Finally Bought One!

Bowserman · July 1, 2017

After looking at two really bad examples I took the plunge and put a deposit on a 2009 Limited Edition in Manchester. I live in Newcastle and work away so hired a car this morning and drove down with a view to buy at £7995 which I thought was good value with a fully stamped Lexus history and 93,000 miles. Arrived at the garage and took it for a test drive with my wife. Drove well, but when we parked it to have a better look away from the garage, we noticed that it was a bit rough around the edges, with a few scratches and a couple of dings and interior trim scratched too. Also, lots of stone chips on the bottom of the bonnet under the grille. Went back to the garage and when I turned it off, got a warning on the dash, then the auxiliary Battery went flat. The nav screen was also cracked and unresponsive. Anyway rejected it, but then spotted a black 2007SR parked in the corner. Asked for a look at that, took it for a drive and it went well. 84,000 miles with a service and cambelt change at 83,000 miles and full dealer history. Done the deal and got the garage hand to pick us up from the hire return depot and on the way back it broke down! Turned out to have ran out of petrol and flattened the traction Battery. Stuck for 30 mins till someone came out and reset it and filled with petrol, with my wife crying in the back. The need,e wasn't showing empty, but in between quarter and empty, (anyone else seen this before?) Anyway, brimmed it and drove it home to Newcastle which was uneventful and to be honest, a fantastic drive. Hopefully no more problems in the near future. Only snag I can see is rusty rear shocks and need to fit a kit so I can play my Iphone music.

bobmc · July 2, 2017

Hi Chris

Congrats on your new purchase. I can sympathise with your emotions as I went a long way to buy my Lexus and that places huge psycological pressure to see things through rose-tinted glasses so well done in picking up all those faults and rejecting it. I don't think I'd have been brave enough to take the wife as well!

I'm sure the SR will be fine and you'll have many happy miles together. Having said that, it would do any harm to have it looked over by some one qualified. I was lucky with mine, almost as soon as I'd bought it there was a recall and it had to go into the local Lexus dealer, while they had it they did an inspection and although they reported everything was ok they issued an advisory that there was a leak on one of the front ball joints.

Don't know what you've decided to do about servicing, but you could book it in to Lexus for an 'essential service' and you will get an inspection report including a hybrid health check.

I think a 2007 RX400h might be too old to get a Lexus warranty plan but you could ask. If you're nervous about bills then seriously consider this as an option.

Bowserman · July 3, 2017

It's literally just been into Lexus. The last owner must have had warranty as it had a timing belt and idler fitted, but the invoice says water pump free of charge, warranty. It has not done 500 miles since this and 1000 miles since last Lexus service and MOT.

bobmc · July 3, 2017

So you've got all the service records/invoices? You should have the last inspection report as well then.

New timing belt and water pump plus just serviced... sounds like you've done pretty well there :)

Linas.P · July 3, 2017

1 hour ago, Bowserman said:

It's literally just been into Lexus. The last owner must have had warranty as it had a timing belt and idler fitted, but the invoice says water pump free of charge, warranty. It has not done 500 miles since this and 1000 miles since last Lexus service and MOT.

It being 2009 and hybrid it makes sense that owner had extended warranty.

Bowserman · July 3, 2017

1 hour ago, bobmc said:

So you've got all the service records/invoices? You should have the last inspection report as well then.

New timing belt and water pump plus just serviced... sounds like you've done pretty well there :)

Yes, not got all the invoices, just last two years but the book is fully stamped, will check on my Lexus when the logbook comes back. And got the last inspection report.

My friend owns a garage near me and has done some sort of hybrid course, he looks after my car and as this one is over 10 now, I will use him. Bonus having the belt etc done as the 09 plate one wasn't done.

Bowserman · July 3, 2017

40 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

It being 2009 and hybrid it makes sense that owner had extended warranty.

This one is a 2007, I didn't buy the 09.

Linas.P · July 3, 2017

Just now, Bowserman said:

This one is a 2007, I didn't buy the 09.

Sorry, didn't notice that. But above is still valid, even more so - because when car was getting around 10 years old, the risk of something going wrong just increases, as well it makes sense to buy it just before 10th "birthday" because you can get 2 years, which then actually covers the car for maximum of 12 years -1day.

bobmc · July 3, 2017

It's a judgement call at 10 years, particularly as some of the wear and tear items, being 10 years old, will likely need attention and won't be covered by the warranty. Having said that you only need one unexpected bill for the warranty to pay for itself and Lexus do have a decent reputation for handling warranty claims. In this case it sounds like the OP is getting mates rates from his local garage so that complicates matters even further.

billgatesisaconman · July 10, 2017

On 01/07/2017 at 10:35 PM, Bowserman said:

After looking at two really bad examples I took the plunge and put a deposit on a 2009 Limited Edition in Manchester. I live in Newcastle and work away so hired a car this morning and drove down with a view to buy at £7995 which I thought was good value with a fully stamped Lexus history and 93,000 miles. Arrived at the garage and took it for a test drive with my wife. Drove well, but when we parked it to have a better look away from the garage, we noticed that it was a bit rough around the edges, with a few scratches and a couple of dings and interior trim scratched too. Also, lots of stone chips on the bottom of the bonnet under the grille. Went back to the garage and when I turned it off, got a warning on the dash, then the auxiliary battery went flat. The nav screen was also cracked and unresponsive. Anyway rejected it, but then spotted a black 2007SR parked in the corner. Asked for a look at that, took it for a drive and it went well. 84,000 miles with a service and cambelt change at 83,000 miles and full dealer history. Done the deal and got the garage hand to pick us up from the hire return depot and on the way back it broke down! Turned out to have ran out of petrol and flattened the traction battery. Stuck for 30 mins till someone came out and reset it and filled with petrol, with my wife crying in the back. The need,e wasn't showing empty, but in between quarter and empty, (anyone else seen this before?) Anyway, brimmed it and drove it home to Newcastle which was uneventful and to be honest, a fantastic drive. Hopefully no more problems in the near future. Only snag I can see is rusty rear shocks and need to fit a kit so I can play my iPhone music.

Hi Chris, as the petrol gauge nears the bottom it should trigger a little warning light near the guage, my gauge goes right to the bottom R mark & still isn't empty, according to Lexus' Bill Kwong it should still have "One to three gallons when the warning light is activated (depending on the model hybrid)." ... so even then it should do a fair few miles, for reference the best I have done is 44.5 mpg averaging 45-50 (over a 70 mile journey on a-roads) so I would say you'd have at least 30 miles on a very bad day ...

also for info, if I run mine really really low (and i've done this quite often but have never once ran out of fuel) when I go roundabout or corner while accelerating I get a short sensation of power loss (most likely due to the fuel moving away from the extraction point in the tank) ... I normally look for a petrol station at this point, ... so it may be you have a faulty fuel level sender unit ?

Bowserman · July 11, 2017

Hi, thanks for that. Yes definitely no light on and the needle wasn't right at the E mark. See how it goes now I have it, obviously won't let it get that far and might look at replacing the sender. I think the car had stood for a while as it had only done 1500 miles since the last test, so don't know if the sender may have got stuck? Anyway, bought a Lexus diagnostic scanner so should the worst happen, I can reset and restart it.

Reverse camera works but isn't too clear, so don't know if I am looking at a new camera or that's normal.

julian1969 · July 11, 2017

I've heard that running the tank low on a hybrid can induce some temporary drive train glitches but not heard of the fuel gauge being inaccurate before. I got about 30 miles of motroway miles out of mine on the fuel light before i bottled it and filled it.

You might just need to give the camera lens a quick wipe - it gets manky pretty quickly.

GSLV6 · July 12, 2017

I rarely allow the fuel tank to dip much under quarter of a tank. A local mech' informed me that running a car to almost dry doesn't do the fuel pump much good and any much collecting in the tank can prematurely clog fuel filters in older vehicles.

Bluesman · July 12, 2017

25 minutes ago, GSLV6 said:

I rarely allow the fuel tank to dip much under quarter of a tank. A local mech' informed me that running a car to almost dry doesn't do the fuel pump much good and any much collecting in the tank can prematurely clog fuel filters in older vehicles.

Thats just a myth as the fuel outlet is on the botton of the tank.

GSLV6 · July 12, 2017

You're quite possibly right there, but it's never a great idea to run a tank to empty.

bobmc · July 12, 2017

6 hours ago, Bluesman said:

Thats just a myth as the fuel outlet is on the botton of the tank.

I'm not so sure. For example after doing the washing up, look at how the dirty water goes down the plug hole. The food debris often hangs around until the sink is nearly empty.

sorcerer · July 13, 2017

The main reason for not running the petrol tank dry is that in petrol injection systems the fuel pump is actually inside the fuel tank and is cooled and lubricated by the fuel itself - no fuel means no cooling or lubrication for the pump, possibly leading to other (no doubt expensive) problems.

Bluesman · July 13, 2017

3 hours ago, sorcerer said:

The main reason for not running the petrol tank dry is that in petrol injection systems the fuel pump is actually inside the fuel tank and is cooled and lubricated by the fuel itself - no fuel means no cooling or lubrication for the pump, possibly leading to other (no doubt expensive) problems.

Thats just a myth as the fuel outlet is on the botton of the tank.