Quick update on my situation, dealership was amazing, saw my photo of soot round cylinder 8 flange which gave some indication of a potential crack, however, needed to strip it down to confirm (at my cost of no crack found) l.
I have an extended warranty so if it was indeed cracked all costs would be covered. Upon inspection it was confirmed it was cracked, and proceeded to get warranty involved.
my service advisor was great, they initially declined it due to light corrosion in the joint where it connects to Mid pipe, But that wasn’t where the fault was, so they accepted the crack as the fault (which it was) and Honoured replacement.
managed to get both manifolds Replaced as the Dealership Argued that it one side Has cracked the other may well crack soon, and whilst it’s stripped, would be daft not to do it, so that was accepted.
Few days later, all replaced, and sounding great again on cold starts. Ticking gone!
Can’t thank Shaun at Lexus Edinburgh enough for his negotiations with warranty company.
quick video attached with before and after.
So glad I took the warranty @ 2 years for 1, certainly saved me £3700! Phew 😅
Video below ... Ignore my commentary haha
IMG_0922.MOV