NHTSA Complaint #10542028 — 2008 LEXUS IS 250

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 I EXPERIENCED MY FIRST MISFIRE ISSUE WITH MY 2008 LEXUS IS 250. AS I ACCELERATED TO APPROX 65 MPH TO ENTIRE A BUSY HIGHWAY ON RAMP, I LOST ALL ACCELERATION IN MY VEHICLE. AS THIS HAPPENED, I HAD THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT FLASHING, MY CHECK VSC INDICATOR DISPLAYING, AND MY TRACTION CONTROL LIGHT ILLUMINATING. I CALLED LEXUS, THEY ADVISED THAT THE CAR NEEDED BE TOWED IN AND THE BEGAN TO RUN THE CODES THAT WERE TRIPPED. IT WAS DETERMINED THAT I HAD EXTREME CARBON BUILD UP IN THE ENGINE, WHICH WAS CAUSING MY ENGINE TO MISFIRE. THEY DID THE "CLEANING REPAIR" WHICH INVOLVED TAKING THE ENGINE APART, AND SENDING A BUNCH OF PARTS TO A MACHINE SHOP WHERE THEY CLEANED THE HEADS & PISTONS. IN TOTAL, I WAS WITHOUT MY CAR FOR OVER A MONTH! FAST FORWARD TO SEPTEMBER 3, 2013. I NOW HAVE 73,000 MILES ON MY CAR, AND THE SAME THING HAPPENED AGAIN THIS EVENING AS I WAS ACCELERATING TO APPROX 40 MPH. THIS TIME I WAS ON A BUSY 5 LANE ROAD, AND LOST ALL ACCELERATION AND HAD TO ESSENTIALLY "COAST" ACROSS 5 LANES OF RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC TO GET TO SAFETY ON THE SHOULDER OF THE ROAD. I IMMEDIATELY CALLED LEXUS, AND ONCE AGAIN THEY ADVISED ME THAT MY CAR NEEDED TO BE TOWED IN. TODAY MY SERVICE ADVISOR CONTACTED ME TO INFORM ME THAT ONCE AGAIN I HAVE CARBON BUILD UP IN MY ENGINE AND THAT IT IS MISFIRING. UNFORTUNATELY NOW, MY CAR IS BEYOND THE 70,000 MILE DRIVE TRAIN WARRANTY. HE IS WORKING WITH CORPORATE TO SEE WHAT MY NEXT STEPS ARE, BUT I REFUSE TO PAY FOR THESE REPAIRS, AND I DO NOT FEEL THAT I SHOULD HAVE TO SINCE IT IS ESSENTIALLY A REPEAT MALFUNCTION OF AN EXISTING ISSUE! IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT MY IS HAS BEEN INTO THE DEALERSHIP 3X FOR ENGINE NOISE/ROUGH START UP SINCE I HAD THE REPAIRS COMPLETED LAST YEAR. EVERY TIME, I WAS TOLD THAT THEY LOGGED THE ISSUE, BUT WERE UNABLE TO REPLICATE IT. *JB