17s

Friday I am going to close a deal on a 2001 IS.

I'll be trading my wrx plus 3000 cash, My 02 wrx has lots of body damage, and I mean LOTS. Rear quarter panel caved in, front bump chipped up, tail light busted, hail damage, etc..

Anyways.. to the lexus..The body and paint is flawless, as well as the interior.
Checked all the electrics, everything I possibly could.

The only issue I could find was that there was a SLIGHT little line of oil around the seal of the cam cover, is this a common issue? I mean it does have 128k but is a leaky cam cover/cam gear common? also the bottom of the car near the oil pan was damp with oil. The owners claimed it to be because of the oil change they just did. Which the oil was new ( still clean ).

Any advice? whether it be common mechanical issues with the is300 or anything at all really

saadcee

Oil around the cam/cylinder head covers is fairly common, the cover gasket starts to leak after about that time, and is a fairly easy fix. I'm not sure if you mean the cylinder head covers on top of the engine or the timing belt covers at the front. If its the timing belt covers, the cam gear seals can also be the issue, which require removal of the timing belt and is a bit more involved of a job.

Oil around the oil pan could also be the gasket, and also isn't very difficult. I don't think it could be due to an oil change, because spillage there usually goes into the spark plug wells. If its at the front of the engine, it could also be the main crankshaft seal, which also requires removal of the timing belt.

I would check to see if the timing belt has been changed, its the major maintenance item at about 100k miles. I did mine last year and changed all the seals/gaskets above for good measure. Cost about $500 in parts and a couple days worth of labor.