaced the wiper blades, and checked the coolant situation again. They said there are no signs of coolant accumulation in the exhaust or other signs of leaks. They also road tested the vehicle and were not able to duplicate the concern so that is that for now.
I’m going to continue to monitor the coolant situation. I had topped up the coolant twice since buying the car so as it stands right now, I guess I just need to wait until the coolant reservoir bottle is bone dry and then ask for service.
I called the dealership back the day after the second service to correct my street name and ask some maintenance questions. They answered the phone on the second ring, answered all my questions and I was satisfied.