I have been having a few issues with my 2008 RX350 of late and would love some advice on where to go from here. The car has been shuddering on acceleration and after 3 visits to our Lexus service centre they have decided that the Cam Gear needs replacing. This is quite complex as they need to remove the engine thus expensive ($4200 Australian). We have only just replaced the power steering pump and hose at a cost of $3000 Australian). Given the car is 12 years old we decided to get a second opinion on the state of it before we decide weather to put more money into it so we took it next door to the Toyota service centre to get their thoughts. They want us to replace the entire engine with a reconditioned one at a cost of $5700 AUS. So confused. My worry is that we pay for new Cam Gear and then the engine needs more work??? Thoughts? There is 178 000 on the clock so its not so bad.

 

The ''cam gear'' your possibly mentioning sounds like the the vvti cam phasers. To get to them is by pulling the timing chain cover off, which is very tight on a transverse ''east/west'' fwd/awd platform. It is so much easier to get to & do the work if the engine/cradle is dropped out from the bottom. Since their there, great idea to replace the tensioners/idler, water pump & i'd go as far as replace at least the bank 1 coils & plugs. Yea the p/s is on the back of the motor as I've done that as well. The vvti cam phasers on the 2gr are remotely fed oil as some will rattle for a few seconds till the oil reaches to them. On my research looking at varies vehicles is the Toyota 2-gr motors are pretty good overall. Yeah timing covers leak & some have w/p's go out sooner then other motors & some have vvti phasers rattle on start up. From what I've read & researched is the 2gr motors are reliable motors + Lotus puts them in their Evora & some are supercharged so thats got to say something. With 178K on your motor, theres still a lot of life left in it. If it'd make you fell any better have a compression test & a leak down test done as that'd give you which way to go. Yea the vehicle is 12 yrs old, so what, it doesn't depreciate like other vehicles in its class. Just for the heck of it, price out a few similar vehicles like yours w/ similar miles. I'd also price shop a few different shops as well.

 

from the wreckers you will get an engine for $2000 ( i had a quick look on gumtree) some wreckers will do the install. All your quoted costs seem way high. Maybe get an opinion from an independent mechanic.

 

Are you sure the engine needs to be pulled?

Cams pulled on 2GRFE FWD with engine in car.

 

are you sure it is the engine that is shuddering? Is the ATF Ok. IE: is it red or black? Is it full? check level with car in park , engine running and at operating temp. These engines are "bullet proof" is serviced correctly and should go for 3 X the kms you have .