tonybada

my 2007 GX470 has been a little disappointing. I have 80k miles on it and recently the alternator went ($800.00 repair) now the passenger side window motor has stopped working (window is stuck down). I am sure that will be $400.00 to repair. I have had other minor issues as well. I have had more reliable cheap vehicles in the past. I thought Lexus would be better.

redrocks

Unfortunately, I have to agreed with you. Love the vehicle but disappointed with the reliability.

Crispy3M

X3

If it's bullet proof, it's needs a new vest

RCsGX

My GX was a 1 owner and she took it to Lexus every 5K miles and at every scheduled maintenance interval. All I've seen on the drivers.lexus site, other than pages and pages of maintenance that she had them do, was at 20K one of the front axle was replaced and at 80K it says distributor/hdlight/t.sgnl, whatever that means? I bought it with around 93K miles and it currently has around 120K. Every time I have friends and family ride in it they always say how smooth it rides and how quiet it is.

All I've done since owning it was typical maintenance and since it rolled over 100K I've replaced the battery (was on the original), rear shocks, spark plugs and upstream air / fuel sensors. Based on that I'd say mines been pretty much bulletproof.

Fluid

iTrader: (1)

Anyone know/hear of the Nav system being a reliability issue on an older GX? It seems >90% of pre-owned ones have the Nav and since everything runs through it I'm a bit concerned with this if I end up keeping one until it is 15+ years old with 150-200k mi. I did recently read one thread about the double DIN upgrade and believe a poster mentioned if the original Nav unit fails its $4k to replace

Do all of you commenting about high miles have the OEM Nav?

tonybada

i have the oem nav. So far no real problem other than the fact the routing is absolutely the worst!. I use my 100 dollar portable garmin which blows away the Lexus Navigation system.

redrocks

If the original NAV unit fails, why not use your smartphone (provided you have one)?

Fluid

iTrader: (1)

My concern is not with the Nav, I would certainly use my iPhone instead, its with the loss of other controls through that head unit. I can live w/o a factory nav system.

RCsGX

You can find a used one on eBay for $500+. There's no massive failure of navigation units so you have nothing to worry about.

gxman1

Hi RC,

Hope you had a good weekend. I try to repair myself. I know little about cars, but guys like you Mann and other helped me in the past.
My both side mirrors were not operating as intended, the servo motor was shot. I think PO just left in one position and was stuck, tried to fix it, took it apart and greased it, still would not work.

Bought both side pieces which fits behind the glass for total of $50 used(dealer usually wants to change the whole side mirror and both of the would probably run over $1000 on the low side.) this part for both side cost around $400 -$500.

Anyway, installed each side in less than 10 minutes, for $50.

As some of you know, I was having tough time to use DAC and with your help and Mann I was able to diagnose the problem and changed the switch without dropping the transfercase for $59. I can only assume what dealer would of wanted, probably around $600-$700.

My truck has 102,000M and I know this thing rides like new and its safe. I try to avoid dealers and maintain cars myself, I get great prices on parts from local dealer using my friends dealership account. I also enjoy working on the truck, it has high clearance and most of the time I dont jack it up.

RC, can you do me a favor again, why did you change your rear shocks? please provide detail so I can check mine as well. I did not see any oil leaks from the rear shocks.

However, whenever I am at bump or getting off my driveway to the street there is only around 6" difference and the truck goes right left bit shaky and soon as i press the gas it stops wobbling. is this normal?

Also, when I hit small hole or bump it feels little bit harder than my cars.

And once I diagnose the problem, which shocks? I read some of your earlier posts, I think some people go with Bilstein? I dont have KDSS.

Thanks

Fluid

iTrader: (1)

GXMAN1, did you take any pics of how that was done? 10m sounds like there is a straight-forward way to remove them. Even if it took someone 2-3x that's a pretty nice DIY. Especially for $50! I'm currently looking to buy a preowned GX and recently saw one with an inoperable Driver-side mirror.

amccaulx

Can you just swap NAV Headunits like that, without having to re code\program anything?

I haven't heard of many NAV Headunit failures, but considering that all of the HVAC controls go through it, it would suck to have it go out, and the just the screen from sewell parts lists for like $4k.

As far as reliability goes, the drivetrains in the GX are pretty bullet proof, and many consider the 4.7 V8 (2UZ-FE) to be one of the best engines toyota has ever made. Another plus, is that the GX470 was built in Japan, which does make a huge difference in reliability and quality control.

I haven't owned a GX long enough to comment on reliability, but at 80k miles, everything on ours is working as it should. I do worry about all of the extra "luxury" goodies the GX has, that could potentially fail down the road (like NAV Screen, Power Steering wheel that moves every time you turn on/off the car, Air Suspension, Xreas, KDSS). If you search the forums, you don't see many major issues on these, mostly Air Suspension, Leaking Radiator, Leaky Transfer Case. These could be expensive if you took it to a dealer to fix, but if your are handy, or have a trusted mechanic, most of the common issues can be fixed, or bypassed without costing an arm and a leg.

gxman1

FLUID,

It is very easy, all you need is a flat screwdriver, and phillips, you do not need to take the entire assembly out. I bought mine from ebay for about $25 a piece. Here is how to do it. MAKE SURE YOU BUY WITH MEMORY. It is called ACTUATOR ASSY, OUTER MIRROR, make sure to buy R or L, since they are different.

See attached, make sure when you insert the flat screwdriver it is angled as pictured. It comes right out. The only part which is hard to reach with your finger is the back connection.

The left side, I was very careful and took me 10 min, the right side 5 min. SEE ATTACHED
Here is what I would do, play with the switch and see /hear if there is slight noise or movement. If so, change the actuator. Dont try to open it and fix it, most likely it wont work. I dissembled and tried to lubricate and change the servo motor, the problem was the plastic housing gets slightly warped and the gears would get stuck. Afterwards, I just bought used for ebay for $25 and changed it instead of fixing it. Now my both side works flawlessly.

Part # is 8790960731 for left side with memory.
New cost is around $120 search internet with part number,
Used from ebay is around $50. I manged to get is cheaper.

RCsGX

I did. It was a busy one! Hope you had a good weekend as well.

I didn't notice any oil leaks but once I removed them there were super easy to compress by hand so they were pretty worn. I replaced mine because I would bottom out and hit the bump stops bad when going over speed bumps or hitting a large dip in the road. I switched them and I still have the problem but it's not as bad and the rebound and compression were a LOT tighter and smoother. I tried raising the GX before speed bumps and one large dip in the road near my house and it worked great, no bottoming out. So when I replace the front shocks / springs I'm going to raise the rear a little bit by tricking the air bags and that should give me a smooth ride out back again.



Yep you sure can. This past summer my puppy cracked my screen and I bought an entire used navi cluster (navi surround trim, clock, navi h/u, a/c, radio) off of eBay. It plugged right it and no codes etc. were needed. If you ever do replace your navigation unit just make sure the plugs on the back of the one you're buying are the same as your current unit.

gxman1

What did you do with the old broken unit? do you still have the broken unit, if you recall my AC Temp switch is faded, they sell the other 5 buttons except the Driver side Temp button. I am looking for someone who upgraded the NAV unit or changed the old one so I can get the button.