This is a question for those who rolled the dice and picked up a used GX with unknown service history. How did it turn out?
My dilemma: I found a low mile, 3 owner GX that has been a Midwest car. Fairly solid vehicle for $6500 and less than 120K miles. Minor issues like the two rear windows wont roll down from the driver switch but work fine from the rear doors, and the CDL not engaging, and a little bit of rust under the door sill plate on the driver side. Not a garage kept vehicle. In the last 3 years a total of 2,733 miles have been put on it. Also has a check engine light along with the VSC lights with i am thinking is linked to an O2 sensor. No exhaust manifold leaks. Its dead silent compared to my 03 sequoia (family weekend around town vehicle) with 230K miles. My hang up is there is quite a bit of oil caked all over the engine of the GX. Notice there was a drop of oil coming of an upper bracket of the oil dipstick tube. Bunch of oil caked all over the lower skid under the pan. And looking through drivers side wheel well there are hoses that run to the back of the vehicle that are caked in oil and grime. The trans and transfer case were clean.
My suspicion is that it had sat for a while and the seals have dried up. Its running the original timing belt. So if I were to get it, I would do the timing belt and water pump with all the seals and valve cover gaskets. My concern is that the oil pump is also leaking and it may need a rear main seal. Dealership said they had not changed the oil. Oil was dirty but no sign of coolant in the oil. On the test drive it seemed to run strong and seemed about on par with my Sequoia performance wise.
I would be going from a DD 99 Limited 4runner with 233k miles that hasn't given me any issue and does not have nearly the amount of oil covering the engine like this gx. My 03 sequoia engine is relatively clean too and had good service history when I picked it up 3 years ago. Worst case, I have to throw a new motor in it. Not a big deal but would be a significant inconvenience since I travel 2-3 hours sometimes for work. I know the 2uz is a durable motor but how much maintenance neglect is to much.
Thoughts?
My dilemma: I found a low mile, 3 owner GX that has been a Midwest car. Fairly solid vehicle for $6500 and less than 120K miles. Minor issues like the two rear windows wont roll down from the driver switch but work fine from the rear doors, and the CDL not engaging, and a little bit of rust under the door sill plate on the driver side. Not a garage kept vehicle. In the last 3 years a total of 2,733 miles have been put on it. Also has a check engine light along with the VSC lights with i am thinking is linked to an O2 sensor. No exhaust manifold leaks. Its dead silent compared to my 03 sequoia (family weekend around town vehicle) with 230K miles. My hang up is there is quite a bit of oil caked all over the engine of the GX. Notice there was a drop of oil coming of an upper bracket of the oil dipstick tube. Bunch of oil caked all over the lower skid under the pan. And looking through drivers side wheel well there are hoses that run to the back of the vehicle that are caked in oil and grime. The trans and transfer case were clean.
My suspicion is that it had sat for a while and the seals have dried up. Its running the original timing belt. So if I were to get it, I would do the timing belt and water pump with all the seals and valve cover gaskets. My concern is that the oil pump is also leaking and it may need a rear main seal. Dealership said they had not changed the oil. Oil was dirty but no sign of coolant in the oil. On the test drive it seemed to run strong and seemed about on par with my Sequoia performance wise.
I would be going from a DD 99 Limited 4runner with 233k miles that hasn't given me any issue and does not have nearly the amount of oil covering the engine like this gx. My 03 sequoia engine is relatively clean too and had good service history when I picked it up 3 years ago. Worst case, I have to throw a new motor in it. Not a big deal but would be a significant inconvenience since I travel 2-3 hours sometimes for work. I know the 2uz is a durable motor but how much maintenance neglect is to much.
Thoughts?
