berticus

Hello, I'm a college student so all I could afford was an 07' is250. (Sorry no 350), but I'm really happy with the car and it's more than enough for me. Anyway... I bought the car at around 78k miles, and it's now at about 82k miles since I bought it (from a dealer) about 6 months ago. Anyway, as I understand I need to have a major serving around 90k miles (which I don't actually expect to hit for a while). How much might that run me (so that I can be prepared)? About how often should I get the car serviced at this point. The dealer I purchased the car from did a basic oil change and everything when I bought it, and it's been about 3k miles. I was planning on taking it in at around 5k, but I didn't know if it mattered that the car hasn't been serviced in about 6 months. Is there a certain time period that comes before the mileage in terms of servicing? Everything runs fine so far, the only issue I've noticed is that when it's very cold (0-15F (I live in New England)) the car makes a funny choking sound when starting. It's starting to warm up (because it's Spring) so that shouldn't be an issue anymore, but I wanted to know if it were anything I needed to worry about. Other than that I love the car and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

darkdream

The chocking could be carbon build up. I am not familiar with it since I have the 350. So the dealer changed the brake fluid at the time of purchase? It should be changed every 30k miles or three years.

queboy89

I'm driving an '08 IS250 AWD, and I've just finished grad school. My parents swapped out my Toyota Celica for it due to safety concerns (I live in the cold/snowy Midwest), so I hated having to pay the premiums of maintenance. Here's what I do to keep costs down:

I do everything at Firestone. It's affordable, great car service that gets the jobs done. They use synthetic oils for my changes, and they usually set the car to alert me every 4000 miles. I however, usually drive about 5000 miles before I actually schedule the change. Depending on my previous period of driving, I will take it in earlier or later from the light.

I'm hitting 65K miles now, and I've just taken it in for service at Firestone (literally sitting across from them waiting for them to service it now...). They have a $9.99 car checkup that actually looks for things that needs to be worked on, rather than swapping it all out outright. Since they do it every season, I actually get it checked out about twice a year for kicks.

If you go here, https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lex...ce-schedule.do, Lexus will tell you what services you need at various mileage points. I use this as the standard to go off of, and then tell Firestone what I want or need.

The key thing with my maintenance habits is that I'm more reactive than preventative. I get checks and inspections to stay on top of it, but I don't swap out working parts and pieces to keep the car FULLY optimal. Of course, things will change once I'm more settled and willing to spend more. The other side of it is, once I have a garage, I'll probably start learning to fix up parts of it myself.

My car is also doing the "choking" this time of the year, but I attribute that to the cold.

metaleckz

iTrader: (9)

Just buy the 90k maintenance kit on sewell. Then change oil every 5k . Lol diy and save money

1000hp

And if you're not comfortable doing it yourself, get out your maintenance guide and look at what's specified for each service.
You can save $$$ by having the services done a la carte, rather than as a "service."
For example:

90k Service = $625

Actual services specified (oil change, rotation/balance, air filter, cabin filter, brake fluid flush) = $395.00

Prices may vary depending on what your particular dealership charges, but it's going to be cheaper if you cut it down to the actual maintenance items without paying the additional labor that's built into any given service.

IS25006

I'm coming up on my first oil change / recommended maintenance (tire rotation, replace coolant, brake inspection). I have been planning on going to my local Lexus dealership but I know other places would be more affordable. Does anyone (besides queboy89) go to a non-Lexus for regular services?

dmk720

You go to Lexus only for problems difficult to diagnose by non-Lexus repair shop. Pay them 150 for it and schedule appt. with your non-Lexus mechanic who will hopefully fix it.

dstun

If you want to stick with dealership servicing, go to toyota for your basic maintenance. Same products for the most part but at a much cheaper rate.

patrickd

Congrats. How much you get the car for and is fully loaded?

carlos3366

I recommend changing oil, plugs, brake fluid and filters. find a good independent mechanic, labor and parts, no more than $500.00