Ok I so I FINALLY got around to bringing my car to get checked out at lexus and here is what I was told needs to be fixed and their prices.

R/F Strut is leaking $1091.24

Distributor Housing is Leaking $436.89

Valve Cover Gaskets are leaking $535.84

Serpentine Belt is dry cracking $193.14

Full Fluid flush $352.48


These prices seem crazy high, what do you guys think?

 

That is ridiculous. Serpentine belt itself is about $40. Labor isn't worth almost 2 hours. I was able to change the belt on the SC300 in about 30-45 minutes.

Strut itself is about $350 for all 4 corners. Installation is around 3-4 hours. But then of course you own a lexus so they are obligated to overcharge you.

Try to find a local Lexus independent shop instead of the dealer.

 

All I need is DIY's and I'm all good The one thing that makes me kind of worry is the leaky distributor and valves, any thoughts on those?

 

Those shouldn't be too difficult to do. The valve cover will be a bit messier since you'll have lots of vacuum lines, hoses, and connectors to take off.

I have no DIY. When I did the serpentine belt, I did it on a friend's SC300. have GS400 myself and the serpentine belt takes 2 minutes to replace.

 

A lot of stuffs on your list is seem o.k, depending on dealer's labor rate. On the strut, since you live in Mass. a lot of snow/salt that may eat up the bolts and nuts that holding the strut to the suspension so they may have to cut those bolts and nuts, drill it out, rethread them.. just to remove the strut. A PITA.

I used to live in CT and work at Toyota dealership as a trainee when I was in technical college. I'd see the master tech that trained me at that time get all frustrated on a simple brake job because he can't get the rotor out and it rusted so bad. He ended up have to called the customer with an option just to replace the brake pads and live with the pulsation or remove the knuckle, replace the hubs, wheel bearings, rotors, calipers and the total was almost $2K just for the front brake job on a 1986 Camry. I know it's sound crazy,but if you live in the snow state you know what I'm talking about.

 

LOL snow sucks as does Mass

From doing research it seems as if I could probably do everything accept the Valve Gaskets because I can not find a DIY as of yet on it. I also have to wonder if the mechanic is over charging because I looked at the belts and they look pretty new. The car drives very smooth so the strut should not be to bad, but I could be wrong. Where can I get a repair manual for the SC300?

 

You can try www.book4cars.com for the manual. You still need some basic tools to do the job. You can take the car to another dealer near by, the shop you can trust or the second opinion/price quote.

You may need to ask yourself, how long do you need to keep the car, how much do you want to spend?

 

Well I would like to keep the car for around 2 or 3 years or so if possible and then do a engine and tranny swap. I was looking into http://www.alldatadiy.com/ for some help. I mean I got the car for $4200 and KBB has it valued at around 7k.

The question is, would you consider this a lemon.........................................I mean im still under the lemon law and the price of the repair is within returning it to the seller or do you think its worth it for what I paid. Now Im not a mechanic but I'm also not afraid to learn new things.

 

I don't think its monetarily as bad as they make it out to be...

you can do a coolant flush in your front yard for $30, you can replace the power steering fluid for about $10, you can replace brake fluid for about $20, you can drain and fill the trans a couple times for about $50...

leaking shock you can probably do aftermarket, and lowering springs for less than they quoted you

serpentine belt, as noted, is $40 or so, and very easy to replace...

valve cover gasket is relatively easy to replace as well, but not even a requirement - a little wetness around the edge of the valve cover is not necessarily something to worry about or care about even... the distributor leaking is potentially a bigger problem, as they tend to leak worse...

 

Cool, that sounds good. So I think I'm going to start shopping for parts tomorrow and I have 2 weeks vacation coming up July 4th and I will take a day or 2 to do all the repairs.

Do you think Alldatadiy.com is good site to work with and can you recommend so nice struts that are more for comfort than racing?

 

alldata works pretty well... nice shocks - I'd do some KYB GR-2's...