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Is this just oil spill or a timing cover leak? (2022 ES)


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I was ready to buy a 2022 Lexus ES 300h with 24k miles. took it to a mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection and they said the timing cover has an oil leak and it is a major problem. Dealer disagrees and says it’s got no issues. I asked a mechanic friend and he said it might just be oil spill from an oil change. I walked out but I’m second guessing myself whether the inspection mechanic was wrong here. It was a good deal.

Edit: The last oil change was Late May, so 1.5 months ago. It got serviced at 20k miles at a Lexus dealership. The car's just been sitting on the (non-lexus) dealer lot for 2 months.
  

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Edited by dinotim
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It's highly unlikely that a Lexus with that mileage would be leaking from any gasket other than the one under an insufficiently-tightened oil filter.
What some mechanics would do is clean up the oil and tell you to keep an eye on it. But since the vehicle is not yours, the mechanic would have to keep the vehicle for a couple of days, at least.

Really, the seller should do this and fix any leaks, BEFORE offering the vehicle for sale. If this Lexus is still available, suggest that they figure it out, after which you will consider buying it.

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7 minutes ago, RX400h said:

It's highly unlikely that a Lexus with that mileage would be leaking from any gasket other than the one under an insufficiently-tightened oil filter.
What some mechanics would do is clean up the oil and tell you to keep an eye on it. But since the vehicle is not yours, the mechanic would have to keep the vehicle for a couple of days, at least.

Really, the seller should do this and fix any leaks, BEFORE offering the vehicle for sale. If this Lexus is still available, suggest that they figure it out, after which you will consider buying it.

The dealership said they won't fix since there's no problem. To be fair, the parking spot the car's been sitting at for over a month don't have any oil stains. They also argued since it's covered under warranty, there's no risk, but buying a car where I have to take it to service right away is pretty icky to me.

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22 hours ago, dinotim said:

The dealership said they won't fix since there's no problem. To be fair, the parking spot the car's been sitting at for over a month don't have any oil stains. They also argued since it's covered under warranty, there's no risk, but buying a car where I have to take it to service right away is pretty icky to me.

I forgot to mention that every time I change the oil in our RX400h, no matter how thorough I think I cleaned up the oil that came from the oil filter, some gets trapped in some nook/cranny that is unreachable. After a few drives, I clean up the residual oil that falls onto the garage floor.

And sometimes when I am adding the 5 quarts of oil in the 5 quart jug, a small amount spills onto the engine.

I'd guess the something similar occurred during a recent oil change of the ES300h. You should be fine if you buy it.

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