NewLexusES

Looking to purchase 99 ES300 from my aunt. She bought it in 1998 and has babied this car. It only has 114,000 miles on it and has had all regular/routine maintenance on car done by Lexus dealership. I'm a little timid about buying the car. Family desperately needs another vehicle with a backseat since we have 2 children. I guess I am looking for some kind of reassurance that I'm going to get more than 2000 miles out of this car before it craps out on me.

nsghtbrwry

Very reliable cars (because it's a V6 Camry with sound deadening, leather, and a body kit), with a few gotchas.

1. I'm sure you're aware that 1MZ engines suffer from sludging. First thing to do is peek under the oil cap for sludge. If it's present, not usually a big deal, but you have to deal with it.

Do an oil change with a good filter (Wix, Purolator/Bosch, there are recommendations here: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/10...ce-thread.html) and quality oil, preferably full synthetic (you should be changing the oil/fluids when you buy a used car anyway). First couple oil changes, change at 1500-2k miles, and you can dump a bottle of SeaFoam or equivalent and let it idle 10-15 minutes before changing to get even more sludge out. After that, IDC what godly oil you use or what Blackstone Labs says, do not go beyond 5k OCI. You probably also want to change the PCV valve: use an OEM Toyota one, as the aftermarket is all garbage.

2. The valve cover bolts on these engines were not well thought out. They bottom out in the bore, and thus loosen over time and let oil leak. If you have oil and grime down the front of the block or the rear, replace valve cover gaskets. Use a kit that comes with spark plug tube seals as well (The Fel-Pro and Beck/Arnley kits are great). There are plenty of tutorials, but you will need some FIPG/black RTV (and you might as well seal the half-moons). Reuse the valve cover bolts, but put two 5/16" washers on each one (36 total for 18 bolts). Torque them down to the proper spec, 69 in-lbs. Now it won't leak until the gaskets fail.

With the VC's off, you can better gauge how sludged the engine is: look for sludge deposits on bearing caps, etc. If it's plugging up oil galleries, use a screwdriver to clean them out.

3. Since you said it's a '99, I'm assuming it has the VVTi engine. That means it's paired to the U140E transmission, which is markedly more problematic than the older, bulletproof A541E. There are a few things you can do to extend its life (I have personally had an original U140E with 243k and one that blew the fluid pump at 151k, so listen up):

- first, drop the pan and check the magnets. If they're hairy with metal shavings, you've got a problem: gears have been wearing. If the transmission doesn't make any undue noises, then move on: change the screen filter and the pan gasket. I recommend the Wix kit, as the screen filter is comparable to OEM and it comes with a nice rubber gasket. Pan bolt torque is 69 in-lbs, don't overdo it (as in, get down to Harbor Freight and nab a 1/4" torque wrench).

- second, install an auxiliary transmission cooler and inline magnetic filter. The U140E is prone to overheating and subsequently burning up clutch packs; this will eliminate that problem. The magnetic filter will catch, well, metal particles. I recommend the Long Tru-Cool LPD models w/thermostatic bypass, and Magnefine/Filtran filters. I did a write-up on this a while back, here's where the trans part starts: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/10...l#post12279962.

- use a high quality fluid. Valvoline MaxLife comes highly recommended. Drain and refill every 30k, and change the magnetic inline filter at this time as well. You will never need to change the screen filter again.

...there're a few other things that are minor, such as knock sensors, etc.; these pop up from time to time but you can seek help when they show up. HTH

PFB

Wooow. I respectfully disagree with most of your recommendations. You're scaring the poster and steering him to expensive work for no valid reason.

First off you can not see engine sludge by looking through the oil filler bcap. There is a baffle there that prevents you from seeing anything inside. All you see is a baffle, which is totally meaningless.

Second, the poster says that the car was maintained at the Lexus dealership. Assuming that's correct, than no additional maintenance work should be required.

Also, Installing a transmission oli cooler is not required either. Unless you do heavy towing.

Also, in terms of oil filters, only OEM filters should be used.

let the poster enjoy his new car, and hopefully he'll maintain it well.

NewLexusES

Thanks PFB! That post was a little confusing. There will be no heavy towing - at all. I did wonder about all the sludge though. Was hoping that if it was taken care of routinely and properly then there should be minimal problems to come. Especially since current owner has had no problem with it at all. I do plan to follow in her footsteps as far as maintaining the car. If possible would like to get another 100-200k miles out of it since I'm not a real big fan of car payments.

Also, I'm a she.

nsghtbrwry

Nah, doing nothing of the sort; just speaking from my experiences with these cars. If you do some research, you will see the multitude of problems that show up with the U-series transmissions vs the older, Aisin-designed A-series. A trans cooler may be beneficial on just about every automatic transmission (especially for towing), but on these, as with Ford transmissions through the '90's and '00's, or Honda transmissions '98-'05, it helps prevent sudden death syndrome. My '01 was exclusively maintained at a dealer for 151k miles; driven 20 miles a day on the highway with occasional long trips and the transmission let go.

The OEM Denso filters perform well for what they are, even though analyses on BITOG show that they have a 50% filtration efficiency compared to good aftermarket alternatives (98-99%, AKA, not Fram OCOD). I'm saying this as somebody who uses Wix, Purolator, and Denso filters on his cars.

That baffle design is partially responsible for the sludge on these engines; if it's present, it's usually caked on right under oil cap and you can scrape it with your fingers.

crwys

If it was maintained at a Lexus dealership then sludge should not be a problem at all. Sludge only occurs when oil changes are neglected. Correct me if I'm wrong.

As for the transmission it is less reliable than the older 98- cars, but it's still reliable. Mine made it to 190k which isn't perfect but also not too bad. When I got the car it had brown transmission oil so i think it was neglected from the previous owner.

But if you do need to replace anything sensor wise make sure it's OE. It may cost a little more but it's much more worth it longetivitely and reliability wise.

nsghtbrwry

Yeah in addition to a lot of short-trip, stop-and-go driving and not warming the car up. My buddy with an '00 tried a 7500 OCI with full synthetic and there was sludge caked under the valve covers on his previously-pristine engine; almost exclusively highway driving.

Admittedly I'm wary of the U-series because all my buddies like the facelifted '00-01 cars and I've had to fix several of their trans. I will say that even with hairy magnets these things usually come back after a fluid flush as long as the clutch packs haven't burned up. I add the coolers and inline filters on all of them now as preventative maintenance.

The Sonnax Zip Kit is great as well for high-mileage U140E's, especially if the accumulator pistons have worn in their bores and shifting is harsh even after a fluid change.

satiger

iTrader: (1)

I got to respectfully disagree with you on these comments. Engine sludge problem only when owners skip oil changes. Many assume since its Lexus, could run without an oil change!.

Not sure where you heard about transmission problems with this series car. For records, I have 00 ES, purchased new, still runs good. Currently at 287k miles, smooth transmission shifts, no burning oil. I have detail reports on this car in this forum. Feel free to check them.

Built like tank!.

nsghtbrwry

The A-series vs U-series discussions go on over on Toyota Nation a lot. I'm mostly speaking from what I've seen - gently driven facelifted 3ES's with transmission issues that I don't see in A541E's. I mean, if yours is running good, hey, more power to you, but again, just what I've seen (and have). These are just data points - I guess I can rephrase as for every U140E that's still running well, there are a couple out there that are exhibiting problems that the A-series wouldn't have at a given mileage. Perhaps we should start a separate thread on this, weighing in with cars and examples - otherwise it's just anecdotal.

I'm not disagreeing about skipped oil changes/a long OCI causing sludging problems but short-trip driving and not properly warming up the engine does cause sludging issues.

Ace20Six

Someone say hairy/built up transmission magnets? Here is a pic of my transmission pan after I dropped it to change the filter. I was experiencing a loud whine(transmission fluid pump) at cold start ups in the morning. Took about 10mins of warming the car up for it to go away. Also had some trans shift solenoid codes pop up with the Check engine light and lost all gears on the freeway after I could not get above 40mph.




For the record, I bought this car from the original owner at 147k miles. Dealer maintained with receipts to back it up, 8k miles later I was experiencing the issues above.

I would agree a external transmission cooler could be beneficial, but with a few things to factor in. Like what are the driving habits or driving conditions? Are there plenty of hills or high elevation driving like through mountains? Spirited high speed driving once in a while? Insane triple digit heat outside? etc.

This car was purchased for my 140mile round trip commute for work. Exclusively highway driven besides the 3 miles from my home to freeway and 2 miles from freeway exit to works parking lot. I experience all of the mentioned above driving conditions besides the traveling through mountains part. So I fall into the category of probably benefiting from a transmission cooler.

I knew the 99-01 ES had transmission issues before purchasing and was ready to deal with it if/when it arrived. Do some researching and you will find plenty of people experiencing issues with the U140E transmission. From my searches there's not a whole lot of info on how and why these transmissions fail. It seems most don't dig in to find out, they just simply replace the trans.

When I was searching online for the one I bought every other listing stated the car had transmission issues.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

I wouldn't say they were unreliable as lasting to 140-200k without strict servicing isnt unreliable, it's just premature for a Lexus. I think it was the same thing with the engine sludging, while clearly more prone to it than other engines, it was preventable as there are tons of people out there who never experienced the issue on super high mileage cars (mine being one of them). I'll have to agree with satiger, who if I remember correctly is also an original owner.

My 2001, which I sold with 240k and driven first by my father who bought it new off the lot, continues to be the most reliable lexus we have ever had, owning nearly 15 between us. Now it should be noted, I did have to drop the transmission BUT it was because of a leaking seal, not a transmission failure and after regular 50k miles drain and fills, the fluid was always cherry red, and I'm pretty sure 50k intervals were longer than what lexus suggested.

to OP, to tell you a nearly 20 year old car won't have an issue at some point is unreasonable, but a low mileage, dealer maintained ES is about as safe a used car purchase you can make at a cheap price.