Just had Service and MOT - Advice please

[DM90]

Hi,

  I just had my Lexus is250 2007 UK model serviced and MOT at my local Lexus dealer. I bought the car last August, a month after it was serviced and MOT by another Lexus dealer, and no advisories on that MOT or the one before. I have done just under 5,000 miles in the car over the past year since I had it and the following has been flagged up on the MOT and Service.

 

MOT:

Advisory notice item(s)
Nearside Front Inner Tie bar/rod has slight play in a ball joint (2.4.G.2)
Central Rear Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases exhaust box corroded around weld (7.1.2)
Offside Rear Shock absorber has a light misting of oil (2.7.3)

 

Servicing:

Condenser Leaks - £603.26

Central Box very slightly leaking - £1,561.45

OSR Shock Absorber slightly leaking - £394.20

 

I called to enquire why there was no quote for the ball joint and was told it was not seen on the service and was only spotted on the MOT because they connect it to a machine that shakes it but that they can organise for me to have a quote emailed to replace the ball joint.

I asked how the car had obtained around £3,000 (by the time the ball joint is added) worth of repairs in a year doing less than 5,000miles with nothing showing up on the previous two MOTs and was told it depends on the person servicing and MOT testing the car and if they notice the problem and their opinion of the problem.

I asked how badly the work needs to be done and was told the general advice they provide for advisories is to check again in 6months to see if work needs to be completed.

 

I  don't know anything mechanical about cars but I am thinking I should get the shock absorber and the ball joint done as soon as possible. The air con works perfectly fine and I have no issues with it, I was also not aware of any issues with the exhaust, to be honest I wasn't aware of any issues at all with the car so I am quite surprised by these reports but as I said I don't know anything mechanical about cars.

 

Questions:

1) I just wondered what other people would do in this position, am I right to just mainly concentrate on the shock absorber and ball joint for now?

 

2) To keep the cost down I am thinking of buying the ball joint and shock absorber online then taking to a local mechanic and asking them to fit them. As I am not sure what the correct parts are I wondered if somebody had an online website link to reasonably priced brand new shock absorber and brand new ball joint that I require? I asked my local lexus dealer for their labour rates and was told £156 + VAT per hour.

 

3) If I need to replace my exhaust or condenser I am thinking of doing the same thing as for the shock absorber and ball joint and just wondered if anybody knows the best place to purchase reasonably prices exhaust and condenser?

 

4) Any ideas how much labour charge I would be looking at for a standard garage to do the above work?

 

I'm grateful for any advice provided. 

 

Just incase there are any local mechanics with their own garage on this forum that can provide me with a quote I am based in South London.

[lockeyboy]

These are all normal advisories for Lexus cars

id be very sceptical, and my garage charges £50 an hour inc Vat

find an independent and if you want the work done, save yourself a few hundred pounds

 

did they video the faults for you?

[Farqui]

Crumbs that's a hefty estimate!

Get the the work checked/done at a trusted, local garage.

Crumbs, a slight leak can't cost £1500+ to sort out.

If a general garage can't fix the zoorst, then try an exhaust specialist.

I got brand new middle AND rear SS sections for less than half of your zoorst estimate.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[peachy]

Reminds me of a vauxhall astra I had in the past with similar advisorys but with much cheaper repair quotes. 

Year after year after year the car still passed it's mot. 7 years I owned that car and none of the advisorys resulted in a fail or breakdown. 

 

[J Henderson]

Ideally, shock absorbers should be replaced in pairs. I would probably get the ball joints done on both sides too.

Don't go to Lexus though. Buy the parts yourself and like the others have mentioned, find an independent garage to install them for you. Even if you buy genuine or OEM-quality parts, you'll save a fortune. eg: £180 for a PAIR of rear shocks

These are the ball joints you need. Shop around the various Lexus dealers in the London area for the best deal (some of them will offer a discount on parts for LOC Gold Members), or just contact Lexus Birmingham on eBay as they are big on internet sales and usually hard to beat, price-wise.

The issue with the exhaust can't be very serious if it's just passed an MOT, but for piece of mind it could perhaps be welded at the same time as the suspension work.

[DM90]

Hi All

       Appreciate the responses, thank you.

I have taken on board what has been mentioned in this thread and have looked for a pair of shock absorbers and a pair of ball joints. Given the advisories I pasted in my above opening thread, can somebody confirm if the following parts would resolve the ball joint issue and the shock absorber issue:

 

Related advisories:

Nearside Front Inner Tie bar/rod has slight play in a ball joint (2.4.G.2)
Offside Rear Shock absorber has a light misting of oil (2.7.3)

 

Parts I have found:

Shock absorbers - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/For-Lexus-IS200D-IS220D-IS250-Rear-shock-absorbers-shockers-Genuine-KYB-X2-/262954074621?fits=Car+Make%3ALexus&hash=item3d3948c1fd:g:FGkAAOSwdjNZDFB~

 

Ball joint - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEXUS-IS220D-IS250-FRONT-LOWER-BALL-JOINT-SET-PAIR-X2-LH-RH-OS-NS-SIDE-NEW-05-11-/371944868412?fits=Car+Make%3ALexus&hash=item5699a44a3c:g:CIsAAOxy3NBSckJs

I presume the "tie bar/rod" that the advisory refers to is part of the ball joint and not a separate connecting part?

 

Although the shock absorbers are more expensive than Lexus have quoted me to replace I presume Lexus quote is to only replace the single shock absorber and not both.

 

If my air con is working fine am I running a risk by not replacing the condenser immediately? Should I be looking to get that replaced at the same time as my shock absorbers and ball joints? I'm currently looking to see if there is a local mobile car air con specialist.

I apologise for these basic questions but I just have no idea about the mechanical side of cars and have always just let the dealer/garage just take care of it all but at almost £3,000 I am trying to see if I can do a cheaper alternative.

 

Grateful for all advice.

 

Thanks

[lockeyboy]

Hi

you need to find a local independent

those repairs feel unlikely and not reasonable for a car of that age/value using a main dealer

the shocks could go on for years and still not fail

a full exhaust custom made should be around £500 inc fitting

[J Henderson]

@DM90 Yes, those are the correct shock absorbers but they are more than double the price of the pair I provided a link to in my previous post.

Here they are again;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-KYB-Stosdampfer-551132-Hinten-LEXUS-IS-II-GSE2-ALE2-USE2-/263111981358?epid=1974714511&hash=item3d42b2392e:g:J5IAAOSwRlJZe1NJ&utm_source=LexusOwnersClubUK&utm_medium=ForumLinks&clk_rvr_id=1276020328161&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true

£180-ish including delivery from Germany.

 

[Tyre Tread]

I bought my 2007 IS250 in March. 58K miles and full Lexus service history with almost exactly 6k miles each year between services. 

Although I'm quite capable of servicing it myself I have just taken a job quite a distance from home so my commute will be around 20K miles a year. Consequently I decided to let the Lexus garage take a look and do a major service under their "Essential Care" program.

The verdict was advisories on a misting OSR shock absorber, smearing wiper, rear brake pads down to 5mm (about half worn) and mentioned verbally but nit recorded "some coolant staining around the water pump".

It looks like the rear shocks may be a weak point based upon the number of mentions. The rest, as far as I can see, is justifying the £350.00 cost of the service.

My thanks to John Henderson as I will obtain the shocks based upon his link above and fit them myself. I'd already looked around the net and not found them any cheaper.

OP: If you aren't able to do the work yourself, find local garage you can trust and provide the parts for them to fit. It will save you a fortune. 

I wouldn't worry too much about advisories on an MOT. Testers will always err on the side of caution. 

 

 

[DM90]

Hi All,

           Thanks again for the helpful replies always appreciated.

Update:

The cheapest I have found is a local garage charging £1,400 (Including VAT), to do both shock absorbers, both ball joints and the exhaust that price is for parts and labour. So I will probably book this in a couple of weeks when I am on annual leave.

 

One thing that confused me is this garage quoted me for replacing the ball joints when I read out my MOT advisories to them, another garage that I emailed a copy of my MOT advisories to quoted me for:

NSF inner tie rod
Track rod end
Steering rack gaiters

 

One is quoting for tie rods and the other is quoting for ball joints, are they all part of the same thing or is one garage quoting me for the wrong part?

[Malc]

and the exhaust might just need a slight weld job done at @ £40 ...................  eventually 

Malc

[Newbie1]

Not sure where you are, OP, but I can recommend Tech One in Sidcup for having work done. For parts, Toyota Celica Breakers have been good for locating Toyota and Lexus parts for me a bit cheaper than the dealers.