Boomin

Boykie

Amd did a great video, as usual. Hoping he'll be heard though...

PANICiii

Each time I saw his videos, including this one, where he gives warnings about purchasing a LS460 it breaks my heart 💔 cause it makes me realise I should probably never own one, even tho I really wish I would own one. Unless I win lottery, I will never have the budget to own one.

​​It's a good video, and I love his honesty on this topic. You guys that can afford it, good for you!

JRA2000TL

And this is what mine's going in for this afternoon. $1700-2300 estimate depending what's all needed. I hope I'm not looking at injectors now on top of that. Another reason I'm not daily driving mine, putting 21k miles per year on it. I didn't buy a cheap LS for the reasons he stated. I can tell mine was owned/maintained by an older person with the condition and impeccable service records. Hopefully, I'm ok for awhile after this.

One thing I was not aware of is that the 13-17s seem to all have the soft-close doors, which I don't like. More expensive stuff to break. I do wonder why he says the RWD is more expensive on the suspension/control arms. I always thought it was the other way around, with the AWD being the worst/most expensive.

Gerf

The front lower arms on the awd are cast iron and beefier than the rwd, upper arms all look the same for the 13 up. rear arms on the awd are aluminum like the rwd.
There are more people driving the older LS's so this guy is targeting them, makes sense. Somebody probably did an audience analysis for him and he's just following the advice.

If you're worried about wearing out your self closers don't use them, just shut the door same as your trunk.

JRA2000TL

Another question on this video--because I'm going to ask my service advisor several this afternoon after watching this.

1. He mentioned the passenger side injectors breaking--is that because when they're removed, that already brittle plastic from the heat causes that portion to break off?
2. He also mentions the injector seals, but I didn't quite understand what he said. Once this is all opened up, do all 8 injectors have to get re-sealed or just the rail he pulls since he's already there? The kit doesn't appear to be expensive, but I'd think the ones that aren't disturbed would need it. Just want to know what to expect and really don't want the dealer opening a can of worms or try to upsell me on extras not really needed.
3. I will ask if his estimate includes the harness with the black connectors (what's the name for it? fuel injector harness?). According to him, it's not an expensive part anyway. I want to say around 40 bucks when I looked.

What's funny is that I can buy the parts online from that particular dealer at a 25% off rate via parts.lexus.com, but if I walk in to the parts counter or get the car fixed there, it's full retail. I once asked if I could purchase the parts online for the discount, select the pickup option, then tell the advisor to notify the tech my parts are ready for them. He said I could do that. Haven't bothered to ask on this repair, since it's almost all labor; but if we start getting into injectors, I might.

SW17LS

I would argue thats actually the LS500 now and the other 3.4TT cars. Thats accurate though, its the most complex and sophisticated Lexus made so it makes sense it would be the costliest to maintain. Its basically like a Japanese Mercedes

dan25man

The connectors don't matter as much as he's mentioning. You can get replacements from LPN. If they "break" that just means the little clip from the wiring harness breaks. Just wire tie it or replace it. My actual injectors didn't break, just be careful when you remove it. The cross-over tube is a pain to install, but I just lubed it up really good with silicone safe grease and it slid in ok. The air suspension is a documented issue. The integrated air bag design is a known fault.

Having owned a 2002 LS430, now a 2006 SC430, and 2014 LS460. I do agree with his assessment that it's not as reliable or bulletproof as people expect a "Lexus" to be. The 2019 ES350 w/ Ultra Luxury Package is the better, more rational choice. When I work on my SC430 I feel "good" because everything is easy and there's a ton of room. When working on the LS460, it feels like a chore, and I just get it done.

@JRA2000TL , I would proactively order qty 4 of the injector connectors.

JRA2000TL

It's getting repaired at the dealer. I've been a DIYer on lots of stuff, but nice, expensive cars intimidate me. I've always had old, beater projects that I worked on--just sold my 89 and 95 Taurus SHO's last year (Yamaha V6 with 5spd), a 98 SVT Contour awhile back, but still have the old redheaded stepchild Mustang (78 Mustang II V8 Mach 1 hatchback). I am fine working on older junk--parts are cheap, and that's how I learned to work on cars. Didn't cost a fortune when I made mistakes--only made me mad. I've done brake/suspension work, water pumps, timing belts, alternators, ac work, radiators, routine maintenance, various interior and electronic repairs---a little of it all.

Breaking Lexus parts isn't cheap and these cars aren't as forgivable. After this, I'm letting Toyota or an independent shop do repairs, unless it's brakes or something super simple. I now have 2 cars that I can reliably drive, which frees up the ability to work on the ES or be able to leave one for extended time at an independent shop to save money. Everything usually goes to Toyota, currently, a since they're cheaper than Lexus. It's a massive dealership 10 min from the house, and they turn cars through the shop very quickly. It's a matter of convenience.

Gerf

And the LS400's were good cars as well but they still needed repairs.

Striker223

Yeah no....

The RWD cars are far cheaper to own, less to go wrong and no annoyingly complex front axle and arm replacements or transfer case problems. Parts are also much more plentiful

The connectors break on any Toyota. I had far more turn to dust in the 430 vs NONE on the 460

The 430 also had WAY more go wrong when I owned it overall and some stuff failed twice during 80k ownership. The 460 has yet to have anything go wrong that was fixed/I didn't buy it with wrong so in actually living with the cars I would take a 460 over a 430 if the interior was replaced on the 460.

Valve covers are easier to do on a 460 as well, they are a pain on a 430 due to the idiotic harness routing and due to angles needed you risk cracking the sheath and getting a bunch of flakes into the top of the heads. The cam seals also leak and requires full cam out to fix and that's a hell of a lot worse than a valley plate and I've done 4 of that job now on UZ engines. Exhaust manifolds also leak, upper oil pans leak etc etc that you just don't see much if at all on UR engine with more miles across LS/Tundras

He is just scaring people away from the 460 because it has a few "complex" systems that in the grand scheme of things are really nothing crazy these days.

Tdes395

There is zero excuse for lexus to not have fixed this leak from the factory. IT’S GLUE FOR PETE’S SAKE!!!!! How hard is it to get that right???? They should be able to assemble a heat exchanger that doesn’t leak coolant this easily. You would think the sealer was nothing more than bubblegum.
Then again it did take them forever to figure out how to keep a wheel from falling off on the Beeeezeee (what a stupid name).

Gerf

You are just a little ray of sunshine sir.

Striker223

Fix it yourself then, develop a "perfect fix" and market it as "that it's how it should have been factory" like other companies do for other issues in various brands.

Issue is in this case it normally takes a long time to happen and it's not a big deal to just fix it normally and be a little more heavy handed with sealant.

SW17LS

Ignore list is a beautiful thing guys lol