Dirty Oil

[WINGSHADOW]

Looked at a beautiful '03 ES300 yesterday. Black with black leather all options nav system etc. The interior shows little use but the engine appears not to have been serviced regularly. The oil dip stick shows oil lacquer and there is crude under the oil fill cap. There is no valve noise and the car is smooth,quiet and powerful.

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether I should walk away from this car or buy it and change the oil frequently for a few month to clean it up.

The price is right and I miss my old '99 ES300 and would like to buy this car.

Thanks

Jim from Jersey

[benalexe]

What happened to your other one?

My feeling is that the car was probably leased and people do not usually take care of leased cars so you will probably get those issues with any leased car. But I am no expert.

[WINGSHADOW]

What happened to your other one?

My feeling is that the car was probably leased and people do not usually take care of leased cars so you will probably get those issues with any leased car. But I am no expert.

Yeh, thats what I figure,probably a lease. I wonder if its' permenantly damaged or not?

I had to change by '99 ES300 into a pickup for my business. I really miss that car. I found out after taking it to the dealer for service, the first time, that it had a new replacement engine. The orginal one had damage from poor service. Thats what scares me about this car.

Jim

[92Lex]

Does the owner have any maintenance records?

[WINGSHADOW]

Does the owner have any maintenance records?

Dealer has the car, I'll ask him today.

Jim

[X72]

Looked at a beautiful '03 ES300 yesterday. Black with black leather all options nav system etc. The interior shows little use but the engine appears not to have been serviced regularly. The oil dip stick shows oil lacquer and there is crude under the oil fill cap. There is no valve noise and the car is smooth,quiet and powerful.

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether I should walk away from this car or buy it and change the oil frequently for a few month to clean it up.

The price is right and I miss my old '99 ES300 and would like to buy this car.

Thanks

Jim from Jersey

Under the oil filler cap, there is a piece of metal that obstructs your view in to the valvetrain. The part that obstructs your view is covered with black coating that looks just like sludge in the 02-06 ES'. If you put your finger on that black coating on a cold engine, you should see clean oil (well, as clean as whatever is on the dipstick) stick to your finger. Don't take my word for it; open the oil cap on an 05 or 06 ES and you will see the same black coating.

I would ask to have the front valve cover (shouldn't be too expensive) pulled off to get a good look if I wanted to see if the valvetrain is clean, merely varnished, or if there is sludge. The 1MZ-FE engines were supposedly revised starting in the 03 model year with an updated PCV system to reduce sludging. Good luck. I would advise you to test drive the car in slowing the car to nearly a stop (2 to 5 mph) and then accelerating and also coasting down (foot off the accelerator pedal) to 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 mph and then accelerating from each of those speeds to see how the transmission performs. We have an 03 and an 05 ES. I am not crazy about the transmission feel on either car, although I have adapted to the car.