Tro209

Hey guys, as you can see by my profile I already own a 2006 is350 and I'm actually just posting in this forum for a friend of mine who is going from a 1gs to a 3gs. Lately his gs300 has been having tons of problems and he's about ready to ditch it and move on to a newer car. Long story short, he drove my is350, loved it, and now wants a gs350 since it has the same engine, basically the same interior only bigger, etc..

Anyway my question here is mainly about reliability and what to look for when purchasing one of these cars. Is there problem years or common issues he should know about? I figured that being it's the same engine that's in my IS, the car would be bulletproof. But research has said otherwise, surprisingly.. Anyway now that the car is a lot older, how would you guys say these cars hold up? The least thing he wants is to get another GS and have all the issues his is currently having. And yes, I know there are threads on this already. But I just wanted to see how your general opinions have changed over the years if at all.

Thanks everyone

Sodium

I've had my GS350 for around 3 years now, got it with 55k on the clock and now it's at 99.2k If anything, I love it more now than when I first took it home. Only issue I've had was at around 90k when the coolant pump failed, but it was easy to replace. Had I been on CL a couple years ago and known about the coolant pump issue, I would've replaced it at 80k, so it's somewhat my fault for not being aware of the issue.

Having said that, the powertrain is extremely reliable as long as it's well maintained, and therein lies the major variable. For example, I would bet all of my hair that most of the transmission issues people have are because they, or the original owner, believe Lexus USA's facacta policy of ATF WS being "lifetime fluid", even though Lexus Canada guidelines call for tranny fluid to be changed every 60k. If/when your friend finds a GS he is seriously considering, he should probably ask for a service history or check with the Lexus owners website to be sure that the recommended maintenance has been done. And if the tranny fluid hasn't been been changed but it feels fine during the test drive, fluid should be changed asap after buying it. Same goes for diff fluid.

As for non-essential electronic features, the 3GS is full of these, so it's not unlikely that at least one will fail at some point, at which point the choices are either live with it, replace it yourself, or sell a kidney and pay the dealer to do it. But it's the same on any modern luxury car to a certain extent, and more prevalent in most other brands (not gonna name names, but cars from ze fatherland come to mind ).

Sodium

Actually I can say this more succinctly: "is the GS350 reliable" isn't really the right question to be asking – the right question is "has this particular GS I'm interested in purchasing been maintained properly, or was it owned by the kind of person who defers replacing the coolant pump at 80k because 'I'm not gonna spend my hard-earned cash to replace the damn thing until it breaks'".

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

07-up GS350 rwd and awd are bullet proof, just make sure all the recalls have been preformed, and make sure the original water pump doesnt have over 80-100k miles on it.

08-up he will have nicer options

But any car he purchases it depends on how well it was taken care of.

Tro209

Thanks for the replies so far guys! So from what I understand the water pump seems to be the main issue on these vehicles correct? I guess that would make sense since on my IS350 it's the same way where the only potentially major thing to worry about would be the water pump. However I've heard of some people who don't even change it and have never had that problem and they are at over 100k miles. I actually purchased my is350 with 78k miles on it and now have over 130k miles on it after just 2 years and tend to flog it quite often. I have no idea if the water pump has ever been replaced but I don't see any signs pointing to that being an issue yet.

But aside from the water pump, is there anything else I need to know? I know general maintenance of the previous owner is important and I'll do my best to visually and audibly inspect everything when we go and check some out. But are there any more specific "red flag" areas to look out for?? How about transmissions, Are they reliable on these cars as much as they are on the 2IS? I also remember reading something about an oil burning issue, which to my knowledge doesn't exist on my IS. Is this really a problem?

Sodium

From what I've seen here, the oil burning issue is usually just along the lines of people complaining that they have to add a quart or two of oil between oil changes. I don't recall anyone having oil burning to the point where they see blue smoke in the rearview.

IS350 and GS350 have the same engine, so the issues you've seen on the 2IS forum should be the only ones that apply to the GS.

Tranny is reliable. Apart from issues due to the tranny fluid not being changed, the only real defect that I've seen pop up here a couple times is from a bad ECU causing rough shifts, and a replacement is around $2000.

Tro209

That also something I find interesting. Is the transmission of the GS350 the same as the IS350? I know they're geared differently but is the tranny the same?? I ask because over on the 2IS section we all go by the idea of not changing our transmission fluid due to the fact that it's not in the service manual and that it is a sealed transmission so changing the fluid would be pointless for us since we'd only be changing about 20% of the fluid in there. Don't take my word for it though, it's just what I've read. I know the ISF guys have to change theirs out at some point even though it's not listed in the manual oddly. Would you say the transmission flush is absolutely necessary or is it more of a "just to be sure" unproven kind of thing?

Sodium

Not sure if they're identical, but I'm sure they're very similar (at least between the IS350 and GS350 because they have identical engines putting out the same power and torque).

As for fluid change, the Lexus Canada service guidelines say to change tranny fluid every 60,000 miles, and the GS350s that are sold in Canada are identical to the ones sold in the US, so that should tell you something. Also, there are chemicals in the fluid that get depleted with use, and the only way to replenish them is with new fluid. A member on this forum (alchemist, I think) sent his 95k tranny fluid to a lab, and they found it had lost viscosity and lubricity, so it wasn't protecting the components as well as it did when new.

You can get your tranny flushed at Toyota or some Lexus dealerships, or there's a DIY on this forum for changing the fluid via drain and fill. To get most of the old fluid out, you need to do the drain/fill 3-4 times. I did it a few thousand miles ago, and the difference was subtle but definitely noticeable.

Dangit2001

My brother in-law has a 07 gs350. When he bought the car it had about 220k miles on it. Currently it has 264k and its still running strong. The alternator went out but that is a easy fix. Only issue that he currently has is the oil burning issue. Adds about 1 qt around 2k miles and a gasoline smell that he hasn't tracked down yet.

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

look up the vin on mylexus.com also to see the past history, run a carfax on it, check all the panel edges to see if theres any paint work. Ask has there been any accidents, or any kind of paint work on this car if so inspect to see how bad. Also fenders doors hoods all have vin number stickers if a panel has been replaced it will have a missing sticker. Goodluck!

Tro209

Hmmm, very odd that Canada would recommend it but not the US.. Clearly something ain't right here. I take it your from Canada correct? If so, have you ever actually seen what they do when they perform the transmission flush? Is it a full on fluid change or is it like my IS where they can only do some due to the fact that it's sealed?

Tro209

Good to see there are some high mileage examples out there! That for sure helped ease my mind when I purchased my is350, knowing that there are many people with over 200k miles. Also regarding the gas smell, is it only upon start up and only sometimes? Because my IS smells like that once in a while when I start her up. Not sure if it's only cold starts or what but from what I've read it's fairly common and not really an issue. There was however a recall I had performed earlier this year for a fuel related issue. Can't remember what exactly but I think something just needed to be tightened. Still does get that smell once in a while though but it goes away after about a minute.

Sodium

Actually nope, I've lived my whole life in Cali! A member here from Toronto posted about the Canadian service interval on several transmission threads to illustrate that "lifetime fluid" is a bullshít concept. No idea what the reason behind the difference is, though I would guess that it has something to do with Mercedes and BMW having lifetime tranny fluid – Lexus probably felt that for marketing reasons, they couldn't let American consumers have the impression that ze Germans have superior tranny fluid technology.

showing how a tranny flush is done.

The drain and fills I did myself, it really wasn't hard. Calling it a "sealed transmission" is a bit of a misnomer since there are drain, fill, and level check bolts in the tranny oil pan. Here is the excellent DIY I followed for doing the drain/fills. For higher mileage cars, the drain/fills are probably better since the flush can loosen debris and allow it to block narrow oil passages in the tranny.

tayslexus

I have a 08 GS350 AWD which I bought a month ago and have put so far 2000+ kms on the GS. The main things that you should be aware of is the rattles in the car and I'm hoping it doesn't get worse during the winter time. Also, beside the water pump, I've had a vibration in the car between 20-25 mph when the car is cold until a week ago the car stopped shaking. And this seems to be common if you google it, but maybe because I just did a transmission fluid change by the dealer and yes I live in Canada, so I'm not sure why in the US Lexus claimed that the transmission is sealed. Other than that, so far so good, the car is solid.

kbop

Hi - I am considering buying a 2006 GS 350 with about 90K miles on it. In the car fax I did not see if they flushed fluids or replaced the water pump. So, If I do get this car, should I just flush the fluids and replace water pump to prevent any issues? thanks for your help!!