Advice purchasing used 3rd gen / Top 5 common problems
08-20-18 | 04:14 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: TX
Advice purchasing used 3rd gen / Top 5 common problems
I’m looking to buy a non-cpo RX, probably between 80-120K miles from a reputable Lexus dealer in the DFW area. What are the most common issues I should check for and what would you estimate cost to repair each (best guess) on the 3rd gen RX? Eg water pump, oil pump, coil packs....
Trying to get an idea of risk/reward buying at the $12-$16K range and doing some likely repairs vs stepping up to $20-$25K and going less miles/cpo. Plus it’s for a kid that’s almost assuredly going to ding it up.
Trying to get an idea of risk/reward buying at the $12-$16K range and doing some likely repairs vs stepping up to $20-$25K and going less miles/cpo. Plus it’s for a kid that’s almost assuredly going to ding it up.
08-20-18 | 10:19 PM
#2
Pole Position
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 2,629
Likes: 250
From: CA
I would go private party cheaper and better, if you know what to look for.
Just bc the car is sold by a Lexus dealership does not mean much, even if CPO (SOMETIMES). You still have to watch out.
Just bc the car is sold by a Lexus dealership does not mean much, even if CPO (SOMETIMES). You still have to watch out.
I’m looking to buy a non-cpo RX, probably between 80-120K miles from a reputable Lexus dealer in the DFW area. What are the most common issues I should check for and what would you estimate cost to repair each (best guess) on the 3rd gen RX? Eg water pump, oil pump, coil packs....
Trying to get an idea of risk/reward buying at the $12-$16K range and doing some likely repairs vs stepping up to $20-$25K and going less miles/cpo. Plus it’s for a kid that’s almost assuredly going to ding it up.
Trying to get an idea of risk/reward buying at the $12-$16K range and doing some likely repairs vs stepping up to $20-$25K and going less miles/cpo. Plus it’s for a kid that’s almost assuredly going to ding it up.
08-21-18 | 10:02 PM
#3
Driver
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 146
Likes: 21
From: CA - California
We bought one a couple years ago with 89k miles. I changed the transmission fluid at 97k miles thru a friend at a dealer and it was pitch black. Opaque like I've never seen, and I've seen a lot of dirty oil. My take on getting a newer vehicle with less miles is not that it will require less maintenance, but that the previous owner can do less harm and you know what you're getting into. A tranny fluid change at 60k miles would allow me to start with new fluid, earlier, and have less wear on the tranny so that I could have a better chance of it making 300k miles. I know, it's a lifetime fluid. When the transmission breaks and requires replacement, that's a "lifetime."
The problem with Lexus is not that they are unreliable. It is that they CAN be expensive. If you get the timing chain cover leak, it's something like 17 hours of labor to repair. Requires dropping the engine and trans out the bottom of the vehicle. I have seen several with bad head units, bad navigation screens, bad HVAC blend door, bad rear hatch lift motor, some transmission replacements under 100k miles. Yet the majority are very reliable and require none of this stuff. Most of it is luck of the draw. No amount of oil changes prevents the timing chain cover from leaking. No amount of keeping the interior clean prevents the mouse or the head unit from malfunctioning.
Top 5 in my head
1) oil cooler lines. They can break catastrophically, which means that it is likely the car ran with low oil pressure for a bit. This was fixed by 2012? 2013? I bought one with rubber lines, immediately swapped to metal. High up because of potential consequence of "needs new engine," in case it's not caught early. Goodwill warranty in our case. $100 if DIY. Maybe $500 if you had a dealer do it? About 2hrs labor plus $100 parts.
2) rear shocks. $150 in parts and DIY for me. No big deal. Not real expensive at a shop, I would not use the dealer because the Lexus OEM part is junk. Shocks should not leak before 50k miles, and if they do, why would you use that same part again?
3) timing chain cover. Major expense (maybe $3k?), happens to some. Lower on the list because it is usually an annoyance and not a necessary thing to fix. You may get some oil drips, but again nothing major...not enough to seize an engine, just enough to get car and driveway a little dirty. Don't believe anybody who tells you they "fixed" this in later years. The newer ones don't leak as often because they're newer, duh. I've seen 2015s with this problem, and it was a problem all the way back to the 2005 Avalon but was not fixed by the 2010 RX. Yours will not be immune, just depends on your luck.
4) tires. 19" Michelin cost almost a thousand bucks mounted and balanced at Costco. Most on this forum don't care. Do you or your young driver care?
5) droning noise. No maintenance will prevent this. Some cars have droning noises and vibrations at various RPM. Do a good drive to see if your purchase does it. Some people say it can be fixed. I advise you to pick one that's smooth to begin with. It's a real time sink, like chasing a rattle.
Other than those, I feel like most stuff I see is more sporadic in nature or is kind of regular maintenance (ie warped rotors...I consider it normal maintenance item).
The problem with Lexus is not that they are unreliable. It is that they CAN be expensive. If you get the timing chain cover leak, it's something like 17 hours of labor to repair. Requires dropping the engine and trans out the bottom of the vehicle. I have seen several with bad head units, bad navigation screens, bad HVAC blend door, bad rear hatch lift motor, some transmission replacements under 100k miles. Yet the majority are very reliable and require none of this stuff. Most of it is luck of the draw. No amount of oil changes prevents the timing chain cover from leaking. No amount of keeping the interior clean prevents the mouse or the head unit from malfunctioning.
Top 5 in my head
1) oil cooler lines. They can break catastrophically, which means that it is likely the car ran with low oil pressure for a bit. This was fixed by 2012? 2013? I bought one with rubber lines, immediately swapped to metal. High up because of potential consequence of "needs new engine," in case it's not caught early. Goodwill warranty in our case. $100 if DIY. Maybe $500 if you had a dealer do it? About 2hrs labor plus $100 parts.
2) rear shocks. $150 in parts and DIY for me. No big deal. Not real expensive at a shop, I would not use the dealer because the Lexus OEM part is junk. Shocks should not leak before 50k miles, and if they do, why would you use that same part again?
3) timing chain cover. Major expense (maybe $3k?), happens to some. Lower on the list because it is usually an annoyance and not a necessary thing to fix. You may get some oil drips, but again nothing major...not enough to seize an engine, just enough to get car and driveway a little dirty. Don't believe anybody who tells you they "fixed" this in later years. The newer ones don't leak as often because they're newer, duh. I've seen 2015s with this problem, and it was a problem all the way back to the 2005 Avalon but was not fixed by the 2010 RX. Yours will not be immune, just depends on your luck.
4) tires. 19" Michelin cost almost a thousand bucks mounted and balanced at Costco. Most on this forum don't care. Do you or your young driver care?
5) droning noise. No maintenance will prevent this. Some cars have droning noises and vibrations at various RPM. Do a good drive to see if your purchase does it. Some people say it can be fixed. I advise you to pick one that's smooth to begin with. It's a real time sink, like chasing a rattle.
Other than those, I feel like most stuff I see is more sporadic in nature or is kind of regular maintenance (ie warped rotors...I consider it normal maintenance item).
Last edited by N4TECguy; 08-21-18 at 10:05 PM.
08-22-18 | 08:54 AM
#4
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 938
Likes: 68
From: California
We bought one a couple years ago with 89k miles. I changed the transmission fluid at 97k miles thru a friend at a dealer and it was pitch black. Opaque like I've never seen, and I've seen a lot of dirty oil. My take on getting a newer vehicle with less miles is not that it will require less maintenance, but that the previous owner can do less harm and you know what you're getting into. A tranny fluid change at 60k miles would allow me to start with new fluid, earlier, and have less wear on the tranny so that I could have a better chance of it making 300k miles. I know, it's a lifetime fluid. When the transmission breaks and requires replacement, that's a "lifetime."
The problem with Lexus is not that they are unreliable. It is that they CAN be expensive. If you get the timing chain cover leak, it's something like 17 hours of labor to repair. Requires dropping the engine and trans out the bottom of the vehicle. I have seen several with bad head units, bad navigation screens, bad HVAC blend door, bad rear hatch lift motor, some transmission replacements under 100k miles. Yet the majority are very reliable and require none of this stuff. Most of it is luck of the draw. No amount of oil changes prevents the timing chain cover from leaking. No amount of keeping the interior clean prevents the mouse or the head unit from malfunctioning.
Top 5 in my head
1) oil cooler lines. They can break catastrophically, which means that it is likely the car ran with low oil pressure for a bit. This was fixed by 2012? 2013? I bought one with rubber lines, immediately swapped to metal. High up because of potential consequence of "needs new engine," in case it's not caught early. Goodwill warranty in our case. $100 if DIY. Maybe $500 if you had a dealer do it? About 2hrs labor plus $100 parts.
2) rear shocks. $150 in parts and DIY for me. No big deal. Not real expensive at a shop, I would not use the dealer because the Lexus OEM part is junk. Shocks should not leak before 50k miles, and if they do, why would you use that same part again?
3) timing chain cover. Major expense (maybe $3k?), happens to some. Lower on the list because it is usually an annoyance and not a necessary thing to fix. You may get some oil drips, but again nothing major...not enough to seize an engine, just enough to get car and driveway a little dirty. Don't believe anybody who tells you they "fixed" this in later years. The newer ones don't leak as often because they're newer, duh. I've seen 2015s with this problem, and it was a problem all the way back to the 2005 Avalon but was not fixed by the 2010 RX. Yours will not be immune, just depends on your luck.
4) tires. 19" Michelin cost almost a thousand bucks mounted and balanced at Costco. Most on this forum don't care. Do you or your young driver care?
5) droning noise. No maintenance will prevent this. Some cars have droning noises and vibrations at various RPM. Do a good drive to see if your purchase does it. Some people say it can be fixed. I advise you to pick one that's smooth to begin with. It's a real time sink, like chasing a rattle.
Other than those, I feel like most stuff I see is more sporadic in nature or is kind of regular maintenance (ie warped rotors...I consider it normal maintenance item).
The problem with Lexus is not that they are unreliable. It is that they CAN be expensive. If you get the timing chain cover leak, it's something like 17 hours of labor to repair. Requires dropping the engine and trans out the bottom of the vehicle. I have seen several with bad head units, bad navigation screens, bad HVAC blend door, bad rear hatch lift motor, some transmission replacements under 100k miles. Yet the majority are very reliable and require none of this stuff. Most of it is luck of the draw. No amount of oil changes prevents the timing chain cover from leaking. No amount of keeping the interior clean prevents the mouse or the head unit from malfunctioning.
Top 5 in my head
1) oil cooler lines. They can break catastrophically, which means that it is likely the car ran with low oil pressure for a bit. This was fixed by 2012? 2013? I bought one with rubber lines, immediately swapped to metal. High up because of potential consequence of "needs new engine," in case it's not caught early. Goodwill warranty in our case. $100 if DIY. Maybe $500 if you had a dealer do it? About 2hrs labor plus $100 parts.
2) rear shocks. $150 in parts and DIY for me. No big deal. Not real expensive at a shop, I would not use the dealer because the Lexus OEM part is junk. Shocks should not leak before 50k miles, and if they do, why would you use that same part again?
3) timing chain cover. Major expense (maybe $3k?), happens to some. Lower on the list because it is usually an annoyance and not a necessary thing to fix. You may get some oil drips, but again nothing major...not enough to seize an engine, just enough to get car and driveway a little dirty. Don't believe anybody who tells you they "fixed" this in later years. The newer ones don't leak as often because they're newer, duh. I've seen 2015s with this problem, and it was a problem all the way back to the 2005 Avalon but was not fixed by the 2010 RX. Yours will not be immune, just depends on your luck.
4) tires. 19" Michelin cost almost a thousand bucks mounted and balanced at Costco. Most on this forum don't care. Do you or your young driver care?
5) droning noise. No maintenance will prevent this. Some cars have droning noises and vibrations at various RPM. Do a good drive to see if your purchase does it. Some people say it can be fixed. I advise you to pick one that's smooth to begin with. It's a real time sink, like chasing a rattle.
Other than those, I feel like most stuff I see is more sporadic in nature or is kind of regular maintenance (ie warped rotors...I consider it normal maintenance item).
1) I believe the oil cooler line issue was fixed by the model year 2013.
3) the timing chain cover leak should have happened by now. it isn't one of things where it shows up later when engine is old. I'd suggest taking a look at the repair log.
Stuff that bothers me are not really fixable or are very hard to fix. things like sub-par nav, thin cushions on the seats, blind spot monitoring being way too aggressive, dim non HID headlights (I have HID aftermarket lights now), thin steering wheel..........
08-22-18 | 09:43 AM
#5
Driver
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 146
Likes: 21
From: CA - California
Just adding some more color here.
1) I believe the oil cooler line issue was fixed by the model year 2013.
3) the timing chain cover leak should have happened by now. it isn't one of things where it shows up later when engine is old. I'd suggest taking a look at the repair log.
Stuff that bothers me are not really fixable or are very hard to fix. things like sub-par nav, thin cushions on the seats, blind spot monitoring being way too aggressive, dim non HID headlights (I have HID aftermarket lights now), thin steering wheel..........
1) I believe the oil cooler line issue was fixed by the model year 2013.
3) the timing chain cover leak should have happened by now. it isn't one of things where it shows up later when engine is old. I'd suggest taking a look at the repair log.
Stuff that bothers me are not really fixable or are very hard to fix. things like sub-par nav, thin cushions on the seats, blind spot monitoring being way too aggressive, dim non HID headlights (I have HID aftermarket lights now), thin steering wheel..........
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