Ok so here is a small background. I just bought a 97 SC300 (auto) with 170k on it. Now its in pretty good shape the only issues I can see are the following:

Tires

Alignment

Paint and normal interior wear and tear

Well Im going to be going for a pretty good 2k drive in July so Im taking the time to go over the car to make sure all is good. Today I decided to call the local Lexus dealer to see how much it would cost to have them do a full "check Up" and my jaw hit the ground............they told me it would cost $850 for them to check it out Does that sound excessive to you?

I have been reading this forum quite a bit now and I must say there is ENDLESS knowledge on here and I love it.......thanks to everyone . After reading a ton of threads on all different things could someone tell me what else I should check on my own if I dont decide to bring it to the dealer?

I would like to check the following:

Suspension (ball joints, control arms, Rack)

Brakes (I will be replacing in a few days)

Belts (need to do more research on this one)

Plugs and wires (doing when I start the brakes)


Is there anything else you guys and think of?

 

$850 does sounds pretty steep. Before I bought my SC, I had a similar checkup at a nearby Lexus dealer for about $200 and thought that was pricey.

For a 2k miles drive off the top of my head:
-Change the oil obviously
-Cooling system including radiator, hoses, etc...
-Make sure all fluids (power steering, transmission, coolant, etc...) are topped off.
-Tires/pressure are good.

 

Damn... we do a complete vehicle inspection for $20... the only thing we don't look at is the plugs (by the time you look at them, you might as well have changed them)... Another $20 for alignment check, and you're done...

 

Im mostly concerned about the suspension and tranny

 

wow thats over chargeed..i cant see myself paying that much since i get parts for cheap and do my own work.

 

My serpentine idler blew up a few nights ago. The bearings disintegrated and metal glitter started coming out of the races.

I found a Lexus dealership that actually had the part in stock. I had the car towed to that dealership. When asked how much it would cost to change the pulley, they quoted $155 labor and $69 for the pulley.

I grabbed a 14mm socket and discovered I could take the pulley off in about 30 seconds. Because Toyota has just one accessory belt and an auto tensioner which is loosened simply by turning the bolt counter clockwise, it made changing the pulley about a 2 minute job. I would have never know that had the dealer given me a reasonable quote for labor. If they said say $60 or something I would have just let them do it even though it would have only taken their master tech 60 seconds to change it out and I would never have know they just made $3600 / hour. ($60 in one minute).

What they got instead was me changing it in front of the service checkin in front of all the service writers.

 

Many car repairs are this way. Toyota comes out with a repair labor hour manual, and the industry copies it and modifies it as needed... According to Toyota, it should take X amount of hours to change that tensioner, including prep time (getting out tools and such)... It's called Flag Hours, and is the way that we as auto shops charge a set rate for things...

I did two radiator fan motors on a Kia something the other day - it said 1.6 hours worth of work, I had it done in 20 minutes... I was in somewhat of a hurry, still got it done correctly, but I still woulda taken only 30-35 minutes doing things completely not rushed... but book time is what we all go by - I'm pretty quick with most repairs, but someone slower might take the full 1.6 hours or longer... It rewards fast techs, and penalizes slow techs...

 

The dealer may misunderstand of the check up you want and quote you for the a full 180K service for $850.00. You may need to call them again and tell them you just want a pre-purchase check up.

 

That is possible..............Im going to call again and call it a PRE-PURCHASE check up and see what they say. Now Im no mechanic or anything but I know most of the repairs I could do myself with a good DIY

 

doesn't seem steep considering my alignment alone was $300.00

 

WHAT!!! why so much? I got my front and back aligned for $100

 

I got mine done at sears for $59. As many rechecks and realignments as I want for 1 year / 12K miles.