They'd have to put some serious miles on it for the code to come back... The drive cycle would take a few miles to trigger.

Now we know why it was traded in. Damn PO ;)

Not true. It could come back on within a few miles.

Lemon Law? If bought from a real dealer, I'd follow the advice above: Go to the GSM. Also it wouldn't hurt to look at any reviews they have on DealerRater.com

Another thought: In CA the seller has to smog a used vehicle within something like 30 days prior to sale. At least that's the protocol for privately-sold cars. I would imagine that used-car dealers would have to comply as well. And I don't think dealers smog test vehicles. So some other 3rd party smog check station must have done it within the past month. There must be a record of this in the documentation he received upon purchase. Your brother should be able to go back to the smog shop to do a little research on what the car was like when it was tested. If that shop is falsifying smog tests that's a big deal (i.e. lose their license) with the DMV.

This is Edgemar's brother. Thanks for your interest in this thread. The check engine light came on 1 day after purchase. My wife took it back to the dealership (we live 75 miles away) and the on-board diagnostics said the catalytic converter was bad. The dealer cleared the code, and it came back on in less than 24 hours.

I did some research and found that the computer should save the information from the first time the light comes on. If the date was prior to purchase, this Lexus dealer is going to have some splainin to do.

So, what are you going to do? Have a different Lexus dealer check the code history? If I'm not mistaken, sometimes the real problem is something different than the code that's thrown, so for example it could be an O2 sensor or something. Seems odd that a cat would be bad at 90K.

What's this about $3,500 additional to have Lexus fix it under warranty?

Actually there is a very easy way to check this prior to committing to buy. Most all of the basic OBDII code readers have the firmware programed to read "Readiness codes/status" Basically since the inception of computer controlled - drive train management there is always a self test occurring in the background. These tests are very basic pass / fail with in a certain preset parameters. You could use one of those $40.00 OBD code readers to do this as long as it has the ability to read readiness codes - most all OBD readers can do this.

When performing an OBDII smog test on any vehicle this is the first thing that the software in the testing station equipment checks for. If the readiness status is incomplete the vehicle fails immediately and that information is transmitted via the 'ol interweb and is registered with that states emissions database.

There is a short list of system readiness codes that a vehicles computer registers. Only one possible scenario exists when there is no check engine light and then the readiness codes are not set = someone cleared the fault(s) but did not address the cause.

Most often it takes 3 drive cycles for the self test to verify pass / fail. 3 drive cycles can be as little as key off and out for 15 seconds, start the veh and drive until 50MPH and torque converter locks up for at least 5 miles. Lather, rinse, repeat. Obviously if it has a manual trans it needs to be in high gear. These are the minimum requirements but known good parameters for setting the readiness monitors.

So there is no way that vehicle went through recent a smog test. Most all states where the vehicle is being sold where they have emissions testing, it has to go through the testing process prior to the dealer making the veh available for sale to the public. AND it is the dealers responsibility to do this even if the prior owner just had it done. You see why this is mandated.

The short version of what Asphalt said, (which I don't dispute):

It is possible to know if the fault codes were very recently erased by plugging in a simple scanner. What year is the vehicle?

I believe its a 2006

I thought on most cars the warranty on emissions system, including cats was 10 years/100,000 miles

I might be mistaken, but I think Fed law is 85k and Calif is 87.5k

I believe it was 8 years/85k on the 2004 Mazda MPV we had a few years back. The dealer initially refused to pay for a failed cat that was inside the warranty period, after showing them the manual they paid 100%. Worth looking into.

IOW, they paid once they saw that you knew the law. :cool:

I had to have my ECU reflashed by Audi and they wanted to charge me $150. I had 86k on the clock and they said emissions are only covered to 85k. My independent wrench told me about Calif being 87.5k. Audi America was not happy.

Fk Audi America.

Hello all. Edgemar's bro here. This Lexus has 92k on the odometer, so it's past the warranty period for the emissions system. At the time of sale, we bought an aftermarket warranty from Lexus for $2,400. Turns out that the warranty does not cover emissions, so the repair would be about $3,000. In order to get it covered, we had to upgrade to a bumper-to-bumper warranty (4 yrs/48,000) for another $2,400.

What I really want to know is whether the Lexus dealer intentionally hid the existence of the exhaust issue. I find it awfully hard to believe that the check engine light went on for the first time the day after we drove the car off the lot, and then went on again less than 24 hours after it was last cleared. If the OBD-II scanner tells me the mileage when the fault code first went on, I will know what happened.

It almost doesn't matter, and may not be able to be proved (either way) beyond a shadow of a doubt.

FIRST, tell the General Manager (not sales manager, not used car manager, not general sales manager) that you'd like to return the car for a full refund, immediately.

Let him know that you're prepared to go to the CA Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) to have the smog check reviewed and investigated.
Let him know that you're dissatisfied with the proposed resolution to purchase additional warranty to cover a pre-existing condition and that you're prepared to let the warranty company know of their illegal tactics -- it's also against their contract with the warranty company.
Let them know that you're prepared to voice your dissatisfaction to others via online reviews.
Let them know that if they do not take the vehicle back with a full refund, you will be filing a "Record of Compaint" with the CA DMV Dealer Licensing Bureau ( http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/forms/inv/inv172a.pdf )

This is a Lexus dealer, not Bubba's corner buy-here-pay-here lot. They value their reputation. If you are dissatisfied, they will typically bend over backward to make it right. Their reputation in the community is important to them.

If they don't take the vehicle back and give you 100% of your money back I'd be very, very surprised.

(disclosure, I'm a licensed dealer and I've been in the industry for 20 years)

If you don't get satisfaction from the dealer, go up the ladder.

It is not plausible that this "just happened" to occur the first day you had the car.

They didn't offer to sell you the bumper to bumper warranty after the fact did they? If so, and you have proof, they have stepped on their dik.

Thanks for responding and laying out the steps so clearly. I will send an email to the GM tonight, and update this thread as things progress.

That's exactly what they did.