NJLS4302001

Thank you all very much for the advice. GDF: if you happen to latch on to a good independent in southern NJ or Philly area, please pass along his name. I am willing to travel a distance for competent, fairly priced repair work. Thanks.

Hi. I am new to this Forum. I purchased my 2001 LS (on Ebay!) with about 35K miles, and now have about 135K. Other than having regular oil changes, and changing a few of the easily accessible filters, I have done minimal maintenance so far. I love driving the car, and am having no problems, except for a recalcitrant radio that crackles when it is raining or humid before eventually kicking in. Obviously, the timing belt beckons. Since I am out of sync with the dealers' recommended service scheduling, I sought out an estimate for an "a la carte" selection of services from one of the local dealers in northern New Jersey for: timing belt change/water pump change, and general tune-up (i.e. new spark plugs, etc.). The total bill would be about $2,000! This seems to me to be high. It's not that I don't wish to maintain the car in the best possible shape, since I do expect to have it at least until 300K (which is what I had on my old Honda Accord). But some of these dealerships are beginning to look like a Ritz-Carlton, and that is something I don't wish to subsidize. (1) Does anyone know of a good independent repair place (maybe one that specializes in Lexus) in the tri-state area (preferably northern NJ) that may be an alternative to a dealer? (2) Even if (1) exists, is it still better to have the work at the dealer? (3) Do you really need to change the water pump at this point (~600 $ on top of timing belt charge). Thanks in advance for your advice!