OldLs400

Looking at a used is350c priced at the lower end of the KBB range. Pretty much loaded with all the options available. Test drove it, and it was fine. Looked like a nice car, inside and out. Drove nice too. Pretty much serviced entirely at the dealer throughout its life.

However, the service history indicates that the vehicle was flooded at ~50k miles (4 years ago). The vehicle has since done ~60k miles without an issue. Water had entered the air intake and hydrolocked the engine. The owner tried to start it and broke a connecting rod. The vehicle was towed to Lexus for a new engine provided by the insurance company as well as a bunch of other things, like replacing the carpet, an aftermarket A/C compressor, and aftermarket throttle body. The service history notes that the replacement engine carries a lifetime warranty through Nationwide Insurance.

Should I avoid this vehicle? It is attractively priced, that's for sure. It doesn't look like it had any flood damage. The electronics in the car all seemed to work fine. It has pretty much been exclusively serviced by Lexus from 50 to 110k, and all the service reports after the engine replacement were pretty routine--oil changes, rotations, etc. I'm curious as to the aftermarket engine "warranty"--is that usually transferrable? What does lifetime mean? If the engine needs a head gasket at 500k miles, am I covered??

I also have a sneaking suspicion that this aftermarket engine sourced by the insurance company came from an older IS350--as in pre-2010 IS350. The water pump failed on the engine and was replaced by Lexus at just 60k miles. I read here that the 2GRs had bad water pumps for a while, but the design was revised around 2010. I'm guessing that this was an older 2GR pulled from a junked vehicle that didn't have the updated water pump design.

Your input, please.

ryanSC300lover

iTrader: (1)

caesosa

TomDac

I'd steer clear of it too.. Too many unknowns... Unless u can get it for a STEAL..

OldLs400

What's a steal to you?

Apparently, the vehicle was not sitting there when it got flooded. I just assumed it was flooded because I read the service reports at 2am in the morning and saw that a connecting rod had broke and the carpet was wet...sounded to me like she tried starting a wet car and the engine was hydrolocked.

I asked the owner about why the service history mentioned water damage/engine replacement, and the owner explained she drove into deep water. So it wasn't as if the car was sitting in water for a few days...if the owner is being honest. I'm inclined to believe her since there doesn't appear to be any rust or electrical gremlins that would likely result from it sitting in water for a few days...

The owner was willing to sell it to me at slightly over trade-in price. A dealer offered 9700 to buy it off her. She said she could sell it to me for 10. I would basically be paying 11k out the door (taxes, title, registration).

I went to a few dealerships in the area and found a near identical 2010 IS350c that was in worse cosmetic condition. It had 5 owners and bubbling clear coat on the roof, and the dealer wanted 16.5k out the door.

I went to CarMax and found another near identical 2010 IS350c, but with about half the miles as hers (only ~65k on this one). CarMax wanted about 22k out the door, or twice the price of hers.

Would you jump on this IS350c for 10k? Or should I perhaps stick with the dealerships on this one? I'm inclined to skip over the dealership one for 16.5k because it's been through way too many owners for my taste, and cosmetically, it's terrible. The dealer didn't even bother to have the dash replaced under recall and was instead content to let it sit on the lot with bubbling clear coat and a melted dash.

TomDac

A STEAL to me would be $7500.00.
IMHO 10K is too much.. too much risk.

OldLs400

Yeah, after some more looking, I have to agree with you. The car has more miles than average and it's been overheated twice. If it had just a straight engine replacement, then I might be okay with it...but the fact that it overheated twice just gives me pause. I don't want to be doing a head gasket replacement anytime soon.

I'm not too concerned about the water damage because it's been 4 years since the water damage. And the service history, along with my test drive, revealed no lingering effects from the water. But the overheating just kills the deal, even if it did occur ~2 years ago. From what I understand, these advanced 2GR engines are hard to work on.

Now that I think of it, a friend of mine had an older, early 2000s IS, and his engine blew because the water pump failed. Granted, he didn't pull over and instead tried to creep the last mile home while sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic...but either way, it's not something I need to worry myself about.

Thank you for the perspective. Thanks to you, I was able to calm myself and locate a similar IS350c for ~14,500, with fewer miles and even better cosmetic condition to boot.

TomDac

Congrats!!! You'll love the car!

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Too much unknown! Glad you found another....
On the topic of water intrusion and electrical circuits, often times it is not the water that compromises components or connections, it's what's in the water that sets play in motion. Salt being a major killer. On another topic, people use caustic engine cleaners and then hose the engine off when down leaving some of the caustic cleaners behind. This in itself leads to more failed connections than most clean water flood damaged vehicles.

I'm saying, stay way away from salt water flood cars. Time will catch up with them.