BCT

Hey all,
Just put a down payment on a 04 custom luxury in moonlight pearl and ecru. Will pick her up next Saturday. My wife is very excited!

I wanted a car with black leather but we saw the car today, and she is in very great shape at 118K miles. We just can not pass this up. Plus it has full maintenance history at Lexus. TB was done at ~90K, Michelin tires has plenty of threads, and plus the owner said they put in 4 new struts (do not think these are Lexus struts - will check them out later once I have her at home). It does has chrome 6 spokes wheels that is too much bling for me, but I can live with that.

So a question here. The couple who owned it, has other cars, so this one was driven only ~1000 miles in the past 3 years (history at Lexus website also support this). Is there anything I should look at considering she was not driven a lot for the past 3 years? I am thinking at least I should give her an oil change (oil does not look too bad/black when looking at the dip stick)?

Appreciate any thoughts.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Congrats!

Change the oil for sure. Check out the belts and even the tires for dry rot if the car has sat that much. Put some fresher fuel in it as well as quickly as possible, likely didn't have any fuel stabilizer in it as it sat.

Romanova

Change all fluids if there is no record of them. Coolant, brake fluid, and rear diff. I would run some fuel cleaner through the tank also. If it has full records, hopefully all that has been done. You're about due for spark plugs, and I would check the air filter and the cabin filter.

A little maintenance and she will serve you well for years to come! Welcome aboard!

BCT

Thanks guys!

I will review the maintenance history a bit closer and see which fluids and filters are due. I do not remember seeing spark plugs being replaced when I scanned the maintenance history this morning, so maybe they are close to due. We are going on vacation here soon, and wife wants to take her. The LS was so quiet and smooth when we test drove the car, both of us were just amazed. I would imagine driving on interstate for 1000 miles would be pretty sweet with the LS. I may have to work over time to catch-up on her maintenance so we can take her. So many things to do and learn, so little time lol

Great point about the fuel! I think it has a quarter tank of gas this morning when I test drove her. I will bring some cleaner and will add fresh gas when I pick her up before driving two hour back home.

aufenscuht

Check the fluids, belts, and valve cover gaskets. Check dates on tires as well.

BCT

I picked her up and drove two hours home today. I love it. The car is so quiet, stable. I always love Michelin tires. There was no difference at 50 vs 80 mph. Just amazing. I had to be careful with my speed on the highway. I think after being driven very little, she was ready to stretch her legs and run lol. I filled up on the way home, and added a can of seafoam.

Going to start digging in the next few weeks to make sure she is in top shape. I had the engine covers off. It looks pretty clean and dry underneath. Valve cover does not seeps oil. She will have fresh oil, rear diff fluid, power steering fluid, cabin filter (the car smells kinda stale, it even has a spider web inside lol). I have not decide if I want to do drain-refill or flush the tranny fluid. I can see some pink crust around the radiator cap. Hopefully just need new cap as opposed new radiator.

Also notice that the driver side mirror is crooked or bent. It seems that when it un-folded, it stops way pass the normal position, so the mirror is not facing the driver. I can not believe I did not notice this during test drive. Urgh... this sounds expensive. I was playing around while driving home, and it seems that the sun shade in the rear is not going up and down. I pushed the button but nothing happen.

At home I saw that one of the lug nuts looks different than the rest. Maybe the owner lost one and just did not bother finding one that match. Should be easy enough to find one on eBay.

awesomefar

BCT

Mbodall

Congrats on the purchase! After sitting mostly dormant for so long, I think you should let her stretch her legs! ...once you change the oil of course. Especially if it was an older couple, there's probably a good amount of carbon to be blown out by getting her up to redline in first or second gear (or both lol) merging onto a highway. I promise you won't hurt anything... I'm sure you've read enough on this forum by now to see that you just can't kill these engines

aufenscuht

Find a shop that uses BG fluids and flush your car with them, you will thank yourself later. Great stuff. We use it at my shop all the time.

Johnhav430

Congrats! I too have a moonlight, it's an interesting color. Sometimes when there is bright sun, there appears to be a bluish hue which I find cool. Mine is a ML so I envy your CL!

You should definitely do your brake fluid if you don't know when it was done last, or even DIY that one. Also, try to get some touch up paint now, so when or if you get a chip, you can take care of it. You'd need the base and tint coats. I got some nasty gouges on the hood last year, and come to find nobody stocks it, so I had to wait about 10 days (and actually cheaper at the dealer than anywhere online/hazmat)....good luck!

BCT

BG fluid, that is for transmission fluid, right? I was planning to do a drain and refill. So this has to be done in the dealer since she needs Toyota transmission fluid, correct? Or do I just buy the fluid myself then use some independent shop to do it? I need to do more research on this. I read that the transmission fluid level need to be set at certain level and temperature, sounds difficult for a regular shop to do it properly.

Johnhav430 - wife loves the color, which is important since this is her daily drive. Good point on brake fluid and touch-up. Thanks!