raylor4

I don't mean to sound snarky, but I think your mistake is asking "How much is the 30K service?" This opens you up for "the sky's the limit" answer. I look in the service manual, decide what needs to be done, and have it done at a Toyota dealer. I inspect my own filters and replace them myself from Walmart or a place like that. I think 30K is too early for a brake fluid change. Remember, the service advisors work on commission. You are the boss. Good luck.

mrcheap

a man who pays a dealer to do a brake job is not somebody you can trust for advice on saving money lol do it yourself it’s easy 😀

mikemu30

Cmon you've got to hand it to me - I didn't pay the dealer to change the cabin filter nor smart key battery🤣🤣

IRRX350

Thank you to all that posted.

I have decided to cancel my Lexus apt and go with my local Toyota dealer instead. The lady sounded a lot less shady - said they would do an oil change, tire rotation, and then tell me if anything else is needed. I think I'll just tell them to do a break fluid flush - the forum seems divided on whether or not that is needed. I'll go on the safer side and just pay the ~$150 to get this done. I may also just tell them to replace all filters, regardless of what they think is needed. All in all, I should come in under $500, which I'm fine with given what Lexus was going to do to me.

Thank you again - this was all super helpful.

jrobe

I think you have a good plan. I have debated the pros and cons of doing tire rotations and I have come to the conclusion that they are not cost effective unless they are very cheap or unless I do them myself. The dealers will recommend these every 5000-10,000 miles but if you do the math, they would only be cost effective if you gained a lot of extra miles on the tires which is very unlikely. The math doesn't add up if you are paying someone to do it. Instead, I just buy the best tires possible and replace them when they wear out. In my opinion, this is close to another long standing car maintenance rip off that everyone just assumes is necessary.

It probably is reasonable though to rotate the tires if you start to see clear evidence of uneven wear although this then may be a sign of another problem.

mikemu30

Probably more of an issue with AWD but I too avoid frequent rotations for that same reason.

Cocal

This may save you more $$$ than $150 as brake fluid being hygroscopic collects water which in turn could produce rust on some sensors that would then have to be replaced.
Absolutely go with the Toyo dealer, they can perform all those tasks just as well as a Lexus one.

Cocal

I rotate them one a year, but I'm in a different boat as I get my brakes cleaned every spring, so the wheels are off anyway.

dibl

I do my own oil/filter and air filter changes, and wiper blades. The 30K/60K/90K services are notoriously expensive. Looking at them in the maintenance manual and seeing the AWD drive shafts nut and bolt re-torquing item gives me some pause -- I'm not sure money saved by skipping that one is a bargain. Like life insurance, when you know for sure you needed to do it, it's way too late. They don't mention wheel alignment -- I'm pretty sure some of the short life of my OEM Bridgestone tires was due to driving it while seriously out of alignment for probably 10K miles. With AWD you don't notice the misalignment -- you have to have it checked to find out if there's a problem. So basically I only take mine to the dealer at the 10K intervals and do the other easy items in between -- a local indie shop will rotate the wheels for $20.

IRRX350

I have a separate, but related question. Is the maintenance notification in the Lexus 2017 RX350 smart (as in, it notices something off with the car, the oil, etc) or is it just programmed to go off every X miles? I was under the impression that it was smart because the notification went off before I put 5K miles on it, but maybe it is taking time into consideration?

dibl

The oil quality part of the notification system has some smartness to it:

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article...rent-minderler

The rest of it is just mileage based.

Cocal

Dibls made a comment that gives me pause, but on my 2017 there is no oil quality reference, so there may be one in yours as it could be country related.
You have to set the reminders manually yourself, you have a whole slew of them in that window and you can set them by time, mileage or both.

dibl

The notification doesn't actually use the word "quality" -- it just says "Oli Maintenance Required". As said in the linked article, there is an algorithm that uses known vehicle usage and environmental conditions information to calculate when the oil may be degraded enough to warrant changing.

IRRX350

I THINK it actually just says maintenance required, contact your dealer, but I'll confirm.

jjscsix

You do sound Snarky and you totally ignore the fact that probably 99% of owners are not qualified to determine what they need. What you responded to is a question about what the 30,000 mile service costs. That refers to the manufacturers service schedule, not what the commissioned sales people determined.

I am in the 1% who does have the knowledge. At 69 years old I still do all of the maintenance of my three motorcycles. Most of my recent cars have had free maintenance for most of the time I’ve owned them. But I did pay for most of the maintenance on the GX460 we just traded. Nothing they recommended seemed unreasonable to me, including the brake fluid. I’ve never seen brake fluid that did not need changing at 30,000 miles, and it was not particularly expensive to have done. The fact that you may be knowledgeable enough to monitor your fluid may make it acceptable for you to not change it, but for most people changing it at 30,000 is a very reasonable precaution.

I agree that other dealers are capable of doing good service. I live in a small town that does not have a Lexus or TOYOTA dealer. But it is a somewhat wealthy town and there are a lot of Lexus here. I found out the local Ford dealer actually stocks Lexus filters and they did a great job in their quick lane. They charged me $80 for a full synthetic oil change and inspected everything, including the brake pads. They did not suggest anything needing to be done.