Hi,

My 2007 ES 350 has just hit 120K miles. I bought 3 years ago with 85K miles and it was a 1-owner in great condition. I absolutely love the car.

I went to the local Lexus dealership and made an appointment for maintenance including a tune up. I am a little shocked by the price tag of over $1000. This includes:

Oil Change
Tire Rotation
Brake Flush
Tune Up
Engine Air and Cabin Filters

Does that seem correct and is it recommended to perform all those actions?

​​​​​​​Thanks

 

Oil Change: about $50
Tire Rotation: $10 at walmart if you don't get it free at the place you bought your tires
Brake Flush: less than $20 doing myself so i guess you can get it done for about $50. if you are not DIYer, just check your local craigslist for mobile mechanic. it is an easy job.
Engine Air: $10 plus and Cabin Filters: $10 plus
Tune Up: what you doing above are part of tune up.
Others thing are changing radiator fluid, and power steering fluid.
Our cars are 10 years or more value range from $6000-$9000, i just can't pay $1000 for maintenance.

 

Spark plugs on an ES350 require a few hours of work as you have to remove the intake plenum. So you're looking at about 500 or so just for 6 iridium plugs and 3 or more hours in labor. Plus the other services, that is a pretty close estimate.

 

Sorry $500 for just the 6 plugs and then labor so the plugs are $85 each?

 

I was just giving a really rough estimate. The plugs are usually about $15 a piece. At an average of 3 hours x $120 (guessing on Lexus average rate), plus cost of plugs, roughly $450.

 

 

First check what the maintenance recommendation is for that mileage. Then check what OEM parts cost . Then comes the labor along with the labor rate. I suspect most shops are between $75 -$120 per hour. You are most likely looking at a 6 hour labor time so do the math. Disregard anyone who doesn't include their labor time/rate as it does not reflect real world. Also you usually fine that DIY people take longer to get the job done while dealers earn their money by volume. As an example uses your job hourly rate plus the cost of space in your house. So my est would be anywhere from $800 - $1000 for the service.

 

 

 

The reason behind the brake flush is to remove contaminates (water) from the brake system. This should be done at least every 3 years depending on your environment. Mileage can play into it but time is the killer. Once again it is all in the labor hours as the cost of the fluid isn't that great.

 

To add to jagtoes, contamination is the #1 reason to change out all fluids periodically. Another is breakdown of the fluid's additives package.

Motor oil: 5K-15K, depending on dino vs. full synthetic
Transmission fluid: drain/refill every 30K-50K, or full flush every 60K-100K.
Coolant: 80K-120K.
Brake fluid: 30K-50K.
Power Steering: 30K-90K.

There is no such thing as lifetime fluid. At a minimum all fluids become contaminated as the internal parts wear down; almost all fluids run through rubber or silicon hoses, which breakdown from the inside as well as the outside. Heat is also a killer of fluids. If you overheat your engine, you should always replace all the affected fluids. Motor oil and coolant if you over heat your engine. ATF if you tow and/or drive in hot weather. City driving also wears down fluids quicker; change them more often if your driving is mostly city driving.

BTW, you don't have to use Toyota to do the 100K service. Shop around; I'm sure you'll find better rated auto shops that can do the service at a better price.

 

 

$1,000 for all of these service sounds about right for what a Lexus dealership charges. The question is whether or not it is worth it to have Lexus do it at $140 an hour rate when most of these are easy DIY maintenance items.

Oil change, air filter change, you can probably do it at home in under less than 30 minutes without any special tools. Tire rotation, you can probably go to Walmart or Costco and have them do it for free if you purchase tire there.

That leaves the brake flush and the tune-up. At 120k you should probably have those done, but I recommend an independent mechanic or even the Toyota dealership for maybe $300-500 and save yourself a couple of hundred.

 

an special ortho back support piece but cannot use it here with ventilation