How bad is this hood - Lexus IS 300h 2014

[appuku10]

Hey fellow car enthusiasts! 🚗💨

So, I've been on the hunt for a new ride here in the UK, specifically on the lookout for that tried-and-true Toyota/Lexus hybrid powertrain. But here's the kicker – I'm on a tight budget, capping it at £8K. My top contenders? The Yaris (not exactly blowing me away in the looks department), the Avensis (definitely caught my eye), and the Lexus CT 200h. I've been scouring for something with lower mileage.

Then, lo and behold, I stumble upon a 2014 Lexus IS 300h Executive Edition, priced well below my budget, and it's got me swooning. The exterior checks out, and after a thorough car history check, no accidents or repair history to worry about.

Took it for a spin, and it drives like a dream – no odd sounds, smooth as silk, and brakes like a champ. I'm sold... until I pop the hood. Talk about a letdown. I was hoping for a well-maintained engine bay, but alas, my heart sank.

But you know what? I'm feeling adventurous, so I decided to take the plunge and snag the car.

 

Now, before I make it my daily driver, I want to make sure I'm not missing anything crucial under the hood. Any tips or advice on what to look out for or any upgrades I should consider? Appreciate the help, folks! 🛠️

 

[PaulWhitt20]

Hi and welcome, good choice. It’s probably so mucky under there as there is no reason to open the bonnet apart from yearly servicing and to top up the washer fluid. 
Enjoy

Paul

[PRT68]

Best way to see an engine bay, as the seller is not trying to conceal any problems by cleaning it up.

Don't use a pressure washer! Just use some trigger bottles or aerosol cans with degreaser, a paint brush to agitate, and then a trigger bottle of water. Dry off with plenty of rags. 

No need for any upgrades. 

[In_a_state]

It gets dusty in there quite quickly, it's not a sign of neglect. 

What's more important is having invoices for work done and parts replaced throughout its history, along with the tire brand equipped. 

[Notamech]

Thats normal for these cars. They rarely ever go wrong so no one opens the hood. Mine was the same when i bought it. Just took a little time with some mild sopy water a toothbrush and a couple of microfiber towels and i managed to get it looking much better. 

Depending on the mileage one thing to check while you are there is the waterpump. Look for pink crust around it. If its over a 100k miles i would recommend getting it done if leaking or you see pink crust. Its quite common to see 2013 14 models have their water pumps start to fail around 90-100k miles

[wharfhouse]

7 hours ago, appuku10 said:

Hey fellow car enthusiasts! 🚗💨

So, I've been on the hunt for a new ride here in the UK, specifically on the lookout for that tried-and-true Toyota/Lexus hybrid powertrain. But here's the kicker – I'm on a tight budget, capping it at £8K. My top contenders? The Yaris (not exactly blowing me away in the looks department), the Avensis (definitely caught my eye), and the Lexus CT 200h. I've been scouring for something with lower mileage.

Then, lo and behold, I stumble upon a 2014 Lexus IS 300h Executive Edition, priced well below my budget, and it's got me swooning. The exterior checks out, and after a thorough car history check, no accidents or repair history to worry about.

Took it for a spin, and it drives like a dream – no odd sounds, smooth as silk, and brakes like a champ. I'm sold... until I pop the hood. Talk about a letdown. I was hoping for a well-maintained engine bay, but alas, my heart sank.

But you know what? I'm feeling adventurous, so I decided to take the plunge and snag the car.

 

Now, before I make it my daily driver, I want to make sure I'm not missing anything crucial under the hood. Any tips or advice on what to look out for or any upgrades I should consider? Appreciate the help, folks! 🛠️

 

How many miles are on it? 

[appuku10]

119k miles on the car. 

[appuku10]

23 hours ago, wharfhouse said:

How many miles are on it? 

 

On 3/2/2024 at 1:13 PM, Notamech said:

Thats normal for these cars. They rarely ever go wrong so no one opens the hood. Mine was the same when i bought it. Just took a little time with some mild sopy water a toothbrush and a couple of microfiber towels and i managed to get it looking much better. 

Depending on the mileage one thing to check while you are there is the waterpump. Look for pink crust around it. If its over a 100k miles i would recommend getting it done if leaking or you see pink crust. Its quite common to see 2013 14 models have their water pumps start to fail around 90-100k miles

I will look for the water pump. I was more worried that there is something removed from the hood. I could see some naked nuts on the left of the engine. 

[appuku10]

23 hours ago, wharfhouse said:

How many miles are on it? 

119k miles on the car. 

[appuku10]

On 3/2/2024 at 12:27 PM, PRT68 said:

Best way to see an engine bay, as the seller is not trying to conceal any problems by cleaning it up.

Don't use a pressure washer! Just use some trigger bottles or aerosol cans with degreaser, a paint brush to agitate, and then a trigger bottle of water. Dry off with plenty of rags. 

No need for any upgrades. 

Thanks, I will do that.  I was more worried that some part is missing as I could find a rusted nut  with three bolt heads around it on the left of the engine. That got me bit puzzled. 

[wharfhouse]

15 hours ago, appuku10 said:

119k miles on the car. 

In that case the engine bay looks fairly normal. Mine is a 2014 IS 300h Executive too, currently with 144K miles on it - had it since it was 2 years old and 40K miles. Like others have said the bonnet only gets opened when I top up the windscreen washer fluid or by Lexus during a service. My car also looks a bit dusty and dirty with some light corrosion setting in now on various metal bits and pieces like the top of the inverter, strut tops, hose clamps and some nuts and bolts. Nothing serious though.

From my experience of my car, very little has gone wrong and it still drives great. The only things that I have had replaced are:

- Windscreen washer reservoir sensor, stopped telling me the reservoir was running low, but could have lived without it but done under Extended Warranty.

- Both front wheel bearings at 80K miles - took it in for one making a (relatively quiet) noise to investigate, they agreed to change it under Extended Warranty and then checked the other and did that too without me asking and said that was starting to fail too, all done under Extended Warranty.

- Had front discs and pads changed at the same time they did the front wheel bearings - they would probably have done another 20K miles but made sense to do them while the other work was being done under Extended Warranty so cost me a bit less than it would have done otherwise.

- The bonnet stopped staying latching down (would jump up to the safety catch while driving) - started at about 130K miles very intermittently and by 140K miles was getting very regular and difficult to get it to latch properly at all. As it was in Lexus for it's service asked them to sort it out at the same time. They charged me £150 to fix it, which after looking at the invoice and inspecting the latch, they fitted a new spring (a few pounds if I'd have done it myself) and gave the whole latch a good clean (I had been using WD40 on it as it gets very gummed up there due to road grime). It's been fine since.

- One of the rear seat belt socket sometimes sets off the warning of a passenger seated without the belt done up (when the seat is empty). I think this was caused because I plug a harness in for our dog when it's on the back seat and it's pulled against the seat belt socket too much, and if it's left pulled up after the dog has been let out the seat belt alarm sometimes sounds so not sure if it might have damaged a sensor wire slightly, but push it back down and all is fine.

That's it - still the original 12V Battery. Still original rear discs and pads. Tyres like clockwork last 20K miles at the rear and 40K miles at the front. Economy still close to what it was when I first purchased the car.

Hope you get many years / miles from your car.

 

[Dominic1985]

As others said , it's one of those cars where you rarely need to open the hood. I looked there out of curiosity one day and it was very dirty. It needs regular attendance to keep it spotless. 

 

 

[Thackeray]

On 3/3/2024 at 5:39 PM, appuku10 said:

I was more worried that there is something removed from the hood. I could see some naked nuts on the left of the engine

I don't think there's anything missing. Mine looks exactly the same.

[Linas.P]

Cannot see anything wrong with engine bay... not that engine bay would be telling anything about the maintenance of the car anyway...