I am about to pick up a second owner 98 GS300. It has 240k miles and the body is straight and motor runs well, however it leaks oil. Approx. two months ago, the current owner invested in a new timing belt and some other internals, then the mechanic noted that the cam seal was leaking. When we called the small shop (supposidly lexus certified) the said that they did not have the tools to fix, as if it the needed some sort of press or whatever. So my question is: How easy and involved is it to fix? what all should I replace while its open and what should the approx. price be for parts? I will have a great mechanic, that isn't lexus familiar, to help. I just want to do the homework before I approach him with particulars.

For the future I am considering, when the motor finally gives out, replacing it with the same or a twin turbo, not sure!

Any and all info, thoughts and opinions will be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

Thanks in Advance and glad to be a future Lexus owner!!!!

 

Lexus is a brand you can trust for reliability.. BUT.. depends. How much are you paying for it? because 240k is pretty high for any car..

 

only $3,000 due to high mileage. Book is above $5,000 at the difference I figure it would be worth a small investment to be a daily driver, much better than my Sequoia.

 

with 240k, oil leaking should be the least of your worries being that the timing belt is done.

however, i wouldn't trust just anyone to do the work who wasn't fully confident in doing it. Make sure the place is lexus certified or take it to a dealer and bite the bullet, youre getting the car for a steal.

other things to look at besides the cam seal would be the valve cover and head seals, oil pan gasket, and the dagger, head gasket. also, with that mileage check plugs, clean the throttle body, clean the maf, ball joints, tie rod ends, air filter, injectors, fuel filter, exhaust for holes or leaks, o2 sensors, and all rubber hoses/tubes for any signs of wear or cracking, steering rack bushings that may be weak/deteriorated, control arms and bushings, sways bushings and endlinks, tranny fluid and steering fluid, brakes etc.


basically do the whole once over of the car with a fine toothed comb but the things i listed above should be your main concerns with this vehicle, especially at it's age if the maintenance hasn't always been performed dutifully.

 

The cam seal takes 0 special tools to replace and takes about 30 minutes extra to do (tops) during a timing belt service. Since they didn't do it with the timing belt off like they should have you are going to need to somewhat redo the work they already did. You can get to the cam seals by removing the top and middle timing belt cover, timing belt tensioner etc...slipping the timing belt off the cam gears, removing the valve covers and all associated parts to get to them, the pulling the cam gears and popping out the seals. If the shop wasn't incompetent they could have had most of that already done when doing the timing belt service.

Secondly, since your cam seals are leaking, guess where the oil is going.... Depending how bad the leak is the oil will go down the block and eventually coat the timing belt in oil and ruin that brand new timing belt that was just done. So....if the belt looks free of oil once you pull the upper cover you are ok but if it is coated in oil by that time it will need to be replaced.

Fwiw, I hope they AT LEAST did the front main seal as that is literally right there when you do the timing belt and can't be accessed without removing EVERYTHING to do a timing belt install all over again. If they didn't do the front main seal at that kind of mileage it's only going to be a matter of time till it blows out. Front main seal blow out = 4 quarts of oil on the ground in about a two minutes, literally. If you don't catch it right away that is your motor saying bye-bye.

 

And as stated above, if it is, indeed the cam seal that is leaking, it would almost be worth replacing all the timing belt and parts while you are in there. I know you said they did it recently, but how recent and what did they replace? You hate to replace something that is new but if you have it torn down to replace the cam seal, everyting else is easy to get to. I would rather spend the extra 150-200 for all new parts, to ensure I had all new stuff when putting it together, then having to go back into it months later.

 

imho, look for a different car, simple.
for $5k, get a honda civic to beat around town; maintenance wont cost as much as a Lexus.

 

^ +1 I agree