Well, bad news from the dealer yesterday. My 2003 GS has a rear main seal leak at 126K. Been serviced regularly as well, quite a disappointment - last time I get a Lexus, sorry to say.

 

Could be a lot worse. Look over at the some of the other manufacturers forums and see what type of problems they are having at 125K. I thought about getting an E39 BMW, but they have auto trans that don't last much past 100k, their cooling systems self destruct every 60-80k miles, their timing chain guides have plastic that can disintegrate as low as 100k miles. Replacing the chain guides requires about 20 hours of labor to fix. That's really just the tip of the iceberg as far as common problems. What does the GS have? Bad lock actuators and ball joints that can fail if not replaced soon enough. Not much else. Most will agree, its one of the most reliable, bullet proof cars out there. Sorry that you have a rare case of a seal going bad, but it can happen with any car.

 

What do you mean by "leak"? You should get underneath your car and take a look. A dealer with call any thing a leak. A seeping rear main seal isn't a good thing but its not the end of the car either. Mine seeps on my Lexus with 146,000. Its not a big deal. If it isn't actively dripping I'd just keep an eye on it. I'd say 80% percent of the cars that come through the shop I work at with over 60k have a seeping main seal. You can see the oil build up but they rarely actively drip. (Except Land Rovers)

As far as the BMW thing goes they are solid cars. The oil stand leaks and they do need new water pumps. If you do your own work its not hardly as bad as people make it out to be. Any car with a timing chain your going to have to worry about steel chaining wearing the plastic guide.

I'd suggest you get under your car and assess the problem. Don't always take the dealers word as gold. They are a business trying to generate work. Good luck, and hopefully its not sitting there dripping as it runs. If it is I take it all back....

 

The BMW design in the V8 chain guide is far more prone to failure than most. I've seen it in many of the cars. I'm sorry, but there are many other common issues with those cars. Its not just the water pumps either, the radiators have plastic end caps that get brittle and crack, the reservoir does the same. The hoses fail early, the fan tends to come loose and self destruct as well. Much of this is due to the higher than average temp/pressure that the BMW runs in the V8. They have a 2-Bar system that frequently runs well above boiling. To avoid failure, you need to replace the entire system on a fairly regular basis (some recommend 60k miles)

I've looked at many on the used market and found the common failures in most.

Some of the other issues with BMW are due to their relaxed maintenance schedule. BMW used to recommend a maintenance schedule as rigorous as Toyota/Lexus, but once they started offering free maintenance for 4 years, they stretched out the oil change interval to 15k and sail most other fluids were lifetime (which is BS).

 

Not to sound like a Lexus fan boy, but you should see how much earlier the rear main-seal take a dump on other cars.

 

The 15k mile oil changes is the worst thing I have ever heard of. We have Audi's that come in to my shop that have the oil pick up strainer completely blocked. Its ridiculous that anyone could ever recommend an oil change interval of 15k miles. The shop I work at only does European cars and the prices these people pay to maintain their cars is insane. The only way to do it is to work on your own car. There are enough people in this world to help you learn if you don't know how to. Any way you cut it Japanese cars are cheaper and it seems in most cases require less maintenance then European cars.

 

My 03 gs started loosing oil at 80k. I have the engine teared down and find a corner of the 1st oil pan, rear main seal and one of the cam seals are leaking. Luckily, this guy only charge me $300 labor to completely rebuilt the engine.

 

Justintime did you get a chance to take a look at your leak yet for yourself?

 

theres over a hundred thousand miles on the car get over it its just a seal not the end of any thing change the seal and move on take care of your car and you may get another 150000 out of it.

 

I'm sorry to hear. But like most people here, and from experience with other cars - BMW X5, Mercedes E320, Acura Legend, Acura 2.5 TL .. and my GS300 is the strongest out of all of them. Come on, all of them have their fair share of problems. I'm having this problem with my car as we speak .. Except the previous owner didn't change the timing belt as well and all the other 90k services.

 

You might have just been an unlucky bird. Mines just had a failed lock actuators.

 

Checked out RMS and saw a small drip - nothing significant yet. Spent yesterday taking care of a leak on the coolant crossover off the water pump. Will get a second opinion from a local mechanic. Thanks for the feedback and advice - appreciate it!