Problem with a mechanic. Need advise. (IS300)
 

Long story short We fixed my IS300 (daily) back in September after the head gasket had blown. As a result the mechanic changed the radiator, timing belt, redid the gasket and pistons, water pump valves ad etc. He charged us close to $3500 and Warrantied/Guaranteed all of this for 12k miles or 12 months.

Now forward to this week. Today in the morning the old lady was driving the car and there was smoke everywhere.What has happened is that coolant/water has leaked into the engine and it has blown again. The sensor was malfunctioning so there was no way for my girl to know the radiator was running empty. We took the IS300 to the machinic and he is saying that the radiator cap failed, not the radiator and that's not what he warrantied. Also since there was no way for him to know about the sensor malfunction he can't be held responsible. I told him he is the one that worked on it and as a mechanic who took the entire engine bay down it is his responsibility. This sound extremely fucked up to me. I see that he is trying to dodge bullets and go back on his word and the written and signed warranty.

I have not involved any legal advise yet because i'm trying to talk reason to him again before the end of the week and I would appreciate you guys' input.

:)

how empty was it? like bone dry empty or almost empty? what is the oil like? if the car has been losing coolant slowly then the oil would show signs of being burnt from hot spots in the cooling system formed from air bubbles.

Also if the radiator cap failed then wouldn't there have been a smell? also if the radiator cap failed, wouldn't that be failure of a part he installed then should be covered under warranty?

ALSO, if the radiator was faulty then wouldn't the overflow tank bleed pressure and pour coolant everywhere every time you turned off the car...

There are zero burnt spots. The radiator is apparently dry and the sensor has failed to indicate that. Since he fixed the car the car has been burning oil like crazy.

I told him that I was with her in the car 2-3 days prior to the issue and there was no smell. He is also saying that the Cap was not part of radiator. He only changed the radiator and not the cap which is stupid.


Thank you. Another point that I brought up. We're picking up the car from him today to take it to the Lexus dealer for a diagnostics to get a better idea of what exactly happened.

i meant that the oil would be much darker at your mileage than normal.


how is the cap not part of the radiator? I don't even...

Also what caused the gasket to fail the first time? and was all parts replaced with OEM or equivalent?

ask them if there are any service bulletins on the cooling system of your specific car, if he did not repair all items that should have been replaced after a head gasket blows as per lexus says... then you may have leverage to use against your mechanic... I don't know what you can do legally in your situation so take anything i say with a grain of salt...

also i have no idea what kind of paperwork you signed at your mechanic's shop... some shops and even big chains have loopholes in their paperwork that fucks the customer so all i can say is best of luck :)

EDIT: also excuse my terrible grammar, I'm a math major and a gear head trying to learn my 3rd language.... so yeah grammar naturally gets a little messed up...

Get a lawyer to send him a letter with a legal threat, and if he doesn't respond sue him and include your legal fees in the settlement.

Just looking at paying your legal fees when he knows he's wrong will get him in line.

Actually it goes the other way around: Head gasket blows again (or leaks) and water enters the engine.

If the head gasket blowing caused the failure it is his fault period.

If the head gasket blew because the engine overheated due to a bad radiator cap, then.....?

Why was the "sensor" malfunctioning?
If you can show WHY the sensor did not warn you, I am betting he hooked it back up wrong.