Hi all,

First of all, I'm new to the board, but have been lurking around for a while. A few weeks ago I bought a 2013 RX350 base with comfort package and 140k miles for $13,900 from a Lexus dealer as-is. The car physically is in amazing condition inside and out and has a clean car fax. However, the vehicle does have a few issues:

1) when parked or going slow speeds, there is a knocking sound coming from the driver side (I imagine it to be the strut mount)
2) I was reading through the Lexus Driver historical notes and saw that when the Lexus dealership took it in, they did an inspection and found "engine belt making noise when cold, dirty engine air filter, dirty cabin filter, transmission leaking oil between casings, left axle inner boot leaking grease".

For a 6 year old car and this many miles...is this not worth keeping? I really like the RX and how it drives, just wanted to get the boards opinion on if the problems are just going to ramp up from here.
Thanks for the help!

 

Depends upon how many of the needed repairs you can DIY. A vehicle with that many miles may become a money pit if you must pay someone else to keep it in proper running condition for you. And if the required repair is beyond your ability, keep in mind that a trusted indie shop is always a much more affordable choice than a dealership.

 

I second what RX in NC advised. Get at least 2 independent import - Japanese make repair shops to inspect your vehicle. Do not tell them exactly what the dealer found. Just tell them it is a new purchase and you want it inspected because you do not trust the dealer.
The air filters replacement are normal maintenance for any car. Same with the drive belt and strut mount. I would replace the front struts at the same time if you need a front strut mount.
They all wear out. Replacing the axle boot or axle is not unexpected on a car with 140,000 miles. None of those is a deal breaker. A couple thousand dollars at most would take care of these. Not unexpected on a used high mileage car.

The leaking transmission is your biggest possible expense and may be a reason to ditch it ASAP.

At 100,000 miles it should have had the coolant changed and the spark plugs replaced. It is also overdue for a transmission fluid change, but that will happen if they fix the leaks.

Let us know what you find out. Use Yelp etc to find recommended independent repair shops.

NEXT TIME GET IT INSPECTED BY AN INDEPENDENT SHOP BEFORE YOU BUY. YOU CAN USE THE PROBLEMs THEY FOUND TO NEGOTIATE A LOWER PRICE.

 

You might take it to Carmax to find what they would pay you for the car - if they, for example, offer you $10000 for it (and that I think is optimistic as the dealership no doubt made money on the deal -- and the value will drop when they realize that you've only held on to it for a few weeks - raises questions as to what is wrong with it that you want to dump it so soon and Carmax wants to make a profit as well), then you could justify paying something between that number and the amount you paid for the car (including tax and title and all) to repair all the things found wrong - because that difference will be your loss in this transaction if you sell. Carmax does an inspection, so you may be able to find out all that is really wrong with the car by asking them for a copy of the inspection (and that saves you money as you don't need to pay someone for the inspection).

 

So did the Lexus dealership fix the items they found? If so I would keep this car (assuming the engine oil was changed regularly)
I would keep it because you will loose too much money selling it now, plus you need to find another Lexus to drive.

 

That is a great question that you need to ask the selling dealer. Did they fix any of the stuff listed in the historical notes that you found? They will have records.

 

Thank you to everyone that’s replied, you are all very helpful.

lexus did not fix the issues, these are just notes they entered into the system. I asked them but they said no.

 

This is a good idea - I was just trying to figure out if these known issues will be it for a while. It’s at 140k, wondering what usually pops up in the 140-150 range

 

It is hard to predict what will come up. I think you need to search further.

 

I read what you are saying there is a knocking. You may want to check if you are using gas rating 87, instead of 91 as the manual recommends. I once read that if you always use #87 gas, there might be knocking. You should change to #91 gas. Just a thought.

 

He was not referring to engine knock, which is almost impossible in modern cars with knock sensors. He said there was a knock from the right front suspension which could be a strut mount, strut mount bearing or some other suspension component.

Lots of folks here run 87 gas all the time with no issues. All it does is reduce the horsepower by 5. I do it myself sometimes.