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I recently purchased a 2013 Lexus RX450H and when it came time to do the 5,000 mile service, a leak was detected of the oil from the oil pan. Further investigation revealed that at the factory there is a seal applied to the oil pan and in our car's case, the seal was not completed all the way around the pan. The repair to this was to instead use a gasket to seal the oil pan.

My concern is that the original factor seal was defective and that potentially using a gasket instead may provide a seal that is inferior to the normal factor seal were it properly applied. Is my concern valid? Does using a gasket to seal the oil pan provide an inferior solution to the factory seal method that is likely to fail sooner? Should I require Lexus to warrant the gasket to last as long as the original factor seal would last? Is this a common problem? Should I be concerned?

WilliamKF
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Was the factory solution not using a gasket?

A gasket is usually better than the Room Temperature Vulcanizing (RTV) sealing method since RTV is really messy and hard to clean off during maintenance and is harder to apply which may lead to failure as you have seen.

There should be no need to warranty the gasket. If it becomes an issue again it should still be under your vehicle warranty.

WilliamKF
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Mike Saull
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