Just bought an 03 RX 300 that was very well maintained and has only 48,436 miles on it. I know the car well as my wife has been ferrying the owners kids around in it as their Nanny. Paid only $9000 for it so I know I got a good deal. The question is what should I be checking on this nearly 10 year old car even though it has low miles. Does it have a timing belt that should be changed. Anything else that goes bad with age more than miles?

 

Congratulations on the purchase, post a few pictures. $9,000 is a great deal for such low miles, nice find!

Change the transmission fluid, drain and fill only. Is it FWD or AWD?

Yes, it has timing belt, and the engine is interference. Since your timing belt is 9 years old, I'd suggest replacing it around 80-90k miles.

Since your is an 03', you don't have to worry about sludge.

 

The official Lexus recommendation is to replace the timing belt at 6 years or 90,000 miles. That said, we all know it will go much longer and further.

I recently had the timing belt replaced on my mother's ES300, with 10 years (all in South Florida temperatures) and 43,000 miles. The belt looked like new, but the question is how many years do you go before replacement?

 

The car battery and wiper blades come to mind first. Tires can also age to an extent. Brake fluid and antifreeze replacement also are more age related than mileage.

 

Finally got around to taking some pictures. Let's see if I can figure out how to post them.

[IMG]http://i339

[IMG]http://i339

[IMG]http://i339

[IMG]http://i339

 

Back to the drawinbg board.

 

To upload a picture, click "go advanced" at the bottom. Then click the paperclip, and choose the files. After you browse to them and select them, click "upload". Then just close out of that window, and hit "Submit Reply".

 

Thanks, I'll try that. Very different than my Corvette or Maxima forums. You have to use Photobucket.

 

Sweet deal, you are one lucky man!

You should be given a medal of freedom for a deal like that.

 

BTW , does anyone knows how to adjust the brakes,mines fell to soft when press ?

thanks

 

No adjustments at all (other than the parking brake). I would start by bleeding the brakes.

 

I'll try again.

 

It worked, here are some more pictures. I bought this car from my wife's employer who is also a good friend. I think he could have gotten 13K in a trade in, but was not in the market for a new car. They just wanted us to get a deal and since she drives their two kids around, they wanted a safe car for us. I really was looking for a more sporty fun car to drive, but could not pass up the deal. It had 47,600 miles when we got it, and it just turned 50K yesterday. Small dent in the tailgate, and the front bumper is a little sunburned. Other than that , it's perfect. He always had it serviced at Lexus. New tires and brakes about 10K miles ago.

 

Nice, and the leather looks pretty decent too!

 

What do you mean by bleeding the brakes? Mine feel quite soft as well and also feels like all the brake force are coming from the front oppose to the rear (which has to get changed in a couple of months).