IS250 oil drip

[raf250]

Hi, my 2006 IS250 with 80k on the clock started dripping oil. Noticed a small puddle on the ground - seems to be dripping from the bottom wishbone, fairly near the driver side wheel. Oil level dropped from full to next to nothing in the last 3 weeks. Oil and filter change done over a year ago (5000 miles), no recent maintenance other than MOT/brakes.

Any idea what it might be? 

Don't really have the tools (or skills...) to tackle it myself, would you recommend a Lexus dealer or an independent garage?

[bobmc]

Obviously keep an eye on the oil level and top it up as needed.

I'd be looking for a decent independent garage to take a look. With luck it will just be a leaky gasket

 

[Linas.P]

The location of the drip is kind of strange, so I guess it drips into plastic tray an then somewhere round the side of the tray. First thing to do would be to get tray removed and identify where the oil is actually leaking from, from there somebody would be able to give you more accurate guesstimate. 

[raf250]

@Linas.P @bobmc Thank you both for suggestions, turns out oil was coming from the shock absorber - got it replaced (£275 inc. labour, ouch). Hoping the other one doesn't go. Topped up engine oil and will monitor the level to make sure nothing wrong going on there.

[Linas.P]

generally, shock absorbers should be replaced in pairs (and anything else in suspension) - that is considered to be good practice. In other hand I do understand that when car is not that valuable anymore replacing part which still works might not make much sense.

[raf250]

On 7/9/2019 at 7:37 PM, Linas.P said:

generally, shock absorbers should be replaced in pairs (and anything else in suspension) - that is considered to be good practice. In other hand I do understand that when car is not that valuable anymore replacing part which still works might not make much sense.

Yeah, I heard that too, but wondering if that's a bit overly cautious. I had my Lexus for under 2 years and have no access to its maintenance history from 70,000 miles so the other shock could be 80k miles old or it could be 20k. Personally I don't feel any change in handling or when braking with one new and one old shock. I will keep an eye on uneven tyre wear. 

[Linas.P]

I doubt they would have been replaced. Mine is now 188k miles and still on original shocks... they do not generally leak unless previous owner hit massive pot hole (or had some sort of accident) and damaged it. The reason for replacing suspension components in pairs is to have equal grip on each side, in extreme circumstances differently aged components can have different compression, rebound, travel rates and it could cause imbalance lets say in extreme emergency braking. Kind of unlikely for road car....

When it comes to shocks and springs specifically, there is as well wear consideration - if you shock travels at different rate from other you basically wearing both shocks more. However, again this is kind of theoretical thing - road surface is uneven as well, so uneven wear happens naturally anyway.