Looking for advice from 2011 Lexus ES 350 Owners

Our car is driven on good roads, no abuse of car, driven safely. I live in Central Florida. Have a 2011 Lexus ES 350. Have kept it in excellent condition. Serviced at dealership. CV axel left and right replaced at 60,000 miles, New tires Michelins, new brake rotors and pads(all OEM). New brake fluid and power steering fluid. New radiator at 100K (it started leaking ) with new long life Lexus coolant. 4 wheel alignments every 8-10K. New cabin and engine air filters every 15K. Took it in for 110,000 mile service and dealership stated it now dealership recommends: (1) Drive belt replacement $233 (2) Steering gear box assembly remove and replace $3405 (3) Front lower arms remove and replace both $1905 (4) Engine mount remove and replace upper $201 (5) Drive shaft remove and replace front $1200 . The steering and suspension items were also suggested by an independent shop as well. I have owned Camrys, Corolla and Sequoia that have run till I sold them for 120-130,000 miles with standard care like oil changes, filters, fluids , spark plugs , brakes etc. I was thinking I would be having transmission fluid/filter changed, drive belt, spark plugs etc. on my car. I was also told to have shocks and struts replaced in as well in next 5K, an additional few thousand dollars. The only accidents were parking lot fender benders over the 13 years we have owned the car. The total cost of these repairs is almost $10,000 !!!

I was told by dealership and an independent shop that this is normal wear and tear in a 2011 ES 350. These parts as designed to fail after 100K and they do.
Normal wear and tear! How on earth is this possible? Have you guys have had the same issues with your Lexus ES 350? I can understand if the car was being abused or neglected but this car looks great and has been well kept. Is this an ES 350 issue that Lexus has not told the public?

Please give me any suggestions or advice you can offer. I was under assumption that Lexus was a better version of Toyota. In my family and friends no one has had any such issues every with their Toyotas or Hondas . Thank you

 

Assume you replaced with OEMs previously, the dealership quotes are mostly nonsense. I would at least get the belt done as it's about time and you don't want it to fail on you on the highway, but you should probably see if you can couple that with your water pump replacement to save on labor.

Top engine mount is the dog bone one and you can inspect that yourself, Google pictures of deteriorated mounts and compare against yours, also listen for telltale sounds like chunking while accelerating.

I would get them to take you round the bottom of the car and show you exactly why they need to replace each component, and let you take pictures, then go to another independent shop that specializes in older Lexuses and get them to do an inspection and report. For repairs that large I would definitely get a third or even fourth opinion.

 

Thank you. I will have them show me exactly what they are talking about. The only thing that made sense was the drive belt, as I know its a wear and tear item. When I asked if it was bad they said, "oh no, its good, this is just our normal advice" . That made me wonder how much of this is real and how much is just advice. From suspension stuff I took it to one Pep Boys locations and they told me same thing. I took it to another pep boys location and they said everything was fine. So now I am confused. Thank you.

 

Lexus prices are 2-3 times more, and perhaps they lied about some things

 

My 2 cents worth is that dealer service writers work on comission and often oversell repairs that are not needed. They are skilled at frightening customers into spending money.

Pep Boys is not what I would consider an honest, skilled independent repair shop. Use this link to hunt for recommended independent shops near you. It is a database of shops recommended by listeners of the Car Talk radio show. I would then double check any likely shops on Google or Yelp. https://www.cartalk.com/mechanics-files

What issues are you experiencing while driving the vehicle? Does it leak power steering fluid? Are the CV boots torn and leaking grease? The cost of all these nonsense repairs is probably more than the value of the car.

(1) Drive belt replacement $233 - This may be needed although they can last 200k sometimes


(2) Steering gear box assembly remove and replace $3405 - What is wrong with the steering rack? Is it leaking? Do you have steering problems? If it is leaking it needs to be proven that it is leaking from the rack and not a hose or banjo bolt which are far cheaper to replace. This price is insane!


(3) Front lower arms remove and replace both $1905 - This is probably total BS and the price is insane. They probably will show you some cracks in the bushings and claim they are failing and need to be replaced. However the cracks are normal and you can go another 100,000 miles before replacement is needed. If it steers and drives okay, then do nothing. See this thread on the RX forum regarding bushing cracks which has informative photos.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...20k-miles.html

(4) Engine mount remove and replace upper $201 - As stated above if the dog bone mount it is easy to see and replace.

(5) Drive shaft remove and replace front $1200 .- Are one or more of the CV joints leaking? Or worn and making noise while turning? If not, why do they need replacement. I would wait.

The steering and suspension items were also suggested by an independent shop as well. - Specifically did they recommend the lower control arms? or the CV joints? I would get a third opinion. I would change the transmission fluid if keeping the car. The spark plugs can easily last 125,000 miles.

 

Some Toyota parts are just too expensive, starting with the engine mounts, interior parts, control arms...

 

The car runs fine, there is nothing wrong with steering or suspension. At 60K another Lexus service advisor recommeded CV boot repair but then tried to upsell it to CV axel replacement. I was not too familier with the upsell at Lexus up to that point because my previous service advisors were decent and honest. I ordered OEM CV axels (both right and left) and had Lexus mechanic install them. Have not had any steering or suspension issues. I have a lifetime aligment at Pep boys and I have them do aligment checks every 6-8K as I have new Costco tires and have Costco balance and totate tires. Neither Costco or Pep boys found anything worng let alone anything needing $10K repairs on my car. The dearship had offered to buy my car many times. But it puts doubts in your mind as an owener because now you are thinking "on man does it actualy have this or not?". The only thing I was planning on was maybe spark plugs, timming belt (they recommended but said mine looks good) and transmission fluid drain/fill. I will have another mechanic look over car for my peace of mind.

 

Your car does not have a timing belt, so no replacement needed there!
Also add to your list power steering fluid flush, not sure on the interval but every 60-100k miles is not a bad interval.

 

The only belt on the ES350 is the serpentine belt which you mentioned above. If the dealer is trying to sell you replacement for a timing belt that this engine does not have as it has a timing chain, then they are worse crooks than you already described. FYI timing chains last the life of the engine and are not a maintenance item.

The spark plugs are good for at least 120,000 miles and some have gone 150,000 miles, yet when the plugs were removed they still look good enough to last much longer. So save your money as replacing them is $600.
You should use Google and Yelp to find some well regarded local independent mechanics.

 

I think you are being hosed, period.

Find someone else to look at the car.

 

If your dealer is trying to buy your car, they are either lying about the repairs to get you to sell it at a low price, or they are simply lying. I would run away from them.