Newbie Questions

[yellowIS300love]

First off, HELLO everyone!

I'm glad to be registered here with all the other Lexus fanatics, my name is Michael and I am 24 years old.

I drive a 2001 Lexus IS300, a sexy YELLOW one (can you tell?, (username)) =X

I just hit the 68,000 mark, and I am always depressed to see that reading on my

dash because I fear high mileage, especially after I was just loaned 13,900 to buy it.

What I please ask from you all is some car care tip's and what I need to do now.

I don't think the previous owner has had it serviced lately and I want to know whats the

best things and the essential things I need to do and save money.

The Lexus dealership just told me its like $335 for like an oil change, tire rotation, and a

couple of other minor things. I trust them because thats all they work on, but I need

something better, the car hasnt even had its 60K service yet.

I am a complete newbie and anything you all can educate me on would be tremendously

appreciated.

Nice to meet you all! ;)

Michael

[smooth1]

Welcome to the LOC.

Well, to be honest, you have a very broad question here.

The major service interval gets expensive. You can take it to a Toyota dealership and save a few bucks there. 68k is not alot of miles for these cars. the 2JZGE 3.0 I6 is one of the best motors Toyota has ever made. So I wouldn't be too concerned with that. But I would look over the tranny fluid, the differential will be needing to be flushed and replaced, power steering fluid and power brake fluid. You'll need to inspect and in my opinion replace the spark plugs at this point. Check over the coolant, but that should be fine. And, something everyone seems to forget about is the ac filter behind the glove box. check that and replace it if it needs. Also, these cars can benefit from a higher flow quality air filter in my opnion. The stock filters just don't flow well for as long as they should.

If you want to save some money, change your oil to Amsoil, 5w30 synthetic. ( Amsoil is the only oil in my experience.)

So, you have to post pitures of your car. It's like payment for advice. LOL!! We'll need interior and exterior shots.We like to see all the IS 300's out there. So is it a auto or man? are you a keepin it all stock or are you gonna be making it your own?

[yellowIS300love]

Welcome to the LOC.

Well, to be honest, you have a very broad question here.

The major service interval gets expensive. You can take it to a Toyota dealership and save a few bucks there. 68k is not alot of miles for these cars. the 2JZGE 3.0 I6 is one of the best motors Toyota has ever made. So I wouldn't be too concerned with that. But I would look over the tranny fluid, the differential will be needing to be flushed and replaced, power steering fluid and power brake fluid. You'll need to inspect and in my opinion replace the spark plugs at this point. Check over the coolant, but that should be fine. And, something everyone seems to forget about is the ac filter behind the glove box. check that and replace it if it needs. Also, these cars can benefit from a higher flow quality air filter in my opnion. The stock filters just don't flow well for as long as they should.

If you want to save some money, change your oil to Amsoil, 5w30 synthetic. ( Amsoil is the only oil in my experience.)

So, you have to post pitures of your car. It's like payment for advice. LOL!! We'll need interior and exterior shots.We like to see all the IS 300's out there. So is it a auto or man? are you a keepin it all stock or are you gonna be making it your own?

Thank you for responding!

I plan on keeping it stock, I don't wanna fool around with aftermarket.

I will take pictures today and post them. I called Precision Auto who are the guys who did my old cars timing / drive / waterpump for an estimated 60k mile service so we'll see how that goes.

[bartkat]

Go to http://lexus.com

Go to the owners section and register with your VIN. You can then access and download the owners manual and the service schedule. Find out what 60K miles requires and do it.

[Komail]

Wanna sell your IS300 to me? lol in michigan its impossible to find a yellow IS....

[mburnickas]

If you want to save some money, change your oil to Amsoil, 5w30 synthetic. ( Amsoil is the only oil in my experience.)

I have used amsoil for over 14 years and tried alomst every oil they have. I have used other like supertech, mobil, and others.

There 5w-30 was very week (and did thicken in my ES) and I am now like 5000 miles into there 0w-20 oil....WAY better performance here. Worth the same price. I have way to many UOA on there 5w-30 (asl) and will compare to there 0w-20..

PLus I gained some serious mpg with the switch.

[smooth1]

If you want to save some money, change your oil to Amsoil, 5w30 synthetic. ( Amsoil is the only oil in my experience.)

I have used amsoil for over 14 years and tried alomst every oil they have. I have used other like supertech, mobil, and others.

There 5w-30 was very week (and did thicken in my ES) and I am now like 5000 miles into there 0w-20 oil....WAY better performance here. Worth the same price. I have way to many UOA on there 5w-30 (asl) and will compare to there 0w-20..

PLus I gained some serious mpg with the switch.

Really? I was looking into the new line 0w-30. Your using the 0w-20? How many miles do you have on that motor?

I also like to use Lucas products. I like the oil extender stuff that makes the oil stay on top of the motor for cold starts. I've noticed it starts, well, cleaner for a lack of being able to find a better description. The car seems to turn a little quicker.

[mburnickas]

Really? I was looking into the new line 0w-30. Your using the 0w-20? How many miles do you have on that motor?

I also like to use Lucas products. I like the oil extender stuff that makes the oil stay on top of the motor for cold starts. I've noticed it starts, well, cleaner for a lack of being able to find a better description. The car seems to turn a little quicker.

I have yet to see any diff in oils (online etc) between the two for the over $2.50 delta in price per qt. Yup, I am using there 0w-20 on my es (with 113,000 miles) on her. I would only use LC20 from lube controll in my oils. Lucas make some good stuff but I would need to see before and after UOA on it (in oil). It is like there Lucas fuel UCL..Does nothing for me (aka my mpg) etc.

But use what makes you happy; but I would do some UOA using it.

I have used them (amsoil) since early 1990's. I stopped after awhile but went back due to "you do not know what you have unless you try something else"

[S. Kwok]

if the 335 price tag is for the 60k mile maintenance, then that seems about right since 60 is a major one (one every 15k miles, some are more "major" than others). For regular 5k mile service it should cost about 150-200. I just had my 30k done and it was about 300.

They usually do a long list of things for these major service maintenance. If you think the price is too high, you can always shop around to other lexus dealers. even when i was trying to order my car cover, it differed from 290 to 340 dollars from different dealers.

If you bought your lexus from a lexus dealer, ask them about this, and they might be able to drop the cost a little. mines did about the car cover and the trunk net.

[heyoceanfloor]

I just did the 60k service myself (mostly). There are a few things like tire alignment/balance etc I can't do myself, but I just got some ice tires put on and they did it for me. I didn't replace the cabin air filter though... UH OH