geoff

Took my wife's car ('93 GS300) in for service at the Lexus dealer Saturday, and was told the car needed rear brakes, 2 motor mounts and lower ball joints. The service advisor didn't know how long brakes lasted, how many motor mounts the car has, and if these were the same ball joints covered by the Lexus recall in '95. The car has been serviced at the same dealer since we bought it new in '93.

Besides switching dealers, any suggestions on replacing motor mounts (replace just the 2 broken ones or all at the same time?), and if the original rear brakes have lasted 130K miles and are down to 30%, should I rush to redo them or just wait? How long do brakes typically last?

Wald GS

iTrader: (1)

I cannot answer all your questions, but will answer the ones I know.
75-80% of your braking is done with the front brakes. How many times have you replaced the front?
In your case, you have 30% left in the rear.

My reccomendation would be to replace them when you have time. Your rear brakes should have a sensor which will squeak when you are wearing your pads past a limit which is unsafe.

Brakes last depending on you braking, driving style. If you brake hard, it will last around 15-18,000 miles. if you drive under normal driving conditions, it would be from 25-35,000 miles.

link13

geoff, you definitely got some bad answers from the service writer. I would ask to speak with the technician who recommened those service items and see what he has to say.

geoff

When I picked up the car late Saturday afternoon and the service advisor didn't have answers, he said he'd get some answers and get back to me Monday. Last night (Monday) I finally stopped holding my breath

I called the Lexus corporate customer service 800 number Monday to get info on the recall from '95. The customer service rep didn't do a very good job hiding how appalled he was, but did offer to let the dealer management know they had a dissatisfied customer. And yes, the customer service was everything I used to expect from Lexus

Where I live there are lots of other Lexus dealerships around, so I called another one, and after about 12 seconds got a service advisor who promptly had straight answers for all my questions. I still need to get the motor mounts and lower ball joints done, but at least I have some justification and comfort level

I don't think I'll bother going back to the original dealer (where I've taken the car since I bought it new) for these items.

Pianoman72

Sorry that your service advisor isn't so great. Do those motor mounts as soon as you can...only replace the ones that have failed. I'm actually replacing a motor mount for another vehicle this weekend, if you want I can give you instructions on how to do it. All you have to do is give the engine a little support from underneath and then you can safely extract the old mounts and put on new ones.

I hope the dealer isn't charging you too much. basically when your motor mounts fail your engine is not sitting correctly and this can cause greater than normal wear on other parts.

Maybe those ball joints are covered by the recall...that would be nice. I have the '93 as well. I curious to know what they say about your ball joints for future reference.

geoff

The lower ball joints were covered by the recall in '95 (NHTSA 95V072000) and replaced. At the time, the dealer said something about 2 high mileage GSs in Japan experiencing unusually heavy wear in the ball joints. From what I could tell from a web search, it was a problem with the surface finish not being smooth enough causing excessive wear. Now it's 2003 and the car has 130+K miles, so it's definitely considered a wear item now. Once I got the straight scoop from another dealer's service dept over the phone (or at least more credible bs), I figure I need to get the motor mounts and ball joints taken care of. If the rear brakes are original and at 30% remaining after 133K miles, I figure I can wait a little while longer to deal with that

Thanks for the offer on motor mount replacement instructions. It's my wife's daily driver and I don't have the free time to do the replacement, much less have her start asking me to fix everything else on her car, so it's off to try the other dealer when I get a chance

geoff

Just got a call from the service advisor (the one I had given up on in the previous post!) He actually had some answers for me on motor mounts. Plus he's waiting for a call back from Lexus to see if they will cover the ball joints! I was totally shocked (and told him so). He thinks they'll know by Friday if Lexus will pick up the ball joint tab. Even if they don't, I'm impressed. Will keep you posted.

It's amazing how the little things having to do with custome service make such a big difference.