Hi all...

My wife has had her 2010 Lexus IS250 for about 12 years now and it has accumulated about 205,000 miles. I maintain our vehicles, but I have only been working on her car for about 2.5-3 years now. Just basic, regular oil changes.. the car has been pretty reliable and hasn't had any issues. It does use about a quart of oil between changes, but from my research this is not uncommon with these cars.

Unfortunately, my wife got into a front end accident recently. Traveling down a 55mph highway and the car in front slammed on their brakes for no apparent reason. Fortunately, she's okay, the airbags never deployed as the her crash bar slid under the rear end of the SUV she hit and it was a relatively low speed impact. We had liability only coverage on the car and due to current interest rates, our financial situation etc we are not shopping for a new car at the moment. So that means I get to repair her car. Again fortunately, relatively low speed accident and where she hit meant that most of the things I will be doing will be bolt off/on.

I'm going to have the whole front end opened up to repair her car. The front bumper cover, headlights, grill, hood, radiator supports and radiator all need to be replaced.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so I couldn't help but notice that with the entire front end off the car I have pretty good access to replace things that may not need replacing now, but might go soon being it's a 13 year old car with 200k+ miles. I'm thinking water pump, thermostat, new serpentine belt, etc. I'm not an expert on these cars (my wheelhouse is VW TDIs), but what would you replace if you had unlimited access to the front part of the engine?

Thank you!

 

Replace the engine! lol

Generally, there are a lot of complaints about carbon buildup on the IS250 ... not sure if it's a good idea to try to clean that out or not if there is no symptom of that like stalling.

 

You've got a good list there. I'd add new (oem) idler pulleys.

 

Sorry OP. Glad wifey is okay. Did it smash the condenser core, was freon vented?
It sounds likely. I think the desiccant dryer is in condenser, it should be replaced if buying used, and if buying new, should come in a sealed bag. Buy all new o-rings for any AC work.

This all depends how far you want to go, but swapping the AC compressor might be a consideration too. A reman Denso will come with oil in it.

And when if ever has the alternator been replaced? We've seen some go at 150k others higher.

GL

 

Thank you everyone for the responses.

What is the preferred parts site for OEM Lexus/Toyota parts?

Dug into the car a little further, the condenser core is pretty far gone. Not sure if freon was able to get out, but I wouldn't doubt it.

Managed to score a fender, hood and two headlights from a pick n pull this weekend so that is taken care of.

Does anyone have a link to a parts manual or service manual I can reference while getting all of this back together?

Thank you!

 

Sometimes your local Lexus parts department will have low prices. Personally I use discountpartsmonster but I do check other sites before making any purchase.

 

I compared local pickup vs shipping brake parts and happily gave my business to the local lexus dealer.

For AC components, look for a Denso Reman compressor from rockauto. Likely get everything else there too.

Did you get core support parts needed?

As for service info I've been a subscriber to alldatadiy.com since 2017. With black Friday coming they'll do a year end promo which is usually $25 to $35 off, otherwise expect about $60 a year.

All service and schematics are on that site. There is also Toyota TIS but its pretty expensive but better if you need OEM troubleshooting data.