I understand where you are coming from, but I don't put this in that came category. This isn't the same as a suspension part, or fluid where you don't wait for it to fail before replacing e.g. ljb' or tranny fluid. This is an electrical component where wear & tear is usually exceeded with high mileage. Me personally, I won't change mine until I get symptoms. I won't touch my spark plugs and wires until I reach 150k or until I start to feel slight stumbles. I'm typically proactive with my maintenance, but on certain items, I stretch it based on past history. Our oem plugs are great and can get 100k easy. I don't replace electrical parts that's currently still holding up.

So I'm going to play the devil's advocate.....Based on what you stated, I'm assuming that you have replaced every single piece of suspension parts and electrical parts on your car because even though it's holding up and currently working, it isn't to new standard based on mileage on your car. Now I'm no way saying what you are doing is incorrect, it is a good practice, just not for me.

 

I haven’t changed every part, but I’ve proactively either upgraded or replaced as many as I could that would be deemed necessary or even optional to some. I’m way ahead of scheduled maintenance on my 2GS…my car is many many miles away from 100k as well, and is a garage queen that gets used on the weekends for the most part. I’ve done most suspension replacement and upgrades, as well as sensors, wires, gaskets, plugs, etc. even changed out the starter because it started to have the delay before turning the engine over. It really is a “to each his own” type of care in the end. I know some people who haven’t even touched the tranny or diff fluid in their 2GS, and pushing 150k miles…as for me, I’ve changed it twice so far.

Am I being **** on it, some can say so…but I don’t believe so. the car is 12years old now and though it doesn’t have many miles and touches the road seldom compared to some, it still has aged and that in itself is reason to replace and/or upgrade many of its parts to keep it running as it did day one from the dealer.

as far as the sensor being in the same category or not, I beleive it is...the sensor feeds info to your ecu on the air mixture coming in from the intake and how the engine should respond to that. now your air filter can only "filter" so much and over time the sensor would need addressing just like other parts.

 

10-4!! Kuddos to you. If you ever decide to sell it, the next owner will be very happy lol. How many miles do you have on your car? You stated that you have low miles, but you changed the plugs twice? Yeah, I have all new fluids in my car, and now I'm going to transition into changing some suspension parts based on the many stickys' here.

 

there's a balance point.
When you're excited about your car you get the positive feeling of "nothing but the best".

But then later down the road, your perspective may change, and you realize you are not getting return on your maintenance investment, and the car is fine just as an appliance and no longer has to be perfect. You run the numbers and realize that the car is going to last longer than you require it anyway, and your cost per mile can be reduced by extending or not doing so much maintenance.

There is something to be said about going overboard the other way, where you are performing 'recreational maintenance", where you feel accomplished to have completed a task or have "piece of mind" but there is no measurable difference.

So yes, to each their own, it's your car, do whatever you want with it; especially since all of these are beyond Lexus's maintenance plan. But on the same token don't think your way is the only right way to own a car and everyone else's opinions are wrong.

 

^^^Well stated. I totally agree.

 

the next owner will be getting a GREAT vehicle if/when I decide to sell, that’s for sure lol. right now it has about 85k miles and I recently did the 2nd spark plug change along with wires and what not when I upgraded to an aftermarket intake with the new sensors, as well as changing the valve covers gaskets and what not up top. I initially did a full timing belt service and tune-up when I purchased the car about 4-years back.

Before I lowered my car, the suspension aspect was one of the main areas for me to address…especially the lbj (even though mine is 2002), and even with that I was a bit unlucky as one of the OEM factory lbj’s I purchased failed on me in no time causing fender damage and abs sensor replacement to the passenger side.

The sticky’s have been one of the best helps here, as well as picking the heads of some people who’s been through a lot of these maintenance drills.

Definitely agree that there is a balance point as far as upgrades and maintenance goes…but to say going overboard would be a far stretch personally. I’m not replacing parts for the heck of it, there’s many valid reasons all learned from this board and previous owner’s experiences.

As far as measurable difference, the same can be said about the lbj’s…it does its job until it fails doesn’t it? But we know, based off many members here and their unfortunate incidents, they can fail prematurely (especially before lexus’ scheduled maintenance recommendations on them, if they even have a set replacement mileage/date by Lexus ). To me it’s just being proactive on things that we know that can become huge concerns later down the road, it’s why I upgraded or replace them.

if I’m in the area of upgrading or replacing something, I will most likely service the areas around it too so I don’t need to dig in there again. When I changed my sensor, it was due to a new intake system and while there it was no issue for me to replace the valve cover gaskets, misc hoses and I also replaced the plugs and wires too. This is a weekend car for me, unlike some here, I can set it down and work on it without time being a concern, which is a lot of reason for many being reactive rather than proactive.

And never said anyone else’s way was wrong, they stated their opinion and I gave mine and reasoning to it…nothing more, nothing less.

 

My 01 gs300 MAF sensor was so dirty. On the past 13 yrs I never give any attention on it besides changing motor oil every 3500 miles, engine coolant every year, transmission fluid and transaxle fluid every 2 yrs.. On the throttle I cleaned 3 times already and once on the sparkplug and the cable but never on MAF. I want to clean my MAF w/ CRC MAF CLEANER but I was hesitant at first. Afraid that I might cause more damage on the MAF. To make my experience short I bought a new one from dealership then bought a MAF cleaner to cleans the one old one just for fun. Boy.....after I cleaned it put it back and see what happen to the car. Boy...believe me that old MAF is like new. I could tell my car performance is way better.

What happen to the new one? Returned to dealership.👍

 

Wow thanks for this, I just cleaned mines today and it was super dirty. Drove it, and works wonders. Now, I want to clean my pcv valve. I also want to change my transmission fluid, but a tech said not to do it since my car has 155k miles to it. (It will cause it to slip and mess up even more.) Now, I don't know if the previous owner kept up with the maintenance on the trans. Very hesitant on that.

 

I also just cleaned my maf with crc, also did the throttle body as best I could without taking it off (not totally clean but got a ridiculous amount of black crap out) car seems to idle smoother an I find myself going faster than I'm used to pressing the pedal. I just got my tranny fluid flushed after about 90k since last change at lexus, and I've noticed it's shifting weird between first and secon now, nothing terrible like it feels like it's gonna break, but definately less smooth than it was before, to be fair my car could probably use a lot of things to help this, new mounts, plugs have oil around them from leaking VCGs, is there a diy for pcv valve somewhere?

 

True. Changing the transmission fluid on a high-mileage car is risky. I wouldn't do it unless your transmission is running fine and the fluid is good because it can make transmission failure imminent. Some mechanic shop won't do it unless you sign a waiver form that if something arises on your tranny like slippage or worse they are not liable.

 

Definitely, it seems to be fine now, our cars are known for acting weird/ hesitation from stop when accelerating, next car I buy, looking at 2nd gen is350s, I'm definately checking the tranny fluid before purchasing and making sure to do it every 30k, it's worth knowing you're not gonna damage anything

 

I guess it depends when dealing with a high mileage car and transmission fluid changes. I just did a TB and WP service on my '00 GS300 with 182k miles on it. Had to take the radiator out and therefore, had to disconnect the tranny cooling lines. Figured since I had gone that far may as well drain the tranny. Emptied the 2 quarts or so that come out using that method and replaced them. Since I will drain and replace 2 quarts about once a month or so, it will take about 9 drain and fills to exchange most of the fluid. I was told this method of gradually changing the fluid in a high mileage car has less chance of causing seals to leak and transmission slippage.

 

Did you change the PCV valve already?

 

Twice. It's easy to replace the PCV valve just put a little bit of muscle to pull the valve because the rubber grommet becomes brittle in time. If you have a hard time pulling the valve, use a flat screw driver and remove the outer ring of the grommet all around as much as you can. Don't worry if the rest of the grommet fell off inside the valve cover there is a small plate (don't know the exact name)on the inside so it won't drop all the way to the engine valve. You can use a tweezers or long nose to remove it. Use a shop vacuum or any vacuum to suck up those small things that cannot be picked up by tweezers if nescesarry.