Morning, All.
I am currently a happy yet concerned owner of a 2006 LX 470 in Houston, TX.
Car has ~190,000 miles on it and has treated me very well since I purchased it in 2017 after a single owner, and it's my daily driver.
It's the pearl white and has been only used for city and highway driving.
However, I've been chasing road vibrations for the better part of a year, and just found the stickied thread on the FAQ regarding front end vibrations. (I'll perform those recommendations here in the near future.)
Should I sell this car (ideally to someone that is able and willing to keep it up), or keep it and maintain it? I'd be performing as much work as I can myself because I simply don't trust the shops around here; however, I am unaware of what further preventative maintenance to perform and how to diagnose it. I am aware of the maintenance list in the FAQ sticky, but do not fully understand the extent of labor and tools commitment involved or where to start.
Assume that all work takes me about 2-3x longer than a "normal" Ih8Mud wrencher. The prospect of putting 40 hours and/or +$5k per year into my daily driver keeps me up at night.
Current State:
I am currently a happy yet concerned owner of a 2006 LX 470 in Houston, TX.
Car has ~190,000 miles on it and has treated me very well since I purchased it in 2017 after a single owner, and it's my daily driver.
It's the pearl white and has been only used for city and highway driving.
However, I've been chasing road vibrations for the better part of a year, and just found the stickied thread on the FAQ regarding front end vibrations. (I'll perform those recommendations here in the near future.)
Should I sell this car (ideally to someone that is able and willing to keep it up), or keep it and maintain it? I'd be performing as much work as I can myself because I simply don't trust the shops around here; however, I am unaware of what further preventative maintenance to perform and how to diagnose it. I am aware of the maintenance list in the FAQ sticky, but do not fully understand the extent of labor and tools commitment involved or where to start.
Assume that all work takes me about 2-3x longer than a "normal" Ih8Mud wrencher. The prospect of putting 40 hours and/or +$5k per year into my daily driver keeps me up at night.
Current State:
- Goodyear Wrangler Tires (285/65/18) w/ ~50K miles (because they look cool)
- 190K miles
- New CV Axles and hub bearings (not spindle bearings)
- Vibrations from ~45 mph - 80 mph
- All tires scalloped from vibrations + rotations
- P0020 code flagging VSC etc on dash
- Ball joint boots shot
- Likely bushings in control arms shot
- AHC undoubtedly needs replenishing or replacement/upgrade
- Speakers blown
- Window motor controllers need to be fixed, rear windows malfunction when on "auto" raise
- Front seats slightly torn
- Missing small plastic piece on OEM roof rack
- Cosmetics from rubbing, hood paint chipped from who knows what
- 190,000 Miles (DIY)
- CV Axle replacement (took me nearly 30 hours to perform since I haven't done this level of work before lol)
- Brake Hub Bearing replacement
- Both according to TSM
- Code clearing - Haven't seen P0440 come back (yet)
- 185,000 Miles (Clear Choice Lexus in Houston)
- Alignment
- Valve Cover Gaskets, Tube Seals, Washer replacement
- They spotted the blown CV boots and assumed wheel bearings were shot, suggested those were sources of vibrations. I declined that service from them though.
- 182,000 Miles (Master Car Care)
- New Fuel Pump and Filter
- New Battery
- New gas cap (P0440 and P0445 code)
- 170,000 Miles (Lexus Clear Lake*)
- Standard 175,000 mile service (supposedly)
- Brake inspection
- Battery health check
- Tire check
- Tire Rotation
- Alignment
- Vacuum and clean
- No joint checks (lmao)
- Tires balanced
- *Vibrations started before I brought the car to this service. I do not have confidence in this shop, btw - they recommended I purchase all new shocks for the vehicle because they were leaking. When I told them to check the conditions of the AHC system, they had no idea what I was talking about.
- Standard 175,000 mile service (supposedly)
- 146,000 (Meineke)
- Hood Shocks
- Belt Tensioner Pulley
- Serpentine Belt
- Belt Tensioner
- 140,000 (Duggy's*)
- Timing Belt
- Water pump
- Idler Pulley
- Tensioner
- Crank Seal
- Thermostat
- Thermostat Seal
- Serpentine Belt
- Heater T's
- *My tensioner catastrophically failed ~10 months after this service. Did Duggy's actually replace my tensioner and pulleys or just say they did? I don't know but I'm not going back.
- 140,000 (Memorial Car Care)
- Goodyear Wrangler 285/65/18 + Balance - no idea if they used the correct tooling
- New Valve Stems
- Everything before this was just fluid work, oil changes etc. New rear windows because my car got broken into.
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