I am interested in 1997 ES300 150-190k miles

mmarshall warned me against the 3.0 V6 he said there is some small oil passage and causes oil to gel up and possible engine damaged ?

Can you please clarify if these years have such a problem?

Would you say this is a fairly reliable car, is it easy to work on? (Timing Belt and water pump already done around 160k)

 

I haven't heard such thing.
I have a 97 ES300 with more than 260k miles on the original engine.
Very reliable car. Easy to work on.

 

He must be referring to a news report that came out years ago. Some random mechanic in that video blamed the design of the PCV system as the culprit of the sludge issues with the 1MZFE.

The sludge issue has been discussed numerous times, but in short it's not something you should worry about as long as there is a sign of regular maintenance.

 

Yes that is true about possible sludge. The sludge usually manifests after repeated failure to change the oil or if used on very short drives where the engine doesn't reach operating temperature so that any moisture in the oil does not have a chance to evaporate. If the oil was change on time and the car driven normally sludge should not be an issue. If you are worried have someone pull the left valve cover and take a gander. 1mz-fe engines built after June of 2002 have enlarged oil passages to alleviate the potential sludge problem

These are very reliable cars. Some problems to expect would be failure of the O2 sensors and knock sensors.

The ES300's are fairly easy to work on with the exception of changing the right bank spark plugs because they are not typically accessible without removing other parts. There is lots of information on working on these because they are basically a luxury V6 Camry.

 

Buy it if it has a decent service history. My 97 was at 150K when it was totalled. Ran like a champ.