Did Leeds Lexus change my £87 air filters???

Tom999 · September 11

Hi all.

So I found a fair amount of sand under the bonnet on my newly acquired LC500.

Took all the plastic covers off and thought I'd check the air filters.

This car's just had an £800 major service done and ive driven it 200 miles since.

Not actually seen a brand new filter before but look at the state of these!! (pics attached), the debris goes right to the depth of the filters and they're clearly grey now.

Can folk please confirm the elements shouldn't be ' two tone' before I call the garage!!

Thanks all.

Tom.

Tom999 · September 11

peniole · September 11

The paper part should be pearly white, those sir have not been replaced. Unless those 200 miles were though a dust storm driving at 1mph and it took you several hours, or those 200 miles were done say over a year, then Tear them a new one!

Spock66 · September 11

1 hour ago, Tom999 said:

This car's just had an £800 major service done and ive driven it 200 miles since.

Bear in mind they are not replaced at every service, are the parts listed on the invoice?

ColinBarber · September 11

1 hour ago, peniole said:

The paper part should be pearly white, those sir have not been replaced

Not on the LC it isn't because the filter incorporates a fibre layer on the paper filter surface to improve cleaning performance.

Those filters don't look dirty enough to have needed changing at a recent service unless it was at the replacement interval, although the service should have inspected them and ideally blew out any dirt.

ColinBarber · September 11

1 hour ago, Tom999 said:

Can folk please confirm the elements shouldn't be ' two tone' before I call the garage!!

They should be two tone.

Check your schedule in your service book. I suspect the filters should be changed every 4 years, not at every major service.

Tom999 · September 11

Just to clarify they are shown on the invoice £87.

See the clean border and the rest of the filter greyish!

I though all new filters were uniform material throughout.

Nope no dust storms, just a trip from sales up the motorway home then a 40 mile round trip to a car show 😇.

ColinBarber · September 11

2 minutes ago, Tom999 said:

See the clean border and the rest of the filter greyish!

I though all new filters were uniform material throughout.

a fine fiber layer is added on the paper filter surface of the air cleaner element to improve cleaning performance.

Tom999 · September 11

You've saved me from eating humble pie I think 🤣...

Malc1 · September 11

Looks pretty grubby to me tbh ….. can you look on line at a brand new one maybe just to check ?

Malc

RONNIE W HODGEKINSON · September 11

40 minutes ago, Tom999 said:

You've saved me from eating humble pie I think 🤣...

I Must Admit Tom I Too Would have been Questioning The Dealership as They look as if they had never been replaced and were the original Filters..... I Have put New filters in other Cars and They have always been Pearly White.... Just goes to show !!!! Cheers

Tom999 · September 11

Ok, update and I'm not Impressed with Lexus servicing.

So this car went in with 39,000 on the clock. (6 years)

A Lexus service spreadsheet I found shows that the filters should be changed at 40,000 miles !

I spoke to the general manager at the Leeds garage, he stated that filters aren't on the list! I put it to him that for £700 the mechanic should at least bang out all the debris (including the same sand I found under the bonnet).

No wonder owners get ripped off by main dealers, what mechanic doing a major service, even interim wouldn't even look at the air filters?

The filter for £87 was the air con filter.

If it wasn't for the Lexus warranty I would never use a main dealer.

Back to knocking all the sand out............

ColinBarber · September 11

I suspect the original filters were replaced at 4 years? So they would now be due to be replaced at the next major service in 20k/2 years time.

They should inspect the filters at each service, just in case you have been in a dusty environment and they need changing early - and yes I would expect the to bang them out (ideally reverse blow them with an air line).

Tom999 · September 11

Seriously, I just laid these on the bench.

700 quid service 😡

Malc1 · September 11

it's quite disgraceful and damnably lazy and if that was my indy servicing my car he'd be up for a rocket somewhere

Lexus Main Stealer eh !

Malc

RONNIE W HODGEKINSON · September 11

25 minutes ago, Tom999 said:

Seriously, I just laid these on the bench.

700 quid service 😡

Absolutely Aweful...These should have been checked and CLEANED...Bring This to the Attention of the Head Mechanic Or The Dealership Principal...See What they have to Say..!!!

Steve · September 11

its gets to the point now where i start stripping filters off before i drive off. I have seen filters on 3 occasions with wasps and leaves and send the car straight back.

One never put the oil filter on properly and half the oil ****** everywhere over the course of 50 miles, good job i spotted it, they blamed a faulty oil filter.. yeah right

And then i have one where they were inspecting the oil and drips of oil all over the front of the car and again dirty air filter. Made them come out and pick up the car and sort it.

Miss the days when we used to have dealer reviews. maybe something we should resurrect

beyond the blue · September 11

2 hours ago, Tom999 said:

A Lexus service spreadsheet I found shows that the filters should be changed at 40,000 miles !

Is this 40,000 miles or 4 years? I have done 8,000 in 3 years from new, if it's 40k then my car will be around 13 years old before reaching 40k miles. I signed up for a 6 year service package with Lexus.

The-Acre · September 11

Worth a mention that carbon filters are not white but two tone as you say, white and grey, the carbon filters are more expensive. Apart from that, I certainly wouldn't expect that amount of particle/dust in 200 miles.

HPS13 · September 11

2 hours ago, Tom999 said:

The filter for £87 was the air con filter.

The clue is in the filter 'con'. £87 for a filter that costs Lexus a few £ and takes 5 minutes to change . . . . not exactly value for money. Held to ransom to maintain the warranty.

Changing air filters only at 4 years on a high performance car doesn't exactly sound right but Lexus in their wisdom deem this to be acceptable. Seeing as how air filters are relatively inexpensive to buy, I would replace them myself after 2 years.

Tom999 · September 11

This was the 6 year service. I can't believe they didn't follow the 40,000 mile instructions when the car was showing 39,800 🙄.

The dealership manager told me the mechanics only do what's on the schedule, he was implying they don't even have to clean the filters!

Google and trust pilot reviews are the only recourse.

Good news is the engine bay looks mint, had to treat and spray a couple of corroded bits. Not sure what these are but bolted on the front face of the two cylinder heads is an electronic unit, galvanised looking with a multi-plug on each, left one very corroded so rubbed down n sprayed back to silver.

ColinBarber · September 11

3 hours ago, Malc1 said:

it's quite disgraceful and damnably lazy and if that was my indy servicing my car he'd be up for a rocket somewhere

Lexus Main Stealer eh !

Malc

It's not disgraceful if they weren't scheduled for replacement!

ColinBarber · September 11

4 minutes ago, Tom999 said:

This was the 6 year service. I can't believe they didn't follow the 40,000 mile instructions when the car was showing 39,800 🙄.

The service interval is 4 years OR 40,000 miles, whichever occurs first. They would have been changed at 4 years, so these current ones are now 2 years old - 2 years to go.

Tom999 · September 11

You do have a point Colin but 200 miles! Not sure I understand the 4 year interval, the cars serviced yearly.

VFR · September 11

4 hours ago, Tom999 said:

Ok, update and I'm not Impressed with Lexus servicing.

So this car went in with 39,000 on the clock. (6 years)

A Lexus service spreadsheet I found shows that the filters should be changed at 40,000 miles !

I spoke to the general manager at the Leeds garage, he stated that filters aren't on the list! I put it to him that for £700 the mechanic should at least bang out all the debris (including the same sand I found under the bonnet).

No wonder owners get ripped off by main dealers, what mechanic doing a major service, even interim wouldn't even look at the air filters?

The filter for £87 was the air con filter.

If it wasn't for the Lexus warranty I would never use a main dealer.

Back to knocking all the sand out............

Yes you are on point Sir, if it “was not” for the warranty they could do one as £87 for the cabin filter is taking the ***** (as all main dealers of “any” marque do)

I am about to have my last (10 years) service done at Snows of Exeter (who gave me first rate service last time) I will mull over what are the chances of anything going wrong should I kick this system into touch or take the over 10 years extra per year cost (over the service cost on top) to run for the next year up to year 15 ?