george1958

Hi,

Looking at buying a 07 LS460. Someone posted a link to all the service bulletins (great post, by the way)

When the service bulletin lists the affected vin numbers, how many digits am I looking at to determine if a vehicle I am looking into buying is part of the list?

Thank you very much,

GS

cmasten

Hey George, hopefully you join the club soon.

The TSB's or technical service bulletins usually list the groups that are affected and/or by year. I have seen them do this a few ways, one is to grey out the part that doesnt apply and bold the part that does, others just give you the range at a certain part of the VIN. Its pretty evident when you see it. If you have an example of one that doesnt make sense just post it up here, this is a site full of knowledgeable and helpful people, but it usually helps to post a specific example to discuss.

george1958

Thank you for your reply.

Here's an example. Service bulletin for engine idle knocking noise says, "Production change effective vin," and lists this vin number JTHBL46F#75012539 (all bold numbers in thread = my emphasis)

This bulletin talks about the timing chain tensioner, PCM, etc...

If the vehicle I am looking at has this vin number JTHBL46F375029863

Than I can assume this vehicle is one that could POSSIBLY be affected, correct?

I would want to stay away from this vehicle since it seems most 07 bulletins have the indentical first eight numbers?

I hope I am making sense.

Thank you,

cmasten

I cant speak to this one specifically, but its usually the serial numbers under the number they give you if they dont give you a range. Mine is a black 07 and has a serial on the other side of this, it had the fuel pipes replaced and the idler pulley, there are more service bulletins for this year, but in general the 07 is pretty solid. I looked at many before find one, I didnt sweat the details of the TSBs as much as the service history for the vehicle itself relative to the price they were asking.

The service history of this vehicle is as follows, doesnt look like its had regular dealer service, oil etc and was hit, as there was bumper repair etc, personally I would stay clear of this one, but others can chime in with their thoughts.

Service Type Service Date Service Provider Mileage Repair Order # Service Description
Dealer Reported 05/26/2010 Lexus of Marin 58235 0173133 SUBLET TO QUICKSHINE RO REPAIR PANELS, CARPETS, CONSOLE AND SEAT DAMAGES.
Dealer Reported 05/22/2010 Lexus of Marin 58234 0172741 CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED PDI
Dealer Reported 05/22/2010 Lexus of Marin 58234 0172741 COMPLETE MAJOR SERVICE (30K PERFORMANCE PACKAGE) FOR LS 460.
Dealer Reported 05/22/2010 Lexus of Marin 58234 0172741 USED CAR DETAIL
Dealer Reported 05/22/2010 Lexus of Marin 58234 0172741 BRAKES
Dealer Reported 05/22/2010 Lexus of Marin 58234 0172741 CUSTOMER HAS AUTHORIZED TO MOUNT AND BALANCE TIRES.
Dealer Reported 05/22/2010 Lexus of Marin 58234 0172741 SUBLET TO MOBILE AUTOBODY FOR BUMPER REPAIRS.
Dealer Reported 07/21/2009 Lexus of Marin 42097 0158560 C/S: INSTALL SOP PULLEY SET FOR CAMPAIGN 89LA
Dealer Reported 06/30/2009 Lexus of Marin 40795 0157518 HEATING/COOLING
Dealer Reported 06/30/2009 Lexus of Marin 40795 0157518 SERVICE CAMPAIGNS
Dealer Reported 01/31/2008 Lexus of Marin 12719 0135893 LEXUS OF MARIN IS PROVIDING YOU WITH A LOANER VEHICLE AT NO CHARGE TO YOU. IF TH
Dealer Reported 01/31/2008 Lexus of Marin 12719 0135893 TEST/REPLACE AUDIO AMPLIFIER
Dealer Reported 09/14/2007 Lexus of Marin 5105 0130364 CUSTOMER REQUESTS 5M SERVICE TO BE COMPLETED AS PER FACTORY RECOMMENDATIONS.
Dealer Reported 09/14/2007 Lexus of Marin 5105 0130364 MISC
Dealer Reported 09/14/2007 Lexus of Marin 5105 0130364 LPS
Dealer Reported 03/15/2007 Lexus of Reno 7 0053948 NEW INTERNAL DETAIL
Dealer Reported 03/13/2007 Lexus of Reno 6 0053946 PRE-DELIVERY INSPECT

george1958

Thanks, I appreciate the reply.

Is all this information on car fax? If not, where did you get it?

What other advice would you (anyone) give someone looking to buy a used 07 whether it is a CPO or from a private seller?

Thanks,
GS

cmasten

I got this off the Lexus owners site, you can register and then add a VIN to see the service history, when your done, just delete the vehicle. It tracks all the maintenance that anyone has put in under a dealer in the US, and/or any info that individuals that logged in would have kept.

Carfax doesnt tell you much, i have been burned on it before which is how I came up with this solution.

https://secure.drivers.lexus.com/lex...LoggedOut=true

I use this site to tell me of all the maintenance that was recorded by a dealer, which is about as good as one can get if the owner didnt keep records. I look if they followed the maintenance schedule and kept up with TSBs etc. it can tell you a lot, especially what to stay away from. CPO isnt even a good indicator, and honestly while they do back it up, I am not impressed with the methods that use to get a vehicle to CPO...but that is just my opinion.

george1958

Thanks for the info. Looks like a great site. I created a log in. I saw that it asked for a vin when I registered, but I cannot seem to find out how to pull records with a vin number.

Thanks,
GS

cmasten

you can add a vehicle enter the vin pull the service records and then just delete the vehicle when your done, if will ask you if you ever owned this vehicle, just say no, and it will omit it from your registration. Adding a vehicle to your registration allows you access to their service database and you can get all the info you need and then just delete it.


This is good to see if an LS owner took care of the vehicle and handled the recalls etc, but if an owner took it to an independent service facility or did it on their own it may/may not be there.

I enter in all of the self service that I perform as I want to keep track of it all for the next person. I am fine with it being dealer or self, as long as I can see the history and interval etc

My theory is that a luxury vehicle owner would use the dealer for a car of this caliber especially for the first dozen or so services and I want to see the history. If they didnt I usually shy away as they cant prove (usually) that they took care of the car the way I would and I dont want to pay for abuse. it has served me well over the past 10 years or so.

george1958

This is a great find! Thanks for sharing!