NuGateway

Hello everyone, I've been really busy over the past month or so. Which is why I haven't been on...

I decided to have Lexus look at the car this past Saturday. Just to give me a run down of what the car needs. Now that I have the information in hand, I will find a small local shop to do the work. Here is the list:

- Wiper Blades = $84 (lol)
- Engine E.C.U = $1240
They are 70% sure the E.C.U is bad. If replacing does not reslove the issue, the mass air flow sensor is bad.
- Mass Air Flow Meter = $1400
- Instrument cluster board = $1300 - Getting that taken care of by a local shop in Tampa for $200.
- Rear brakes = $280
- Valve Cover Gaskets = $475
- Front seals and timing belt = $675
- Dip stick oring = $130
- Transmission Flush = $185
- Brake flush = $140
- Two tires need to be replaced, I will most likely do all four.
- Spare tire is flat and jack is completely rusted
- Slight Coolant leak = ???
- Thermostat = ???
- A/C = ??? They were ready to charge me an arm and leg to diagnose it.

Ended up paying $100 for the check up. Outside of the issues above, the car is in great shape. Any thoughts on the repairs? Do you guys think I can get away spending $1500 for all of the above? I figure a total of $4,000 isn't bad for a car in this condition. Opinions, thoughts?

Och

iTrader: (3)

You can buy just the blade inserts for $10, and it will take 10 minutes to replace them yourself.

More info please? Are you having power loss issues?

Not a bad deal, but if you do some research on this forum, you can fix it yourself for a few bucks, all you need is a few capacitors from radio shack.


Does that include new OEM rotors and pads?


Sounds very expensive. See, all these items can be done in one shot, and should be much cheaper, at least at an independent shop. If you're not afraid to get dirty, you can do them yourself as well.

I dont know if thats necessary. I would just drain and fill if anything.

Tires are tires, but if your jack is rusted, it would indicate you have a leak in your trunk. Check the seals hose down your trunk to see where its leaking.

Most likely the water pump. If you going to have the dealer replace timing belt, make sure they replace the water pump as well. In order to access it, timing belt must be removed, so if you dont replace it and it leak later, you'll pay double.

$25 part from the dealer, ten minute do-it-yourself job. Make sure however that you guy an OEM thermostat with OEM gasket. I can't stress the OEM gasket enough. When I replaced my thermostat, I bought an OEM replacement, but the dealer didnt have the gasket, so I bought one in autozone. After replacement, the new thermostat was leaking, and the fix was an OEM gasket. The aftermarket gasket wasnt as thick as OEM, and couldnt hold coolant contained.

Don't know much about ACs. If it works, leave it alone, if it doesn't, prepare to shell out some cash.

Well, seems like new ECU or MAF will be your most expensive items. Please do elaborate more about the issue that causes your dealer to belive either one of them is damaged. I (and many others) are suffering from power loss, and I've done everything I could trying to resolve it, so far with no result. I've replaced the MAF as well. The only thing thats left is the ECU. I personally suffest you take the hit and replace it. It's $1200, but it will save you from guesswork later. A MAF you can always find used, for $200 or so.

As far as everything else, well, tires could cost $500-1000 for all four. Timing belt/water pump/valve covers is an expensive job as well. Then you have all the misc stuff of course. But its nothing beyond normal. All cars require timing belt/water pump replacements, and tires are tires, they wear out. Keep in mind that we have non interference engines, so even if your timing belt breaks, the engine wont sustain any damage, so you cant wait off on that.

LuxSedan92

wow your repair list is really scaring the **** out of me.


how do i know if my lexus needs a new maf or ecu. i dont think im suffering any power loss, what are the signs and symptoms of this.


is your lexus throwing a check engine light??

L_Sport

WOW man, I have a 1990 LS 400 and I had mine checked out and didn't have nearly that much to fix and I have 250K miles on her. I would double check and do only the necessary repairs. ECU? MAF? in my experience with cars those would be throwing check engine lights etc. Keep us posted.