The car has 215,000 miles. Was owned by a rich dude who did some nice maintenance, the big one being the abs module that goes out on these cars.

The car has high miles but it has been used as a highway car since 78,000 miles to be exact. It has ALOT of rock chips if you catch my drift.

Anyway, the car is incredibly smooth and nice. Needs rotors badly as the steering wheel shakes when braking.

What are some good things to take care of right off the bat?

Car is gonna be a simple daily driver, don't need anything crazy.

Was thinking some sway bar / LCA bushings (anyone have a link?)

 

Welcome, congrats on your purchase!

I would balance the front wheels and while on the balancer machine take out your phones flashlight and point it at the inside/outside of the barrel of the wheel. you want to look to see if the wheels are bent, because even with warped rotors the shaking would increase more with bent wheels. If wheels are bent you can take them to a wheel repair shop and they should be able to straighten them out.

There great cars, just make sure the basic maintenance is done. 2-3 transmission drain and fills, oem or denso sparkplugs (avoid cheap knockoffs), water pump (aisin brand is good), thermostat, serpentine belt. Basic stuff you can find at rockauto

 

Go over the maintenance records and replace accordingly - oil, coolant, gear oil, belt, plugs, brake and PS flush, ATF flush, etc …

Since it needs rotors, start with the brakes, front and back. At 200K, I usually replace the radiator, water pump, hoses, and thermostat as preventive maintenance on all my cars that I plan to keep.

 

Congrats, welcome to the club. You can make an account on drivers.lexus.com and see the service and recall history for your vehicle as well. You want to do first is change oil and filter, as well as air filter. Check tire pressure and alignment. Pre emptivley, do your water pump, thermostat, idler pulley and belt. Spark plugs and tube seals. When getting brakes done, replace the fluid. Also diff fluid is pretty easy as well. Check your ATF as well. And post some pics.

 

Thank you everyone. I appreciate all of the responses. I like the fluid and full maintenance package idea. Since I work from home, I don't have to go crazy and do everything at once since I do not drive a ton (hence the reason I was that much more open to buying this car with high mileage). I figured I will do everything in stages. Firstly, I will do a full fluid flush, I'll include the coolant as well but if the radiator is on it's way out, then I will include the radiator in this one.

@Oceans, I'm going to do everything you mentioned right before Summer starts because of the brutal weather here in Arizona.

 

Except for the PS fluid, it doesn't have any lol, and except for the ATF flush, thats really bad for any Lexus, this is good advice.

 

Check to see if your valve covers and high pressure fuel pump is leaking. Pretty common with these motors above 120k. This is a picture of mine at 166k

Another angle showing them mess these original gaskets were creating.

 

Could someone reccomened the proper amount of gear oil and a link or part number for it? I think it says 3.2L.

What do you guys think for Spark Plugs, too?

@titangts Thank you so much for the picture and thoughts! I didn't know these came with a HPFP but this is good to know. Once I do the typical maintenance, I will do that afterwards. I don't drive much if I'm honest but it will be done.

 

Gear oil? Like rear differential or transmission? Unless its showing signs of issues thats something I would wait to do. For plugs, get legit NGK or Denso iridiums.

 

welcome to the club! these are heavy cars, I would do all the suspension bushings and arms in one shot at some point.

overall these are very high quality cars, stick to OEM or original parts if possible and it should last very well.

 

Transmission oil. I have a very odd jerk when I let go off the brake pedal. If I slowly release my foot off the brake, it takes off just fine. If I let go completely,there's a jerk/hesitation.. I'm worried it could be the ABS Actuator or potentially the transmission? Hence me asking about the trans oil. The ABS Actuator was replaced a year ago with a brand new unit and there are no annoying squeaks or sounds of the pump aside from the normal day to day. Other then that, the transmission shifts like butter.

The brakes shake when at a high rate of speed and slowing down to a complete stop. Could warped rotors be a result for the odd takeoff?

Having an issue finding a mechanic right now since both of them are on vacation..

@above poster, yes, I plan on doing LCAs/sway bar bushings and ball joints for suspension stuff.

 

Def drain and fill the transmission 2 times, and on the 3rd drop the pan and replace the filter. Transmission will get smoother! As for the suspension bushings I wouldnt replace them until they are bad. But the big lower control arm bushing that I would replace, thats a common failure.

As for the bushings you want to test the front suspension, what you do is raise the front end off the ground and have someone strong grab the wheel at 9pm and 3pm and force it left to right, and crawl under the front and examine each bushing for flexing. If that bushing flexs then replace it. Do the same 12am and 6pm to test the ball joints. When you do replace the bushings go only oem, because many replacements do not last. For struts if they are blown, kyb are basically oem but much cheaper.

For the rotors its common for these cars to shake a little. Even when you installed new rotors after a year or two they shake slightly over time. You can probably see if you can cut the rotors may maybe that will help get them true. If the rotors are worn down then just replace them.

You can take the car to certain toyota service centers they can do stuff like transmission drain and fills. All there doing is draining 4 qt's of fluid and replacing it. Plugs only oem or denso, these cars are sensitive to plugs, and avoid counterfeits. Plugs cost $11 or $12 and up each. But stuff like removing the throttle body and cleaning in and out will help make the car smoother. Me personally our cars are getting old, so I try not to dump a lot of money on not needed parts.