A Tale of service, wipers, tyres, wheel alignment and aircon.

[johnatg]

As I've had my 2014 GS300h for just a year now, I thought it was time to get a 6 year/'60000 mile' service at Lexus Stockport last week.

This is the first time that I've had a car of my own serviced at a garage for the last 50-odd years, apart from first services for the odd new car. But I've decided that I'll get my GS serviced professionally for a few years at least.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with Lexus Stockport - eagle-eyed mechanic spotted a tiny split in a wiper blade and an object in a rear tyre, both of which had probably been missed at the MoT (local garage) a couple of weeks before.

The car has actually done 41K miles, so I asked for an 'Essentials Major' service (with nothing to be added without consultation). (£415) The only real difference between that and a full-on Major Service is changing the spark plugs. They did recommend that (I suppose Lexus tell them to push it) but the fact is that the plugs in that engine do not need changing at 41K - they just don't - they are good for 60K plus at least. That saved £250 more or less - a set of plugs (4) can be had for about £60 and changing them on the 300h is a doddle compared with a 450h - I'll do them myself around 60K. They wrote 'No plugs' in the service book.

Wipers - the original wipers are Denso and I've deduced that the blades are Denso DUR-065R and DUR-045R. By ordering those codes you can save a few quid compared with buying Lexus ones and they are identical (with some minor design changes since 2014). They are fitted to several different cars. If buying, make sure you get the genuine Denso ones - a search brings up many 'equivalents', not all of them even hybrid - once Denso had the hybrid thing all to themselves but now several other manufacturers make them - eg Valeo and Heyner. You don't save much in the grand scheme of things by shopping around, but hey, you've beaten the system! A pair of blades are available on Lexuspartsdirect - bizarrely a pair are cheaper than the drivers side alone, but postage brings them up to more than I paid on eBay.

There was a metal object in a rear tyre fairly close to the inside edge (see pic) - the mechanic reported that the tyre was punctured and the object could not be removed without losing air and it could not be repaired (too close to the edge) - tyre condemned. But when I got home I thought I might as well see what happens so I pulled it out - surprisingly easily. Turns out it was a horrible inch or so long metal spike - looked like part of a tool (screw extractor ?) or something - anyway it was in crossways across the tread and no deeper than the tread depth. So A OK - no air lost, the tyre appears to be OK -it's a nearly new Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 5. I did put the specified dose of PunctureSafe in it before extracting the spike - that is a gel you put in the tyre before any punctures occur - it is permanent and works well, and it can be used after a puncture, preferably putting it in before extracting the nail or whatever. It will ameliorate the effects if the tyre fails in the future. It's not a 'get-you-to-a-garage' type of gel.

Advisories on the front tyres - they're pretty evenly worn but down to 3.5-4.0mm. One is original. I'll just keep an eye on them until they are 3.0mm or so.

Despite that the 'quick check' wheel alignment showed the front toe was off the scale out of spec and the camber (on the original tyre wheel) was way too negative. So I booked in at Blink Motorsport in Winsford - they operate a 'latest and greatest Hunter Hawkeye Elite TD wheel aligner' (according to their website). The place is a bit chaotic and laid back, but they seemed to do a good job. Report and specs below. If you're in the Cheshire area and need a wheel alignment you could seek them out.

Aircon - service recommended - so I had the system regassed at my local garage. I hadn't noticed any problem but it was about 120gm down (out of 570 +/- 50 gms spec) so worth doing.

Passed the hybrid health check of course.

Busy and expensive week but now everything is tickety-boo.

Do most of you get your GS serviced by Lexus? Do you get them to fix any issues or take the car away, make your own decisions and diy or go to a specialist instead?

Apologies for the long post, but hope it's of interest to someone!

[ColinBarber]

Good the see the wheel alignment was checked. Both Guildford and Reading just look at the wear on the tyres and consider that good enough 

[LexIS200Sport]

2 hours ago, johnatg said:

Do most of you get your GS serviced by Lexus? Do you get them to fix any issues or take the car away, make your own decisions and diy or go to a specialist instead?

Generally... yes. Pretty much drop it off at Lexus, tell the service advisor to do everything that needs doing, and drive off with the courtesy car. Rinse, repeat every 10k miles. Been doing this since 2011 (formerly with my IS200). Fortunately, the service advisor is a good friend of mine and fellow petrol head  🙂

Few exceptions of course - like the aftermarket exhaust and wheel alignment from an independent garage. Any spare time that I have for car DIY is either spent on cleaning and "detailing" or tinkering with my Datsuns.

[westo3]

I am about to book a service at my local Lexus dealer in France .It will be interesting to see how they compare. Thanks for the heads up re the  spark plugs John as my car has only done 32K miles and is due for a full service so I have asked them not to bother replacing them. Whether that will happen or not will depend on whether they choose to ignore my poor French!

 I have been trying to persuade them to extend my Lexus extended warranty which runs out  in a couple of months in England and is probably not valid in Europe anyway. Unfortunately in France (according to this garage) the extended warranty has to be  t applied for before the manufacturers warranty expires ie 3 years so not as generous as in  the UK. I have asked them to honour my extended warranty in principle and renew it with a European one. The car will only be 4 years old in January so it is low risk high profit for them. But as the French (in my experience)  do  not seem interested in making a profit I won't hold my breath

[royoftherovers]

My Extended Warranty covers Europe, Nick, Does yours?

[Ala Larj]

I need to book my 3014 GS300h in for a service. Am toying with going for the essential service but the cynic in me thinks they'll find something wrong to increase the cost to the normal service! What are people's thoughts about the essential service?

[royoftherovers]

11 hours ago, Ala Larj said:

I need to book my 3014 GS300h in for a service. Am toying with going for the essential service but the cynic in me thinks they'll find something wrong to increase the cost to the normal service! What are people's thoughts about the essential service?

Hi Alan.

I think that Essential Service is a good choice for older vehicles, as yours now is.

Your upcoming service is 60,000 miles I think, so that`s biggish and the costs is on the Lexus website.

I think that a Lexus DEALERSHIP will disclose a problem, if indeed, one exists, regardless of whichever you choose and they will identify and show it to you.You then have a choice--have it done or not. At Lexus or an Indie you can trust.

I have all of mine done at Lexus Chester--a small dealership and not part of a Group.--and they have never tried to tell me that something is wrong.And besides I have the cover of the Extended Warranty for the cost of the equivalent of £45 per month.

Perhaps you should choose that now before your next service ?  Good luck. 

[Pidu]

So I booked in at Blink Motorsport in Winsford - they operate a 'latest and greatest Hunter Hawkeye Elite TD wheel aligner' (according to their website). The place is a bit chaotic and laid back, but they seemed to do a good job. Report and specs below. If you're in the Cheshire area and need a wheel alignment you could seek them out.

Would you mind sharing how much did they charge you for wheel alignment?

[Linas.P]

On 10/13/2020 at 12:27 PM, johnatg said:

They wrote 'No plugs' in the service book.

Despite that the 'quick check' wheel alignment showed the front toe was off the scale out of spec and the camber (on the original tyre wheel) was way too negative. 

Aircon - service recommended - so I had the system regassed at my local garage. I hadn't noticed any problem but it was about 120gm down (out of 570 +/- 50 gms spec) so worth doing.

This "no-plugs" made me laugh so hard - this was German level of precision. But hey I guess it is fair!

I tend no to do wheel alignment when tyres are soon to be replaced. I mean sure if you have very long lasting tyres and they still have 7mm, it is worth doing it to preserve tyres and prolong the lifetime. But if you planning to replace tyres 1-0.5mm later then why not to do it when you fit new "square" tyres?

I was as well surprised that Lexus did alignment check, neither Lexus Woodford or Southend does it either. I must raise it next time because it clearly says in the schedule - "4-wheel alignment check - extra charge for adjustment". Yet I have never seen it in my inspection report!

Finally, don't undermine need for aircon service - good you decided to do it, the coolant is less of your issue, but if it runs low on oil then your A/C pump may grenade itself. I did that mistake once and it nearly costed me £900 - me being frugal I managed for £310. Although, talking about frugal wiper blade rubbers takes the crown! 😄

[johnatg]

9 hours ago, Pidu said:

Would you mind sharing how much did they charge you for wheel alignment?

£60 (including VAT). They charge £30 for putting it on the Hunter machine and initial check, then an hourly rate for adjusting it. Took them about half an hour.

Their main business is preparing sports racing cars - MX-5s, Elises, Westfields, etc. Their workshop was full of MX-5s (and an RX-7). I'll be taking my MX-5 there after I've rebushed the suspension over the winter.

Incidentally, the Hunter machine doesn't use lasers - it has precision digital cameras which work in conjunction with the wheel adapters which you can see in the pics on the Wheel Alignment page of their web site. https://www.blinkmotorsport.com/blink-motorsport/wheel-alignment/

 

9 hours ago, Linas.P said:

This "no-plugs" made me laugh so hard - this was German level of precision. But hey I guess it is fair!

I tend no to do wheel alignment when tyres are soon to be replaced. I mean sure if you have very long lasting tyres and they still have 7mm, it is worth doing it to preserve tyres and prolong the lifetime. But if you planning to replace tyres 1-0.5mm later then why not to do it when you fit new "square" tyres?

I was as well surprised that Lexus did alignment check, neither Lexus Woodford or Southend does it either. I must raise it next time because it clearly says in the schedule - "4-wheel alignment check - extra charge for adjustment". Yet I have never seen it in my inspection report!

Finally, don't undermine need for aircon service - good you decided to do it, the coolant is less of your issue, but if it runs low on oil then your A/C pump may grenade itself. I did that mistake once and it nearly costed me £900 - me being frugal I managed for £310. Although, talking about frugal wiper blade rubbers takes the crown! 😄

Lexus Stockport gave me an alignment print-out - similar to the one I posted from Blink Motorsport (but only the before bit) - as well as ticking the box on the service report.

 

[steve2006]

On 10/14/2020 at 11:01 AM, westo3 said:

I am about to book a service at my local Lexus dealer in France .It will be interesting to see how they compare. Thanks for the heads up re the  spark plugs John as my car has only done 32K miles and is due for a full service so I have asked them not to bother replacing them. Whether that will happen or not will depend on whether they choose to ignore my poor French!

 I have been trying to persuade them to extend my Lexus extended warranty which runs out  in a couple of months in England and is probably not valid in Europe anyway. Unfortunately in France (according to this garage) the extended warranty has to be  t applied for before the manufacturers warranty expires ie 3 years so not as generous as in  the UK. I have asked them to honour my extended warranty in principle and renew it with a European one. The car will only be 4 years old in January so it is low risk high profit for them. But as the French (in my experience)  do  not seem interested in making a profit I won't hold my breath

Je n’ai pas besoin les plugs de sparking merci and perhaps some hand gestures 😀

[westo3]

Would need a lot of hand gestures have since found out spark plugs are  called “boogies” which literally translated means candles!!

1 hour ago, steve2006 said:

Je n’ai pas besoin les plugs de sparking merci and perhaps some hand gestures 😀