shortslv

Hey,
My IS250 is approaching 60k miles and I just called a few places around San Francisco to see what to expect for the required checklist. It seems like prices vary wildly for the same job:

Lexus of Marin:
- Oil change: 79
- Air & engine filter: 67
- Break fluid: 139
- Spark plugs: 301
Total: 586

Lexus of Serramonte:
- Oil change: 74
- Air & engine filter: "included above" (I suspect she misunderstood)
- Brake fluid: 175
- Spark Plug: 325
Total: 574

Garage SF
- Oil change: 57
- Air & engine filter: 33
- Break fluid: 90
- Spark plugs: 427
Total: 607

This seems quite high to me, but apparently the spark plugs is labor intensive. I'd be curious to hear what other Lexus owners in the Bay Area are paying for this (non-DIY only) ?

Cheers!

kumquatism

iTrader: (10)

The spark plugs are labor intensive. It took me 2-3 hours and a lot of elbow grease to do mine. 300 sounds like a decent price to pay considering the difficulty of the change. The rest of the 60k change up is easy and shouldn't cost too much to do.

msLtuned

The spark plugs on the is250 is more labor intensive because you actually have to remove part of the intake manifold to get to the plugs on the drive side, hence the price
Standard time to change spark plugs is actually about 2.5 hrs

Sffd103

iTrader: (16)

I took my 7 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic oil that I bought at Costco (6 pack) for $36 and bought the extra one at Kragen. I also provided the oil filter that I bought from Sewell. The Brake fluid I had changed to Motul when I had my big brake kit done by a shop. The air filter you can buy through Sewell and install yourself in 5 min. There is a DIY on here also. I had the plugs changed while I had the top engine flush that is a problem on the 250's. Bought those on Sewell and had them put them in while the intake manifold was off.

shortslv

Awesome, thanks all for the feedback. Sounds like I'll get the spark plugs + brake fluid flush done and worry about the rest myself.

I've also noticed that every so often, my car sometimes start to vibrate unnaturally at very low rpm at a red light. I suspect this may be the problem Sffd103 is referring to (carbon buildup)? It's pretty rare though, so I am debating whether it's worth taking care of it now or later. Any advice on convincing the service dept that this should be looked into now?

Thanks!

Mikeyy

iTrader: (3)

There's a TSB concerning this problem, L-SB-0029-10, if you're under the 7yr/70k miles then you can take in into the dealer and have them check it out. They basically clean out the carbon buildup in the engine so you dont get that rough idle/slight misfire anymore.

Sffd103

iTrader: (16)

That's what I did.I complained about sputtering and sluggish at lights. They then did the top engine cleaning and asked if they could put in my spark plugs while they were at it. Bought them on Sewell.