Oro

My good friend just picked up a 2009 350 awd; from a dealer and very clean. Knowing her tastes (she had a 1st gen GS in the more distant past, and a 4th gen ES currently - now mine!), I had directed her to look at these so I feel a little responsible.

It's at 152k and I can set it to Stage 0, lift it and check suspension, etc. Is there anything particular to know? Any cheap sensors that routinely fail I should replace, etc? I will give it a thorough look-through tomorrow.

Thanks for any advice!

CruzinGS

At this point, a 2009 is like, 13 years old, so all the usual 13 year old car stuff. A good place to start is making a login to the Lexus driver's website, and put in the vehicle's VIN to check for any dealer maintenance records. Specific to a 2009 GS350 AWD, I would say also check:

- Alternator output (charging voltage) AND operation of the overrunning pulley
- Check the serpentine belt, idler pulley, and tensioner
- Water pump - noise or leakage
- Engine oil level - these can consume more oil than you would expect of a Toyota motor, so check frequently (like, every other fill-up?) to get a feel for possible consumption rate
- Front and rear differential fluid quality
- Suspension bushings and sway-bar end links
- Rear brake caliper slides
- Trunk button cover can melt / deteriorate
- Operation of the rear sun shade, if equipped
- Operation of the subwoofer and all speakers, especially if Mark Levinson equipped
- If you have access to scanner that will show data, check for stored codes and freeze-frame data; at 152k the primary oxygen sensor / air fuel ratio sensors may be close to end of life so check long and short term fuel trims.
- If you are doing preventative maintenance, clean the MAF sensor and the throttle body, then reset the ECU.
- Check the cabin air filter (make sure to switch to recirculate mode before opening the cover!), and if the new owner has allergies or sensitivities to odors, consider replacing with the LS series charcoal filter (87139-50100)
- Note that TPMS sensors may be close to end of battery life if they are still original. It is hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like the valve stem caps are a silver plastic color, not metal, so probably not original.

I would also suggest setting expectations with regard to tires and brakes. It's a heavy car and has a high-performance engine, so coming from a 4ES figure on half of the life.

Nice lookin' GS, BTW!

Oro

I would likely not have thought to look at the fuel trims, good point. I'll do that as well as clean the MAF. I usually check it whenever the intake is off a car, but I don't make it a usual part of a tune up; I need to remember that. Thanks. Also good tip on the charcoal filter. I put one in her ES in the past as she does have a sensitive nose.

Amazingly, her 2002 ES uses virtually no oil. It get's about 1/2 qt low after 7,500 miles when I change the oil. It did this when we got it, and it hasn’t ever changed and is now at 325k miles. I doubt she's checked an oil level in eight years. I'll have to remind her to do that until we know what this one's habits are!

So, what IS the awd system on this car? I googled and got conflicting answers. What's the construction of the center diff, and is the rear limited slip? What do people generally do as a maintenance interval? I generally do roughly 40k changes on the diffs on most all my vehicles and I'm wagering Lexus probably doesn't have a service interval for them. I look forward to checking it out and taking it for a drive tomorrow.

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

I would check the history of the car on mylexus.com to see if it has ever had the water pump replaced. They do go out at about 90k miles. You can buy aisin brand for $80-$90 and its a 2-3 hour easy job. While your are at it, I would do the thermostat, serpentine belt, idler pulley, spark plugs, air filter, cabin filter, drain and fill the transmission, drain and replace both diffs (the front is a bit of a pain on awd) many of the parts are pretty cheap on rockauto.com. But when doing plugs avoid ebay "oem" "denso" most are fakes. Real plugs from cost about $14 each for denso

Other then that these cars are solid running aslong, main issue is taking care of the water pump because there have been members who have overheated, and destroyed their engines from a bad water pump for something cheap and easy to replace.

CruzinGS

The 3gs has a planetary gearset integrated into the transmission (Aisin A760H) case, plus a wet-type multi-disc clutch control, with a standard 30%/70% front/rear torque bias. It can vary to a 50%/50% split as needed. Front and rear differentials are open type, with traction management controlled via electronic engine torque management and braking (and possibly via the electronic power steering, I was never clear on how that works). On the 2009 model, it has Toyota's sophisticated integrated traction/stability management system called "VDIM".

I believe Lexus specifies a 30k inspection interval for the front differential fluid, and a 15k inspection interval for the rear differential fluid, but no specific replacement interval (i.e., replace if dirty at inspection). The transfer case is integrated into the transmission, and it also does not have a specific replacement interval (nor does it have an inspection interval, only "inspect transmission for signs of leakage"). That said, it may be worth doing a few drain-and-fill cycles to replace some of the fluid in the transmission. I'd suggest checking Youtube for how-tos because it's not as straightforward as a normal transmission with a dip stick kind of thing.

Oro

OK, good stuff! I do appreciate the explanation of the awd system.

I finally got my hands on the car today. I have this to say: Oh wow. The performance is almost eye watering. I punched it (passing a vehicle) at one point and was at 110mph in no time and couldn't believe the car was so quiet and stable. I had open empty road around so I was not being reckless. But still - I was impressed. And I have some nice cars myself - an Audi V8, two turbo Volvos among others. I also drive a lot of nice cars of friends and clients. This thing is just in another league. Did not get to any back roads to see how it really handled so I'll do that soon. I said to her, "Avoiding tickets will be a challenge with this car." (she drives fast ). She said, "I've already been worried about that."

I jacked it up, tested the bearings, tie rods, ball joints, etc. All rock solid. MAF was clean, filters clean, oil fresh, full and clean. No leaks anywhere and a pretty clean car everywhere. I'll do the diff fluid and trans fluid, water pump in a few weeks when I can take it for a day or two. IME, the trans was slightly sluggish indicating worn fluid - not familiar with this one in particular but I both own and have serviced A LOT of Aisin transmissions so I think I know how it "should" feel with fresh fluid. I also didn't love the feel of the electric PS at some times but I imagine that's something you can learn to live with.

Only things I found wrong really:

a) center dash speaker pops/crackles sometimes. Are they known to fail? I imagine I can just pop that grill off and put in a new one?
b) Driver's side headlight and running light had a lot of water in them. Are they hard to pull out and re-seal? I have done a few in the past on other cars so generally know the game here.

That's about it. I'll do the diff and AT fluids before long, and I guess the water pump - and then just maintain it. I really was impressed. One of the reasons I suggested this car to her was I understood they were built in the Tahara plant in Japan. Hard to believe this thing has 153k on it (though I believe most of those were very easy highway miles). It is my understanding the Tahara plant is second only to Toyota's Araco plant in Toyota City for quality. We had a 100 series Land Cruiser from there (Araco) and I've never seen a better built vehicle. Getting a Tahara-built GS vs. a US built ES was actually a strategy and so far it looks good!