Hey everyone!

I am back. I sold my 1993 SC400 and drove a 1999 Ford F150 4x4 for 2 years. I sold the truck on Friday and bought me a 1998 SC400 on Saturday. The car has 177k miles on it but drives wonderfully. I noticed the steering wheel vibrated when shifting in 1st and 2nd and I hear a humming noise from the front of the car at low RPM's. The car obviously has mostly hwy miles on it but I am just curious as to what needs to be checked out. I do not see any leaks. All the fluid levels are at proper levels as well. It is not missing and the suspension is great. How much would a 100+ point inspection cost at a Lexus dealership? I know these cars can go 500k+ and possibly even more. I just want to make sure mine does as well . Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. I'm glad to be a proud Lexus owner again

P.S. Where can I get a decent set of 5300k or 6000k HID's for a good price? Are there any other kits besides the Philips Ultinons that are worth the $ spent?

LiveSC400
1998 Diamond Pearl White SC400 (soon to have HID's, exhaust, drop, & wheels)

 

Did you get any service records on the car or anyway of contacting the previous owner to ask how he/she maintained it? Perhaps contact Lexus head office & give them the VIN number to at least find out what was done while it was under warranty.

 

A Lexus dealer inspection will run you about $80, with a compression test, about another $100 on top of that.

Without knowing much else about your noise, it might be your transmission or maybe even the power steering pump. Is the humming noise occuring in any gear and/or around some specific RPMs?

 

Yeah...it normally does it under load throughout the entire RPM band esp when shifting. I will have this checked out this week. Do you think this can be quite detrimental to the tranny? How durable is the 5-speed auto that is in the 1998-up SC400? Perhaps a full flush and filter/pan gasket replacement will do the trick. What does everyone else think?

Thanks for the advice guys!
LiveSC400

 

That wouldn't hurt to be sure.....make sure you use only what is suggested in your Lexus owners manual. Spend the money & get the dealer to give it a proper check up to see if they turn anything up (as Seattle suggests), but don't authorize any major work at this point yet. Let us know what the findings are.

 

Thanks for the help guys. I am bringing the car to Reinhardt Lexus in Montgomery, AL. They are usually very honest there. My dad knows one of the master techs there. I will keep you posted and seek further advice when I get the results. Thanks again for the advice. It is greatly appreciated.


LiveSC400
1998 SC400 Diamond Pearl White

 

Good Luck!

 

Thanx. I hope it all turns out well. Does anyone know what get's replaced in a 100k mile service? I am just wondering because I am spending $1800 for it. I am having performed at Reinhardt Lexus of Montgomery. Is there cheaper/better place to do this service at? I hear Hennessy Lexus of Gwinnett is quite good but it is a 2hr drive. Any input would be great. Thanks in advance.

LiveSC400

 

That seems really expensive--seems like it's a 90K service (timing belt, waterpump, fluids flushed, etc.). Lexus is known (around here at least) to be cryptic on a "XX-k" mile service, so I'd ask for an itemized list of what exactly they are doing.

Nonetheless, have the dealer do a VIN check for the services done at Lexus (there is a national Lexus service record for each Lexus car, so long as it was done at a Lexus dealership), so you can know what needs to be done and what doesn't. If there's no record of anything, then I would probably consider the service mentioned above done. However, for example, if the brake fluid was flushed or spark plugs done at 160k, then I'd leave that off the service list to save you more money--don't do something to the car that's already been done a few months ago. Compare to the list of what the 100K service that they are recommending to what has already been done before you authorize anything to potentially save yourself some money.

Anyways, did the dealer mention anything relating to the humming noise that you originally mentioned in teh start of this thread?

 

Hey guys,

Well...I had my service done and actually spent closer to $1600 on my car. The guys at Reinhardt Lexus of Montgomery SUCK!! It seems as if they just replaced the timing belt and charged me $1600 for the $15 belt and $1500+ for labor. Yesterday, I noticed that my coolant was far too low. Aren't they supposed to check it and top it off if necessary? Heck...I'm kinda curious as if they really changed my oil, balanced my tires, did a wheel alignment, and refilled my tranny with fresh fluid. They also claim that they replaced my water pump and I'm pretty sure that is the original that's still there. Just for clarification purposes, is the water pump on the 1998-up 1UZ-FE located toward the top of the motor (usually has a 1UZ-... sticker on it? It seems that a 1 year old sticker would still look newer than this one. Also, they told me that I needed to replace my power steering pump. Well yesterday (when I found all of this bull***), I was planning to reseal my water pump with my uncle (mechanic for 30 years and extremely knowledgable about Toyotas), we found out the PS pump was fine and instead just resealed the high pressure line (drove 4 hours total since and no leaks yet). I thought Lexus techs were more knowledgable than this (no offense to the good ones). If this is the case, these guys will hear from a very unhappy me (not good ). Sorry for the griping...but I am not a happy camper.

LiveSC400

 

I'm really sorry to hear this. I always put lexus service people on a pedistool when it came to customer service. Once again sorry to hear about your experiance.

 

Ouch, I thought the Lexus techs were good too. Did you at least get a bill for the work they charged you for? Perhaps the the big stuff they can show you what was replaced if you take it back to them to have proof shown to you as to what the $1600 paid for!? Just a suggestion.