Finally Joining the Club:::Oh Yeah (1 Viewer)

[ewrk1989]

It's been several months since I got the itch, and a lot of logistics and stuff to work out. But today I bought and put plates on my very own hundy. It's a 2002 LX with 210k miles. Nav and Mark Levinson. Very good interior, probably 9/10. Exterior also honestly feels like a 9/10. It's a midwest truck, but there is actually very little rust on the undercarriage, and none on the body. Sure saved me a lot of heartburn trying to source one outside my area. I wanted to say "thanks" in general to the forum for being such a great place to learn. Every time I've posted I've found very helpful and positive people. I think that makes the whole platform feel like a "club". That might explain the fist bump I got from a random Jeep driver today. (Can never tell with those folks... )

The owner had a fat stack of invoices dating back about 10 years. Mostly oil changes, a couple differential services, trans flushes, spark plugs, and that sort of stuff.

I had it inspected at a Lexus dealership and they identified the following issues:

• CV boots throwing grease--most likely original CV axles, so I'm thinking those will be a thing to replace completely--going to try to do this on my own
• Steering rack is seeping/leaking but looked minmal--steering is pretty good as far as I can tell. Will try to source the parts and have my indie mechanic fix at some point. Keeping an eye on the fluid for now. Any advice here?
• Some valve cover gasket seeping--plan to re-torque the bolts for now, replace gaskets later
• Some oil coming from the rear main area--looked pretty minimal, so not sure if that's much of an issue at the moment.
• The last timing belt was 80k ago, so have jus a little bit of time before that needs doing. I only drive about 14k miles a year.
• I used all this to negotiate him down to a very slick price---but I couldn't have done it without all the learning I was able to absorb through these forums

Aside from that, I can tell it pulses during breaking. I'm going to chalk that up to warped rotors. Possibly alignment (?) it needs one. Any advice there?

The driver side lock doesn't want to actuate with the button on the key or the door. Using the keyway for now to lock/unlock. Figure I can tear into that and replace at some point.

Other than that, I'm going to baseline all the fluids, figure out some tires, get me some stainless heater tees, and get this baby ready for a trip to Colorado this summer! Very excited!

 

[aging fleet]

Congrats, looks great.

 

[BullElk]

Now you are qualified to give a wave.

 

[Runner2aCruiser]

Very nice!

 

[Greenbean]

Congrats man!

Enjoy!

 

[gpxl]

Looks good! Congrats.

 

[ewrk1989]

Over the weekend I ordered new OEM heater tees and corresponding hoses. While I wait for the slow shipping, I put in a new battery and took a good long look underneath to familiarize myself with everything.

Although it's in pretty good shape for a midwest truck, I think a useful project right now while the weather is good will be to tackle any rust. I'll put up some photos later today. The main areas that need attention will be:

• The weld seam along the bottom of the frame -- will hit that with a brush
  
• General surface cleanup of the rear diff/axle housing --probably brush/steel wool

I've done some reading on rust treatment here and so some cans of fluid film are definitely on order. My question would be this: should I clean affected areas with a brush and apply FF--or should I clean/paint/FF? Some folks say don't paint, as it can lock in moisture. But then again, brushes aren't so precise and I expect some of this work will actually remove a bit of the frame paint that's in good condition.

Unfortunately, after spending a couple hours under the vehicle, I turned up two areas that I just didn't see before. I'll try to describe now but will put up photos later today:

• The cross member that runs under the transfer case is flaking/delaminating along one edge. The rest of it oddly looks clean. What would be involved to just replace it? I can see it supports the t-case, but if the member drops, is the t-case held anywhere else?
  
• There is a square tube cross member in the rear that goes between the two coil spring mounting plates. The structure is boxed in quite nicely there, but I discovered a patch that's flaking rust. There's some crap inside the cross member tube as well---ugh. For the outside, I plan to hit it with a more substantial brush/abrasive wheel. Inside, try to remove as much loose stuff and spray liberally with FF. Any ideas?

 

[bctlex]

While you are looking under the car, check front passenger side - where the sway bar is connected to the frame. The condensation from AC drips here, and usually it is rusted due to constant water dripping here. I added a small tubing so that the water will not drip at this location anymore. Do a search for this.

Congrats on the car!

 

[KYLandy]

subbed for outcome.

My 2006 LC has more rust than I am comfortable with underneath. It seems to be just surface rust but I need to address it. Mine was a rust belt purchase from NY and Hurricane Sandy may have something to do with the rust I see. Check under the plastic bumper in the rear, too. Mine has giant flakes of rust falling off the step part of the bumper from underneath and several large holes where it rusted completely away. I'll likely replace the whole bumper with a heavy duty one at some point. Also, check behind the passenger side rear mud flap. Part of the bracket that holds the mud flap had completely rusted away. This is a great spot for road salt and snow to accumulate and hide while it eats away at the metal. My spare tire hardware is completely rusted, potentially solid, so I am afraid to try to lower the spare without replacement parts on hand. My upper rear hatch handle was completely missing due to rust when I purchased it but I have the hardware to replace it but, instead, I just stuck an OEM replacement handle on the rusted bracket and it works, so I'll get to that some day. I don't see any overspray from paint like there would be if someone was trying to hide the rust but the OEM paint is flaking off on many places along the frame. The body panels have zero rust on them so that is a blessing. My factory hitch has some cancer as well, although I don't think it would be a problem to tow the maximum weight with it. It's all surface rust but, left unchecked, it could cause me problems down the down. Every nut and bolt underneath puts up a fight and I get a face full of rust when doing anything underneath.

I bought mine sight unseen due to price and mileage but I don't have any regrets. I have a solid reliable vehicle that just needs some care. I was lucky to have the opportunity to buy this one since they are extremely rare in my part of the continent.

 

[fooldall1]

Nice!!

 

[trdcorolla]

Congrats! I just picked up a cassette adapter for mine!

 

[yotasavg]

Nice!

 

[MattSEG]

Congratulations, great looking rig.

 

[ewrk1989]

@KYLandy , I appreciate your comments. In a way, they are encouraging. I bought this vehicle because of a combination of factors: timing, budget, service history, ability to take off work and shop, etc. etc. At the risk of sounding hokey, sometimes you gotta know when to pull the trigger. For the right price, we'll get what we pay for and that's alright. Coming from a backpacking background, I know that it's much better to get out there and have the adventure with the gear you have than it is to sit at home on forums and Craigslist.

Alright, so, I spent some time on the underside today with a steel brush and liberal application of Fluid Film. I'm about 90% done. I can see why this stuff is regarded so highly.

I'm not so great with the photo upload tool but I'll try to annotate these:

Typical of the frame--not too bad. Clean up the weld seams and blast with FF

This is the area that I missed during my inspection. This is the driver-side rear area where the coil spring mounting plate boxes in with another cross member and the main fore-aft beam. Did not treat this yet but plan to get rid of the flakes as best as possible inside and out. Looking for advice on any other treatements besides FF here. I'm not concerned about structural integrity because of how much steel is welded together here.

A couple photos of the cross member under the t-case. Any thoughts on replacement?

Another snapshot of what I typically found.

 

[ewrk1989]

Side note: I won't call this a "build" thread because I'm pretty much just looking to get this thing baselined and dependable. However, I plan to post as much as I can while I take care of the major maintenance items. Hopefully it'll be useful to other new folks like myself, or possibly entertaining for the greybeards.

 

[Snowrydr01]

keep up the posts. As a northeasterner and current buyer, I am expecting even the "good" ones to look like this. Great to see the process.

 

[AMGAndrew]

Hit that crossmember with a hammer to knock off the loose rust and just soak it in fluid film and run that junk. Worry about it in a few more years. Same with a lot of the rust I can see in those pics. Looks like a pretty solid rig.

 

[ewrk1989]

Congrats! I just picked up a cassette adapter for mine!

Thanks, and I got one of those too. It's just "OK". That cassette hiss definitely brings me back.

I'll be looking to get one of these in the coming months:
Bluetooth Phone & Music Interfaces
Select Toyota Lexus 98-05 Bluetooth Hands Free Car Adapter Kit

There's a tutorial here on how to do the job:
DIY iPod Integration Install 2002 Lexus LX 470 w/ Factory Nav

 

[Leandro]

Thanks, and I got one of those too. It's just "OK". That cassette hiss definitely brings me back.

I'll be looking to get one of these in the coming months:
Bluetooth Phone & Music Interfaces
Select Toyota Lexus 98-05 Bluetooth Hands Free Car Adapter Kit

There's a tutorial here on how to do the job:
DIY iPod Integration Install 2002 Lexus LX 470 w/ Factory Nav

FWIW, I bought this last year.
Amazon.com: Nulaxy Wireless In-Car Bluetooth FM Transmitter Radio Adapter Car Kit with 1.44 Inch Display and USB Car Charger: Electronics
It's pretty cool works very well, also has a USB outlet to charge your phone.

 

[ewrk1989]

I really like the MicroSD and Aux options. Might be worth a shot for ~$20. Probably somewhat lossy compared to the other devices but I might not be able to tell anyway