caverman

I'm kind of new to GS models, actually I've never even sat in one. I'm going to go look at a '01 GS300 with 168k miles for my 16 yr old's first car tomorrow. I'm trying to come up with a check list of things to look over and wanted to see if anyone has anything to add.

I looked up the VIN on the Lexus site and the service only goes up to 56k miles. The only thing I saw of any concern was the driver's door lock actuator that was replaced but there really shouldn't much done prior to the 56k miles. According to CarFax report there were no accidents reported, however, I saw on the Lexus site at around the 30k mark they repainted the rear bumper and quarter panel at the Sewell Lexus in Dallas. That just goes to show you can't 100% trust things like CarFax. Still my guess is it was nothing major that caused frame damage and by now if the paint was bad it would show.

According to the dealer (independent dealer, not Lexus), they just did the following repairs:
4 NEW CONTROL ARMS
BALL JOINTS
SPARK PLUGS
PLUG WIRES
TIMING BELT
TIMING ACTUATORS
WATER PUMP
VALVE COVER GASKETS
SERPENTINE BELT
IDLER PULLEY
OIL AND AIR FILTERS

Sounds like they hit most of the major concerns, I just hope they actually did what they said.

Here are additional things I'm going to look at:
Remote door locks
A/C and Heat
Heated seats
Hood and Trunk shocks
Stereo (even though I'll probably upgrade since I think it's a non-ML system)
Headlights (I can already tell from the pics they will need to have the lens restored)
Trans oil

If it all looks good I'm going to try to get it to my independent Lexus mechanic for an look over. This dealer said he is okay with that which is a positive sign.

caverman

I went and looked at the car today and I think I'm going to get it but I did have a couple things that I wanted to see if anyone knew about. These all seem to be minor issues.

1. The best way to discribe this is the plastic gate that goes inside/around the shifter handle is missing. It keeps things from falling down inside the sifter area. Is that something that can be replaced? I don't know exactly what to search on but I tried shifter mechanism and I get a lot of stuff for a whole new shifter and ****. I'm curious if just the bezel that goes around the shifter can be taken off and the plastic piece, what ever it's called, can be replaced.

2. There is a warning light that is on in the dash. It looks like it's say there is a rear bulb burnt out. It's a yellow picture of the a car with what looks like the brakes on. I looked all the rear lights and they looked like they were on. This GS does have a rear spoiler and I remember the spoiler brake light came on but maybe it's the actual rear light in the back window. I don't remember if that one came on or not.

3. The rubber window trim on the passenger side is about 1/2 gone and it's trying to peel off more. My first LS was similar and it didn't really seem to make a difference, no wind noise or water leakage. I'm assuming this would be the same way and I'm assuing the whole gasket would need to be replaced. Probably not a cheap thing.

3. The inside trunk latch has it's plastic piece missing. There is still a little metal tab that can be used to open the trunk but I'm wondering if that switch can be changed out?

Monday I'm going to get a list of all the things that were done to it but there were a lot of boxes in they trunk. This dealer keeps all those things so the buyer can see what was done.