gunpowder

Some suggestion needed:

I needed a second vehicle badly and my budget was around 5k$. The place I live there is not much option within of 5k. Fortunately, found one Lexus es 2005 model with 140,000 XX and decided to buy it. This vehicle was 5hr drive far from my town and decided to buy. As I couldn't go there personally, I sent one of cousin to inspect. One thing, I missed it was 140,000 miles, not Km!!!


Anyway, I bought that vehicle with 3.5K, so I am convincing my mind that I need to put another 1.5k anyway on the vehicle to make it good order.

Now, could you please advise what are the maintenances I should go with?

I was keeping that money for the timing belt change. But i guess with 140,000 miles, is it fair to say it has been changed at least once. But i guess, even if it got changed, probably time for another change??

I am really upset with this km vs miles and hope you guys can give me some advice regarding the maintenance to keep the vehicle in good shape for some time.

thanks in advance.

LeX2K

Timing belt could be original they have been known to go past 150,000 miles. If you don't know then do a timing belt job. For maintenance replace all fluids like you would any car as for the km versus miles that could be a good thing if the car spent most of its life in a salt free climate. Did you do a Carproof report before buying?

gunpowder

I was on the road while my cousin went for the test drive. As soon as he said, the odometer is in the mile, I checked the carfax and my bad luck, even in the carfax the km/mile readings were inconsistent and were all in km. Look at the picture. I was browsing everything from phone and couldn't make a very good quick decision.

LeX2K

Well you didn't pay much for the car so I wouldn't sweat too much. The car did go to auction at one point and has some repaired body damage which is usually a minor repair which can be thousands even though considered minor. What matters most if the condition of the car especially body wise. Mechanically these cars are hard to kill.

gunpowder

There were 4 claims. The first one was 4k and the last 3 are left rear for 1.3k. That's why I didn't bother much. Body wise the car looks ok, only one of the headlight is gloomy, but it works.

Mechanically, I am thinking I will take it to the shop for the timing belt, pump, idler, tensioner, all these get changed and some fluids.

On the fluids, what should I change sequentially?

brakes? transmission? radiator? power steering?

I normally take very good care of cars. Do you think, with proper care, i can make it 200k miles on this car??

80es300

First, try to ask previous owner for service records so you know what was already done. If it was serviced at Lexus, you can find service history at https://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers/history (Create a user id and add the VIN to see service history)
140K is not bad, you can easily drive to 200k provided the previous owners didn't abuse it much. I still drive 98 ES300, 180K miles with almost no major repairs, just regular maintenance & minor stuff.
1. Check transmission fluid and should be very easy to do drain/refill. If dark, do couple of times... with every oil change or so.
2. Coolant will be changed anyways when u do timing belt/water pump job
3. Power steering/Brake fluid as needed or when u do new Brakes.

Enjoy the new ride

LeX2K

Can't predict how long the car will last but very likely. For fluids the sequence doesn't matter just get them all changed, the coolant will need to be drained during a timing belt job. Use the Aisin TKT026 timing belt kit ONLY if a shop wants to use something else then don't give them work. Best case find a shop that will install parts you provide.

If you buy from Rockauto get 5% off by using a discount code from here there are no import or hidden charges when buying at Rockauto.

gunpowder

didn't work out. Created the account with the VIN and it shows all the maintenance have been done till 25000miles at the US dealer. Afterward no information about the vehicle. Looks like once it has been moved to Canada the owner probably didn't take it to the dealer!!!

lexus400BR

Hello, you should not worry about the engine mileage. These cars run easy 600, 700 thousand miles. See in you tube cars of this model being sold with 600 thousand miles. You should worry about replacing the automatic transmission oil every 50,000 miles, the engine oil every 5,000 miles, the timing belt every 50 or 60,000 miles, check the front transmission hoods because if they are torn they leave the grease come out and spoil. And ready! You have the best and most reliable car brand in the world and one of Toyota's best motors, gearboxes and mechanics. relax and be happy!
Hugs from Brazil.

alan311

Oh yea, if you feel bad about the mileage, watch this: (length: 4:35).
If its nicely maintained (no check-engine lights, runs smooth, shifts ok, no strange noises, oil changes on time etc and whatever car experts suggest for maintenance), it should keep running.
I think Lexus is very reliable. I've watched videos on Youtube where mechanics are trying to fix complex issues on newer cars (where its clear that its a design/manufacturing defect) and my car has been running fine with minimum/average maintenance with no serious issues. I had some stuff go bad due to various/typical/normal reasons, or reasons that were my fault but I got it mostly fixed. It has some problems but it still runs. For a 17 year old car it works great and the interior is very nice. My transmission has a jerk between 3rd and 4th but I know how to work with it and it hasnt gotten worse in 10 years. It probably happened due to bad driving before I bought it. I drive less than average miles/year. I bought it at 100k miles and have 142k on it now and I think it will keep running.
If your VIN starts with a J, your car was made in Japan and was therefore likely created with great care and quality control.

You could get it checked out at a good mechanic to see what they recommend. Ask for a full exam ($80-$100 etc) and also check for rust at the bottom (considering it was in Canada with snow/salt on the roads).
If you bought it very recently (less than two weeks ago), you can connect a good OBD reader (like BAFX), use a free OBD app, read the codes to make sure there's no pending codes and check if all the Emission tests pass and the Readiness monitors are in the 'passed' state. If they are in the failed state, its possible that they cleared out the DTC errors before selling the car and then any DTC codes might come back when the drive cycles are completed. If the monitors arent ready, you can keep driving the car normally until the drive cycles are complete at some point (might take a week or two) and the readiness monitors should switch to the 'passed' state if everything is working correctly. If there are DTCs, a good mechanic can find the cause and fix it.