[0:00] Hello and welcome to the Caron channel.
[0:03] In today's video, I want to show you how
[0:05] to inspect a car properly. Whether it's
[0:07] a used car you're buying, your own car,
[0:10] you want to give it a proper check over
[0:11] to make sure it's all in good shape and
[0:13] everything. And at the same time, this
[0:14] video will serve as a second purpose.
[0:17] This particular ES 350 has 275,000
[0:21] miles. We've never seen this car. I've
[0:24] never inspected it. This is the first
[0:25] time we're doing it. So, we're going to
[0:27] show you how to do used car inspection
[0:29] and then we're going to actually see
[0:30] what does this 275,000 mi Lexus actually
[0:34] need service-wise. Let's get
[0:42] started. So, every single used car
[0:45] inspection or car inspection in general
[0:48] starts with a test drive. Let us test
[0:51] drive this car. Engine sounds healthy
[0:54] when it's started. That's something you
[0:56] want to listen to. This car is
[0:58] completely cold. That's how you always
[1:00] ideally would like to get the car. So,
[1:02] this car is uh barely broken in.
[1:08] 275,000 mi. Barely broken in. Just got
[1:13] to say something. This ES 350, this
[1:15] generation, one of the best Lexus ever
[1:18] made. I mean, this thing is coming up on
[1:19] 300,000 mi. Leather's fine. Everything
[1:22] else is looks fine. starts like any car
[1:25] with 15,000 miles sounds wise. So, let's
[1:28] take it for a drive. Transmission
[1:30] engages pretty quick. Reverse engages
[1:33] pretty quick. Camera works. That's the
[1:35] first things we're going to test. Now,
[1:37] let's go for a drive and just check the
[1:40] steering column. Make sure we don't have
[1:41] any strange noises. We got a bump here.
[1:44] So, that's the first thing you want to
[1:46] purposely go over some bumps to see.
[1:52] Actually, I'm going to go over this
[1:54] again. Few more bumps to
[1:59] see. This sounds almost
[2:06] perfect. The only noise you're hearing
[2:08] is something rolling around in
[2:10] here. Let's take it for a drive. We'll
[2:13] test a few
[2:14] things and we'll see where things are
[2:16] at. AC works. I already turned it on.
[2:19] That works pretty good.
[2:23] So far so
[2:25] good. Brakes work. That's
[2:42] good. So when you take off initially,
[2:45] we're feeling for transmission
[2:47] shifts. Two things you're going to
[2:49] check. how the car tracks. We're going
[2:52] to get it going at a steady speed and
[2:54] very safely. We're going to let go of
[2:56] the steering wheel to see if it tracks
[2:58] left and right. This one drives
[3:00] perfectly straight. It is perfect.
[3:05] That's That's how I'm going to say it.
[3:07] The next thing is steering wheel. It is
[3:10] perfect on
[3:13] center. Almost 300,000 miles on this
[3:16] car.
[3:17] The next thing we're going to test is
[3:19] going to be the brakes. I'm going to
[3:21] speed up a little bit. We're coming up
[3:22] on a traffic light here. I'm going to
[3:24] hit the brakes a little bit harder than
[3:30] usual. Very little pulsation I feel. So,
[3:33] here's with pulsation how you can
[3:35] determine. If you feel the pulsation in
[3:37] steering wheel, slightly front brakes.
[3:40] If you feel it in the pedal on the body
[3:41] of the car, the seats, but not in the
[3:43] steering wheel, slightly rear brakes.
[3:45] So, these brakes have a little bit of
[3:47] pulsation. I feel in the steering wheel.
[3:49] I feel it in the seat. So, we
[3:50] potentially have both rotors have a
[3:53] little bit of warpage, but again, these
[3:54] rotors are still cold. It's important
[3:56] that you try this a couple times. So,
[3:58] safely. I have nobody behind me. I'm
[4:00] going to break a little
[4:02] bit. Yeah, I definitely feel it all
[4:04] over. So, we may have a little bit of
[4:06] warpage front to back. Not terrible.
[4:09] We'll test it a little bit more. Here's
[4:11] the important stuff. I don't hear any
[4:13] roaring weird noises. And here is what
[4:16] you do if you do hear a weird roar or
[4:20] noise.
[4:22] Safely swerve the car left and right
[4:25] just like I am doing right now within
[4:26] your lane. You know, especially in the
[4:28] United States, we got pretty wide lanes
[4:30] there. You can swerve safely within your
[4:32] lane. If you start hearing the noise get
[4:34] louder and then get quieter, louder then
[4:37] quieter, you have a wheel
[4:39] bearing. If doesn't change at all, it
[4:42] may be something with tire noise. And
[4:44] I'll show you how we check both when we
[4:46] get it on a lift. But this particular
[4:49] car, it is checking every single box.
[4:53] The only thing I have so far is a very
[4:56] slight pulsation from the brakes. And
[4:58] let me tell you one thing. You buy a car
[5:00] for 275,000 mi and all you need is some
[5:06] brakes. Yeah, you uh you're doing pretty
[5:09] good. I'm idling right now. It's pretty
[5:11] smooth idle. 2G RF will always have a
[5:14] little bit of a rumble at idle. That is
[5:16] normal. But it's pretty smooth. I don't
[5:18] feel any vibrations, anything abnormal.
[5:20] The next thing we want to do now that
[5:22] we're at almost a stop, the street is
[5:24] empty. I'm going to push it. Never go
[5:26] over the speed limit.
[5:33] But that is a pretty healthy engine. The
[5:36] traction control actually came on. These
[5:38] are your initial impressions because you
[5:40] have a problem with this engine mass air
[5:42] flow is
[5:43] dirty, spark plugs are never been
[5:45] changed or whatnot. When you push it,
[5:47] it's going to start hesitating, bucking
[5:49] and whatnot. This one is perfect. It
[5:52] almost let the tires up and the
[5:55] transmission is very healthy. Speed
[5:58] limit here is 45. You want to drive
[6:00] right around 40 and just coast very
[6:03] light acceleration. Let that torque
[6:05] converter engage. We want to see
[6:07] shutters. If all of a sudden you you
[6:08] engage that torque converter and the
[6:10] whole car starts shaking, as soon as you
[6:11] accelerate goes away, that's a torque
[6:13] converter shutter. That's a big problem.
[6:15] You got to catch it. If you drive it a
[6:16] little bit faster, you're not going to
[6:18] notice that. So, you want to drive it
[6:20] hard to push the engine, see how it
[6:22] does, and then very soft to see how it
[6:24] reacts. That's the next thing. The last
[6:27] thing with this ES is, which I hear it,
[6:30] the sunroof seal. You can check it
[6:32] easily. Like right now, I have this
[6:34] open. I hear all kinds of wind noise.
[6:37] When I close
[6:39] it, it gets very quiet. I open it again,
[6:43] it almost feels like a window is open.
[6:45] That's how it feels like. The sunroof
[6:47] seal is worn out. This is very common in
[6:49] these particular cars, but it could be a
[6:51] thing with any
[6:56] car. GPS is tracking properly. I mean,
[6:59] this car, if this car at this point had
[7:02] 50,000
[7:04] miles, I'd go with it because it's
[7:06] checking every single box so far. Here
[7:10] are a few things we're going to check.
[7:11] Let's check the wipers. So, Jose, show
[7:13] them the view of the
[7:15] wipers. Yeah, that's
[7:18] uh Yeah, that wiper have seen better
[7:21] days. And I'm noticing one thing about
[7:22] these wipers. Do you see how they stick
[7:24] up? I think they need an alignment. So,
[7:27] we need to reposition them down cuz
[7:29] they're way too high up. Yeah, the
[7:31] brakes are definitely pulsating a little
[7:33] bit. And then while we're here, let's
[7:37] operate our sunroof. Check it. Sure it
[7:42] works. That
[7:45] works. Let's do the
[7:49] tilt. That
[7:51] tilts.
[7:53] Beautiful. Born.
[7:56] That works. We already tested our turn
[7:58] signals. Now, before we pull into the
[8:01] shop, we're going to do a quick function
[8:04] test of things. We're going to just come
[8:06] to a
[8:09] stop again. This suspension
[8:11] is Yeah, I wonder if it's been replaced
[8:14] before. So, right before we pull in the
[8:16] shop, let's do a quick function
[8:20] test. Door locks.
[8:26] They all work. This is something very
[8:28] important that you do. Don't operate the
[8:30] door locks once. Operate them two, three
[8:31] times cuz you could have a weak motor
[8:33] here and you operate it two, three
[8:35] times, it just stops. Always operate it
[8:37] multiple times. Let's check all our
[8:40] windows. These motors are running now,
[8:43] not just opening. So, we don't have any
[8:46] issues with the window motors. We
[8:48] already tested the sunroof. Let's test
[8:50] our mirrors real quick. Although rare
[8:53] for these cars to have mirror issues,
[8:56] but check the mirrors. I already saw
[9:00] that the navigation was tracking. It's
[9:02] tracking correct. We can test the shade
[9:05] in the back. Shade in the back works. We
[9:08] can kind of go over all the features.
[9:12] This is not a bad
[9:14] idea. The seat coolers work cuz I hear
[9:17] the fans running. We're not going to
[9:18] test the seat heaters because it is 77°
[9:21] outside. We don't want to do that. And
[9:24] steering wheel heater. You can also test
[9:25] it, but really when you're testing a
[9:28] Lexus or Toyota, you could test the
[9:29] radio, check the CD player if you're
[9:31] interested in that. But this car is
[9:34] checking all my boxes. And some of the
[9:37] safety features you do want to check
[9:39] things like the blind spot monitor. See,
[9:41] when I turn it on, it do does a self
[9:43] test and then it goes off. So far, the
[9:47] only thing I see with this car, the
[9:49] brakes slightly pulsate, the wipers are
[9:51] a little bit off. We can adjust it.
[9:53] That's very simple. And if you look at
[9:54] that mirror, see how the edge of it is
[9:57] broken? Not really something that's
[10:00] going to affect the operation of the
[10:01] car. But if I was buying this car, I'd
[10:03] say, "Hey, this mirror is broken. Should
[10:05] we can you give me a little bit of a
[10:07] discount on the price because I got to
[10:08] replace that?" And maybe just proceed to
[10:11] not replace it because there's
[10:12] absolutely nothing wrong with that.
[10:14] Let's pull it in the shop. Let's start
[10:17] our proper inspection. Now we we have
[10:19] familiarized ourselves with the car.
[10:22] Let's really get the full story of this
[10:26] car. So
[10:28] far, the vibes is giving me are very
[10:33] good vibes.
[10:43] So, now that we uh did our test drive,
[10:45] let us take a look. First
[10:50] thing, this hood has been painted.
[10:53] First, from its appearance, I see like
[10:56] stuff in the paint. It's going to be
[10:57] very hard to show you, but if you look
[10:59] at this exact spot, if I pass the light
[11:02] across
[11:03] it, you will see like a little right
[11:06] here. If you pass the light across that
[11:10] part, you will see like an imperfection
[11:13] in the paint right
[11:16] here. May be hard to see it on camera,
[11:19] but there is an imperfection. But the
[11:21] second way I know that is you pass your
[11:23] hand around the edges. It's very rough.
[11:27] That's the the tape mark. That's called
[11:30] a tape mark. Well, the engine doesn't
[11:33] look like it's never been cleaned in its
[11:36] life. It's actually pretty clean. Let's
[11:39] start the first part of our inspection.
[11:41] Simple stuff. Let's test the
[11:45] battery. There's a lot of battery
[11:47] testers out there. This is just the one
[11:50] we have laying around. They all do
[11:51] basically the exact same thing. Let's
[11:55] see. This battery is a 700 cold cranking
[12:00] app. It is a interstate battery. We're
[12:03] going to set it to
[12:05] 700. 12vt battery. Start testing.
[12:08] Testing in
[12:14] progress. Almost done. Hey, you look at
[12:17] that. Look what this
[12:19] says. Good
[12:22] recharge. Let's look at the rating. So,
[12:24] the capacity is 700, measured 644. It's
[12:27] actually pretty good. All this battery
[12:29] needs is a quick charge, which indicates
[12:32] it is actually a healthy battery. Now
[12:36] that we did that, let's pull the engine
[12:37] cover. Let's start looking
[12:41] around. It helps if the car you're
[12:43] looking at, you've researched some of
[12:45] their common problems. You know a little
[12:47] bit about them, what kind of engine they
[12:49] have, what their common quirks are.
[12:52] because in this particular engine, a 2G
[12:54] RF, one of the best engines ever, and
[12:56] this is a third generation. Let's start
[12:59] with very basic stuff. Let's take the
[13:01] oil
[13:03] cap. This is a third generation engine
[13:06] now. You know it in this particular
[13:07] case. You have two slits here. You don't
[13:09] have an opening, but I can still look
[13:11] inside. I mean, this thing looks pretty
[13:14] clean. I don't see a lot of varnish
[13:16] inside. Don't definitely don't see
[13:18] sludge. So, that's a good thing. Second
[13:20] thing we're going to
[13:22] do, check the oil level real
[13:29] quick. This car has been sitting
[13:32] probably while we switch the cameras and
[13:34] whatnot. Probably been sitting for 10 15
[13:36] minutes. Oil level just over. So, I'm
[13:40] going to call that decent oil
[13:43] level. And we're going to call this
[13:45] engine from an initial looks pretty
[13:49] clean. Now, we're going to start looking
[13:50] around. This is where it helps if you
[13:54] know the model you're looking at
[13:56] slightly or at least have researched it.
[13:58] Obviously, we're not expecting you to
[13:59] know every little thing about them. For
[14:01] this particular car, I'm going to start
[14:02] my initial look around. Do you see
[14:05] anything out of the ordinary? Looks like
[14:07] it doesn't belong. We're more interested
[14:09] in shiny stuff, stuff that was just
[14:11] replaced. We're looking at something and
[14:14] it looks like aftermarket modifications.
[14:17] I don't actually see anything in this
[14:19] car. See how everything
[14:21] looks perfectly
[14:24] original. Then we look at start with the
[14:27] basic. Start. Here's what I like to do
[14:29] inspections. Start from one side. Walk
[14:31] your way around. That way you don't miss
[14:33] anything. We're going to start right
[14:36] here. Look down. I don't see any wetness
[14:39] from here. So, we know what we're
[14:41] heading into. Going to look underneath
[14:43] the intake plenum.
[14:46] I see a tiny nest. Do you see it? Like
[14:49] if you look right here, Jose, if you
[14:50] bring the camera, show them. Right.
[14:53] Right in this area. Yeah. It maybe be
[14:56] hard to show
[14:58] you. Right in that area. I see actually
[15:00] a little potential nest. And the next
[15:03] thing we're going to look at this
[15:05] engine, although in the ES350, it's not
[15:08] super common, but it is somewhat common
[15:09] for external head gasket leaks. It's
[15:11] going to be hard to show on camera, but
[15:13] we're going to look underneath the
[15:15] intake manifold. Look inside the valley
[15:17] for signs of
[15:19] coolant, which I don't see anything from
[15:22] this side. Just take a quick peek from
[15:24] this side. I don't see
[15:27] anything. Nothing. I think we're good on
[15:30] that. Then we're going to check
[15:32] our This is called a torque rod. It just
[15:35] keeps the engine from going side to
[15:37] side. So, this one, you see how it has
[15:40] like dry rot a little bit, but it's
[15:42] actually not
[15:43] torn. So, this one is good. We're going
[15:46] to take a quick peek here at the belt.
[15:48] Do we have cracks? I'll show you a
[15:50] little picture of a cracked belt how it
[15:51] looks like. But this
[15:54] one looks actually perfectly fine. I
[15:57] don't see any crack down here. I don't
[15:59] see big signs of coolant from the water
[16:01] pump leaking, but we look at closer look
[16:03] at it underneath. Everything looks tidy
[16:05] and in order.
[16:07] ABS actuator. There isn't much you can
[16:09] test with this. Just looking at it, we
[16:12] don't have any leaks. Doesn't look like
[16:13] wires have been damaged and whatnot. So,
[16:15] that looks good. Coolant
[16:18] hose. This one appears to be original.
[16:21] Going to give it the squeeze test. Looks
[16:23] good. Has a proper clamp. I don't think
[16:26] this has ever been replaced. And then we
[16:28] look at the radiator. So, coolant level.
[16:31] Put it right here. You can see it.
[16:32] Coolant level is actually full. That is
[16:34] a very good sign.
[16:36] We're going to look at the radiator top
[16:38] if we can access it. I don't see any
[16:40] leaks. That looks good. Then we're going
[16:43] to start working our way around here.
[16:45] The easiest way, and this is it's going
[16:48] to be a little difficult in this
[16:50] particular car, but the easiest way,
[16:52] like let's say AC doesn't work, and you
[16:55] want to find out real quick what's going
[16:57] on with it. If you find a flex, like a
[16:59] rubber part of an AC line, squeeze it.
[17:02] If it squeezes very easy, you'll likely
[17:05] have no freon. That'll be the easiest
[17:07] sign to tell. Hey, let's chase after
[17:09] potentially a leak first before we dive
[17:11] into everything else. As we walk around
[17:14] here, I'm going to look for more signs
[17:15] of leaks around the engine kind of in
[17:18] the
[17:19] cavities.
[17:21] Alternator. To
[17:23] me, this alternator appears original. It
[17:26] matches. You kind of look at the
[17:28] oxidation and aluminum. You match it.
[17:30] That looks about original. It looks
[17:32] about the correct original alternator.
[17:34] So, this may be a very well be an
[17:36] original alternator. We're going to look
[17:38] at the other
[17:39] hose. This hose actually not soft. It's
[17:42] actually in pretty good shape. Looks
[17:44] like it is the original. Has the correct
[17:46] clamps. We're going to look down here.
[17:48] Do we see any leaks, any issues, any
[17:51] signs of rodents or damage or whatnot?
[17:55] This one doesn't show
[17:58] anything. Now, we get here. Let's look
[18:01] on again for signs of rodents damage.
[18:03] We'll test the brake fluid here in a
[18:05] moment. I don't see anything. Now,
[18:08] accidents are a little bit of a kind of
[18:11] quiet skill. You can look down here like
[18:14] at the
[18:15] rails. See the rails down there? You
[18:18] want to look for like weld marks or
[18:20] hammer marks or whatnot. That's when you
[18:22] know that that's the structure of the
[18:24] car. Same thing on this side. I don't
[18:27] see anything. This looks all straight.
[18:30] So the reason the hood was painted
[18:32] potentially was a small hit that was not
[18:34] structural. Now having said that do
[18:37] basic stuff. Let's look at the air
[18:42] filter. This air filter not bad. I don't
[18:46] think we're going to recommend
[18:47] replacement. I don't have a nest here.
[18:48] There's another spot. They don't have
[18:50] anything abnormal there.
[19:03] Now we're going to do two tests. One of
[19:06] them is the brake fluid and then the
[19:08] coolant. We have this tester that we
[19:10] have been using. It's really accurate.
[19:12] It's much better than the electronic
[19:13] one. Actually, I'm noticing one thing.
[19:15] The brake fluid is low. See how the max
[19:18] level is here and the brake fluid is all
[19:20] the way at the
[19:21] bottom. That's not cause for alarm. That
[19:24] could be just the pads are worn down.
[19:27] So, I'm going to see. We got to remove
[19:29] this filter so we can access the
[19:39] fluid. There we
[19:43] go. Going to take a test
[19:46] strip on the brake fluid
[19:50] side. Going to put it in the fluid.
[19:55] And we're going to let this test strip
[19:57] sit on the side. We'll come check on it
[20:00] a little bit later. The same tester test
[20:04] kit we can use to test coolant. Not as
[20:08] accurate on coolant. I'll I'll be honest
[20:10] with that part, but wouldn't hurt. We'll
[20:14] look at the service history of the car
[20:17] cuz it'll show you if if the coolant is
[20:20] horrible. Basically, it won't show you
[20:22] that it's just regular due for
[20:25] replacement.
[20:27] So, going to access it
[20:30] here and basically put this strip in the
[20:40] coolant. We're going to leave these two
[20:43] tests to simmer, if you would, and we'll
[20:47] come back to them shortly. Now, we're
[20:48] going to dive into more things. And this
[20:50] is where I'll make a recommendation. We
[20:53] are not doing this to this car, but if
[20:54] you want to, especially if you have a
[20:56] four-cylinder, it is simple. You can
[20:58] actually take the plugs and do a
[21:00] boroscope. Look for scratches, for heavy
[21:02] wear on the cylinder walls. In this
[21:04] particular car, we are not doing that
[21:05] because what's the point in doing the
[21:07] front? But what we can do is take a look
[21:11] at one of the plugs. Now, knowing the 2G
[21:14] RF, they love to break these connectors.
[21:16] So, I'm actually not going to take the
[21:18] connector off or we'll be very gentle
[21:22] with it.
[21:24] See, it breaks. It breaks. We'll replace
[21:26] it. There. There we go. We got it. So,
[21:30] I'm going to take one coil out. The
[21:32] reason for that is in
[21:35] Toyotas, they actually
[21:37] mark the spark plug with a kind of a
[21:42] dot. This one does not have a dot. I'm
[21:46] going to pull those worn spark plugs for
[21:48] us to take a look at
[21:53] it and take a look at this spark plug.
[21:56] It's not in the best condition, but it's
[21:59] not in the worst. This engine burns
[22:01] pretty clean. See the back of it in
[22:04] inside? There's no carbon buildup. This
[22:06] is a very healthy engine. Of course, if
[22:08] you want to do this accurately, take all
[22:10] six, look at all six of them, do a
[22:13] boroscope. But something about Toyota
[22:15] spark plugs, they'll have a stamp here,
[22:18] either a number, letter, or weird shape.
[22:20] If they are factory plugs, meaning the
[22:23] ones from the factory, but when you
[22:25] don't see it, this is an original plug,
[22:27] but it's a replacement. So, I know at
[22:30] this point, these are not the original
[22:33] plugs for this car. So, they've been
[22:35] replaced. We'll go digging through the
[22:36] service history of this car and we'll
[22:38] find
[22:39] out when that happened so we know cuz
[22:42] this car has over
[22:44] 240,000. So spark plugs on this
[22:47] particular engine 120,000 miles. So this
[22:50] should have had two replacements and
[22:52] we're going to take a look at that. The
[22:53] next thing I want to check is something
[22:56] not a big issue but because we'd like to
[22:59] make
[23:00] recommendations the throttle
[23:02] body. You can
[23:05] simply open the air intake if it's
[23:07] easily accessible. Look inside this
[23:10] particular throttle
[23:12] body. Not dirty at all. Actually, this
[23:15] is a shadow what you're seeing, but this
[23:17] throttle body is actually very clean.
[23:20] So, that is pretty good.
[23:24] Well, isn't that
[23:26] something? Everything looks in order so
[23:28] far. I see nothing. We're going to find
[23:32] out in the brake fluid and coolant spark
[23:33] plugs. We got to investigate, but so far
[23:36] nothing. Let's look at these wipers. So,
[23:38] something about this car, which I
[23:40] forgot. I'm getting old. This has a
[23:42] winter position. It's actually in the
[23:44] winter position here. So, if you pull
[23:46] this
[23:47] arm, that's a summer position. The idea
[23:50] is you push these wipers up, if you have
[23:53] snow accumulated here, it won't hit the
[23:55] wiper. That's the idea. So, we're in
[23:58] summer. I'm going to engage them.
[24:01] However, these uh wipers are horrendous.
[24:04] And I want to show you something ironic
[24:06] about them. If you come look at them,
[24:09] I'll put them in the high
[24:11] position once they want to cooperate.
[24:13] There we go. Now, look what uh what do
[24:16] they have on
[24:17] them? Oh, is that a Toyota logo? So, you
[24:21] may assume by seeing this these are
[24:24] original wipers. Let's just put inserts
[24:26] on them and call it. They're not. The
[24:29] original wipers of this car say nothing
[24:31] on them. The imitation horrible sight
[24:33] lines that Toyota sells say Toyota on
[24:36] them. These are horrible wipers, folks.
[24:38] I'm going to recommend wiper blades for
[24:39] this gentleman because these never work.
[24:42] And you saw how much noise they make.
[24:44] They didn't even wipe the windshield,
[24:45] right? They're just horrendous. And
[24:47] before we go deeper into this
[24:49] inspection, let's do our walk around.
[24:51] Actually, maybe you could do that at the
[24:53] beginning. Doesn't hurt, right? Just
[24:54] walk around. See if there's anything
[24:56] odd. See this bumper? It's popped out.
[24:59] There. Something happened here. And I
[25:00] actually see the paint cracked here.
[25:02] Imagine this hit something and it popped
[25:04] out, but the bumper is not sitting
[25:06] right. Not the end of the world, but you
[25:07] want to when you see signs like that,
[25:09] investigate it. I can tell you just by
[25:11] looking at it. This
[25:13] fender has definitely been painted
[25:15] before. That paint looks strange. Door
[25:18] is not. Door is fine. So, we're going to
[25:20] basically walk around it. Look for any
[25:22] obvious signs. Do we see anything out of
[25:25] the ordinary? So far, I see nothing. I
[25:29] do see a little bit of chip here that is
[25:31] starting to rust a little bit. If you're
[25:34] buying this car, you want to touch that
[25:36] up right away. In the back
[25:39] here, this has definitely been painted
[25:41] because I see all kinds of stuff inside
[25:44] the paint. And then somewhere here is
[25:47] there it is. It's very hard to see, but
[25:49] there's a blend line here. This watching
[25:53] paint looking for small signs takes a
[25:55] trained eye. So the more cars you see
[25:57] and the more things you catch, the more
[25:59] your eye will be trained to catch stuff.
[26:01] So as we wrap around here, this is a
[26:03] Lexus. This gap is not correct. So I
[26:07] know something happened here. This
[26:09] bumper has been painted. Now let's look
[26:12] at at the back
[26:14] here. We look at the edges.
[26:17] See, this one doesn't have a rough edge
[26:19] even though this has been painted cuz
[26:21] someone basically smoothed this edge out
[26:23] when they were done painting, which is
[26:25] what you should do. This one, same
[26:28] thing. We look at obvious signs of
[26:30] damage. You look at the trunk itself. Do
[26:33] we see clips missing? Things have fallen
[26:36] off. I don't see anything out of the
[26:38] ordinary. Everything looks good. In the
[26:40] trunk, you want to check for the
[26:43] presence of the spare tire.
[26:48] spare tires here. Check the tire
[26:51] pressure. It wouldn't hurt on that. We
[26:53] look at these edges. Do we see a
[26:56] standing
[26:57] water? I don't see anything. There's a
[27:00] remnants here of something happened at
[27:01] some point, but it's dry, so I'm not
[27:03] worried about
[27:05] it. So, everything looks in order
[27:08] here. Let's continue our tour around
[27:12] it. Lights. Make sure you watch for
[27:14] lights. These these tail lights can get
[27:16] pretty bad. Even the headlight. Sure.
[27:18] None of them are cracked. None of them
[27:19] has moisture. Let's walk around. Same
[27:22] thing with these. I don't see anything
[27:24] obvious in them. Let's walk on this
[27:26] side. Another thing you may want to
[27:28] check. Sure. Lug nuts are all there. You
[27:30] see enough cars with missing lug nuts.
[27:33] It's not nice. This side of the car,
[27:37] it's definitely been painted. This
[27:38] quarter cuz the door and the quarter are
[27:40] not even the same color. Hard to see it
[27:42] on camera, but if you look at it,
[27:44] they're not the same sheen. This is a
[27:47] factory paint. This is not very obvious.
[27:50] Like, as soon the best way to check
[27:51] cars, not with sunlight. You need like
[27:54] light light like this. Find the light
[27:57] reflection and then walk around and see
[28:00] how that reflection changes as you pass
[28:02] around. Like this area looks horrible.
[28:05] When you do that, you're not going to be
[28:06] able to see it on camera. It looks
[28:09] Continue walking around. Another thing
[28:11] you potentially want to
[28:14] check the glass because that usually
[28:17] tells you how bad was the impact in the
[28:19] back. See, this one says Lexus. This one
[28:21] says Lexus. Let's look at the rear
[28:25] window. This one has a sticker on top of
[28:27] it, so I won't be able to see it. Maybe
[28:30] I can see it from the
[28:34] inside. No, that's your first telltale
[28:38] sign.
[28:41] Let me just make sure this window does
[28:45] not have any markings. Usually they'll
[28:48] have a
[28:50] marking somewhere in the corner. Usually
[28:52] the lower corner. This has
[28:56] nothing. And this I already looked at it
[28:58] from the bottom. Look at it one more
[29:02] time. I don't see a marking on this
[29:05] glass. Which what does that tell you?
[29:08] This is not an original glass. So, this
[29:09] hit in the back might have been pretty
[29:12] significant going around it. We already
[29:15] talked about this mirror. See, the thing
[29:18] about these mirrors, the inner shell is
[29:21] broken, but this cover only has a scuff
[29:24] on it. So, you could possibly save this
[29:26] cover. You could save the glass. It's
[29:29] not broken, but the shell you'd have to
[29:31] replace. Not a big issue, but you still
[29:34] mention it. Now, the front glass is
[29:35] definitely not original, which I didn't
[29:37] expect of a car this high mileage. This
[29:40] is doesn't say Lexus. Says actually,
[29:43] what was the name of that company?
[29:45] Pilington. This one says Pilkington.
[29:48] Good company. They make decent glass,
[29:49] but it's not original. Likely from rock
[29:52] chips and whatnot. Then we continue our
[29:54] walk around. We have few scuffs here.
[29:56] Bumper is not sitting. Headlights,
[29:58] they're yellowed, but I don't
[30:01] see condensation. I don't see cracks in
[30:05] them and whatnot. So, that's looking
[30:07] pretty
[30:09] good. This car is a typical car that has
[30:12] this many miles. I mean, obviously, it's
[30:14] been on the road so much, accidents are
[30:16] bound, but the way it drives and the way
[30:18] it feels, I don't see bad repairs here.
[30:21] This bumper was not repaired. That's why
[30:23] it's sticking out and that. So, the next
[30:27] thing we want to do is let's give it a
[30:29] health check. Give it a scan with the
[30:31] scan tool. See what we find. So, we
[30:32] connected a scan tool. This is a Toyota
[30:34] scan tool GTS Plus. We ran a health
[30:36] check. Watch the This is We're going to
[30:39] get back to this particular ES 275,000
[30:42] mi. So, the scan tool will highlight
[30:45] this particular scan tool. We'll
[30:46] highlight the areas where we have codes.
[30:49] So, we have engine, ABS, VSC track, air
[30:52] conditioning navigation telematics.
[30:54] These are the systems that have codes.
[30:56] Let's look at the engine first. The code
[30:59] is startability malfunction. It is a
[31:01] history code. Every time you disconnect
[31:04] the battery and and connect it, this
[31:06] code will set after so many key cycles
[31:08] actually go away. That is normal. So
[31:10] this is not really an issue. ABS low or
[31:14] high power voltage supply voltage
[31:18] history. I have a feeling these both
[31:21] codes set when and the battery died in
[31:23] this car. They replaced it. Hence why
[31:26] you have a healthy battery in this car.
[31:27] And these codes said nobody erased them.
[31:29] Not a big issue. We're going to leave
[31:31] them. Then we look at air conditioner
[31:34] has air outlet damper control servo
[31:36] motor circuit also
[31:38] history. I have a feeling this happened
[31:40] also when the battery was dying. That
[31:42] servo is trying to move. So history code
[31:45] not worried. Navigation system we have a
[31:48] whole bunch of history codes.
[31:50] Communication not a big issue again.
[31:53] This could have been when the battery
[31:57] died. Telematics. This one has a current
[32:00] code which is replace backup battery.
[32:05] Folks, let me uh tell you what that
[32:07] means. This car has an old school
[32:10] communication system kind of like an
[32:11] OnStar deal and whatnot. The uh this
[32:16] system has a battery in case the battery
[32:18] of the car dies, you can still make an
[32:20] emergency call. This system doesn't even
[32:22] work. This operates on 3G network. Well,
[32:25] we don't have 3G network. So, the only
[32:27] code this car has for a system that
[32:29] doesn't even work even if you fix it.
[32:31] So, there you go.
[32:33] Otherwise, we have all these other
[32:36] computers that when you own a car like
[32:39] this, you'll never know what they do cuz
[32:41] they never complain. There is zero
[32:44] active codes in this car. All these
[32:47] computers, I want you to see them. Look
[32:48] how many computers this car have. The
[32:51] grayed out ones, this doesn't have. Look
[32:53] how many computers it have. I'm going to
[32:54] scroll through
[32:56] them. All these computers this car has.
[32:59] Every single one of these is a
[33:02] computer. None of them have anything.
[33:06] Even the ones that do nothing. This scan
[33:09] to also tells you if there's any
[33:10] campaign or recall. This has
[33:13] none. How about that? This car gets a
[33:17] clean bill of health electronically.
[33:20] However, we want to check two things.
[33:23] Right here at the top says the mileage
[33:25] of the car, and it matches the odometer.
[33:27] They're actually one mile off. That's
[33:29] the best part cuz this gets the mileage
[33:31] from a different source. So, on the
[33:33] odometer, it says 275 238. Here it says
[33:36] 275
[33:39] 237. Should we recall this old bad car
[33:42] or actually it has more. Obviously, one
[33:44] mile is not an issue. But the next thing
[33:46] we want to check, and this is where you
[33:49] kind of dig into it a little bit more,
[33:52] we're going to go to engine and we're
[33:54] going to look at some of the datal list
[33:59] parameters. Here's the most important
[34:01] one. This is where you check. Look at
[34:04] this
[34:06] one. Monitors are complete. Because if
[34:11] this car has a problem that doesn't pop
[34:12] up right away with a check engine light
[34:14] and the seller just erased the codes 2
[34:16] minutes before you showed up to inspect
[34:18] it, that's how you know. If this says
[34:20] not complete, they just erase the
[34:23] codes. That's that's the
[34:27] problem. Then we go to data list. There
[34:30] is another thing where you can kind of
[34:32] dive into it. It depends on the car, but
[34:35] it'll tell you how many miles or how
[34:39] many key cycles has it been since the
[34:41] Czech Angela has been erased. You go
[34:43] look at a car and it tells you 2 days
[34:46] since the Czech Angela has been erased.
[34:48] I'd be alarmed. I'm very curious what
[34:50] this one will say. It's going to take me
[34:53] and my old eyes a second to find
[34:57] that. I'll find it for you guys. because
[35:00] I'm
[35:04] curious. There we
[35:09] go. Time after DTC's cleared. It has
[35:15] been
[35:17] 13,074 minutes since the last time the
[35:19] check engine light was cleared and
[35:22] distance from DCC cleared
[35:26] 6,49 mi. So, this car have had no check
[35:30] engine light or no codes erased for
[35:34] 6,49 mi. You see that? I think we're
[35:38] going to call it good cuz in some cars
[35:40] it'll count when you disconnect the
[35:41] battery. So, maybe this battery is
[35:46] 6,349 mi old. That's another indication.
[35:51] But these are simple things you could
[35:52] check with a scan tool that will kind of
[35:55] give you indications. There is one last
[35:57] thing we got to check with this car and
[35:59] then we'll lift it up and get the real
[36:00] story of this car. The only thing we
[36:02] forgot to check was the cabin air
[36:06] filter. Let's see. Does this need a
[36:10] replacement? No, it does
[36:13] not. Not.
[36:17] Uh I'm going to do this because I have
[36:20] that. I
[36:22] think this car has such a So far, this
[36:25] is an original filter, too. Not the
[36:27] original filter to the car, but it's a
[36:30] not an aftermarket filter, for example.
[36:33] I think I'm going to add this one
[36:37] because this car is near perfect. So,
[36:41] I'm going to add that to our list to to
[36:44] make it perfect. Now that we looked at
[36:46] everything in the car, let's lift it up
[36:48] and get the real story.
[36:51] [Music]
[36:58] I usually like to lift the car halfway
[37:00] cuz we're going to do a few checks. I'm
[37:02] going to hold the wheel, move it side to
[37:05] side. I don't have any play. Up and
[37:07] down. I don't have any play. Let's look
[37:10] at our factory strut. 275,000
[37:15] mi. Little bit of tearing on this
[37:17] insulator. I want to replace this truck
[37:19] just because it but I have no leaks,
[37:21] nothing. Not heavy rust, corrosion, very
[37:24] minimal. That's good. While we are here,
[37:27] I take a quick peek at the brakes. Uh,
[37:30] this particular caliper is difficult to
[37:32] see the brakes from here. So, we'll look
[37:34] at them from the inside. But looking at
[37:36] the rotor, I don't see heavy heavy
[37:38] corrosion and all kinds of strange
[37:39] stuff. This tire, there's a lot of tread
[37:43] life left. We'll measure it. But the
[37:45] most important thing we look at beyond
[37:47] the tread depth, the age of this tire.
[37:49] Let's look at this age of the
[37:51] tire. 2424, the 24th week of 2024.
[37:56] Looking at these tires, I think they're
[37:57] brand new. Let's measure a very simple
[38:00] tire measuring tool. Nothing
[38:03] fancy. This tire is at 1032. We're going
[38:08] to measure it all the way across. 10 and
[38:13] 10. This is a perfect tire. Move on the
[38:16] next
[38:19] one. I don't have any play. Don't have
[38:22] any play. This strut, although the
[38:25] insulator is more torn, again, not a
[38:28] reason to replace a
[38:30] strut. No leaks whatsoever. No heavy
[38:33] corrosion, nothing. And I'm pretty sure
[38:35] these are the original struts to this
[38:37] car, and they're perfectly fine. Let's
[38:39] look at the rear brakes. This one, I
[38:43] want to put it right around 7 mm. We'll
[38:46] look at the inside pad as well. This
[38:48] tire is a match
[38:52] set. Bit noisy these brakes. So, we'll
[38:56] look at them in the
[38:58] inside. But this tire also, this one is
[39:03] 3124. This one is even newer. We're
[39:06] good. All lug nuts are here. Let's walk
[39:11] around this strut. Perfectly dry. This
[39:15] insulator is a little bit coming apart.
[39:17] Not a big issue. No rust. A little bit
[39:19] of rust at the bottom. Nothing over the
[39:21] top. This
[39:24] wheel has no movement. Brakes. The outer
[39:28] pad about the same thing. This
[39:32] tire
[39:35] 24 same thing. Let's look at the front
[39:42] one. No play here. No play here. Brakes,
[39:46] I can't see them. This insulator, same
[39:48] thing. Coming apart a little bit.
[39:50] Original struts, not heavy rust. No
[39:52] leaks. No play on the
[39:54] tire. This is very
[39:57] impressive. Truth have to be said. Let's
[39:59] lift it up all the way and we'll take a
[40:01] look.
[40:02] [Music]
[40:08] Let's start our inspection. Usually, if
[40:10] you ever you're buying a car, it's your
[40:12] car and you're starting an inspection,
[40:14] always start from the front. We're going
[40:17] to look here. Anything missing? Anything
[40:19] out of the ordinary? Everything looks
[40:22] right as rain here. Let's look at the
[40:24] engine. We're going to do a just an
[40:26] initial visual inspection. Do we see all
[40:29] kinds of wet spots and oil dripping and
[40:31] whatnot? I actually see nothing. Do
[40:36] you? I see nothing. But let's dive
[40:39] deeper because this is where things are
[40:42] at. Lower tank of the radiator is here.
[40:44] We're going to take a look at it. Make
[40:46] sure we don't have any leaks. The bottom
[40:48] tank. This looks very good. I don't see
[40:51] any any leaks
[40:53] whatsoever. Looks very
[40:55] good. The
[40:57] transmission. Let's look at the axle
[40:59] seals. If you look at this one, if we
[41:01] come around who's show them this way,
[41:03] this one is barely just starting to
[41:06] slightly complain. Just a little bit.
[41:09] See a little bit of wetness. I would not
[41:11] fix that yet. Wait for it to get bigger,
[41:13] which maybe years. This side completely
[41:16] dry. I don't see any leaks around the
[41:19] transmission. A little bit at the top.
[41:21] If you come see it, turn it that way.
[41:25] Yeah, right there. You see that wetness?
[41:27] This is a common phenomenon with this
[41:28] transmission. It's the plug at the top.
[41:31] Nice. 3DS has seepage. This might have
[41:33] built up over 275,000 mi, so I'm not
[41:37] concerned by that. This is very minor
[41:39] seepage. Not a big issue at all. This is
[41:41] a
[41:41] 2GR. We're going to look at the head
[41:43] gasket. You can get a good view of it
[41:45] here. Right in this area. You see any
[41:49] trails of coolant? I don't see anything.
[41:50] You see a little bit of wetness right in
[41:54] that area. I'm going to mark it in the
[41:56] in the editing. But if we look at the
[41:58] other side, like if we look through
[42:00] here, you see a little bit of wetness.
[42:05] That is a front timing cover leak. Super
[42:08] common on these. This is one of their
[42:10] Achilles heels. But, uh, this car has
[42:14] 275,000 mi. I mean, this is very minor.
[42:17] It hasn't even made its way down here.
[42:20] So, how I wouldn't fix that, honestly.
[42:22] It was This was my personal car. I'd
[42:24] clean that. Keep an eye on it because
[42:26] looking at the sealer here, see this
[42:29] sealer? This is the factory sealer. So,
[42:32] this engine's never been apart. It's
[42:34] gray in color. The the the repair sealer
[42:37] would be black. This engine's never been
[42:40] apart. Never. And that's all it leaked.
[42:43] Let's look at our CV boots. Start with
[42:45] our a little bit of our suspension
[42:47] inspection. This one, original,
[42:50] completely dry. No issues whatsoever.
[42:52] The inner
[42:56] one completely dry. I don't see any
[43:00] issues with it. Let's check the other
[43:03] side. This one also original axle. Let
[43:06] me see. Thought that was a leaf. It's
[43:11] not. This one is completely fine. How
[43:14] about the inner one? The inner one will
[43:16] have a slight wet appearance, but that's
[43:18] actually from the oil from the front
[43:20] cover. So, it's not actually leaking. I
[43:22] don't see anything on it. There's
[43:24] absolutely nothing wrong with this axle.
[43:26] When we drove it, didn't feel any
[43:27] vibrations or anything. Now, this
[43:29] particular model has electric power
[43:31] steering, so we're not worried about
[43:32] leaking rack or leaking lines. We don't
[43:36] have any of that. Let's check our rest
[43:39] of our suspension components. These sway
[43:41] bar links. Best way to check them, hold
[43:43] them here, go up and down. I feel
[43:45] nothing. This boot is leaking some of
[43:47] the grease, but that is not really a
[43:50] concern
[43:51] because there's no play. I'm not worried
[43:54] about it. Same thing with the ball
[43:55] joint. We already tested it. Has no
[43:58] play. This one is actually not even
[43:59] doesn't even have grease around it.
[44:01] Let's look at this side. This sway bar
[44:04] link. This one is perfectly fine. Little
[44:08] bit of grease around it, but nothing to
[44:10] be alarmed by. Same thing with this ball
[44:12] joint. Let's look at the control arm
[44:15] bushing. If you look at it right
[44:18] here, it's going to have a little bit of
[44:20] cracking, nothing over the top. If we
[44:22] look at the top side of it as well,
[44:25] you'll see similar story, but that is
[44:29] not cause for alarm. This
[44:32] side, same thing. Nothing wrong with
[44:35] that control arm. Just a little few
[44:38] micro cracks. That's normal. Let's look
[44:40] at the top side of that.
[44:43] You can
[44:44] see that
[44:47] looks pretty healthy. That's these few
[44:49] cracks, folks. That's normal. That's not
[44:51] a big issue at
[44:53] all.
[44:54] Exhaust. We worry about exhaust with
[44:57] rust. This flex pipe, the car was very
[45:00] quiet. This is all original. Everything
[45:02] is original here. This front pipe looks
[45:05] pretty good. This flange starting to get
[45:07] a little bit rusty. You see it? But it's
[45:10] not leaking. doesn't have any issues. I
[45:12] think we're good. Before we move on to
[45:14] the to the back, I'm going to look at
[45:15] these
[45:16] brakes. I'm going to put these brakes
[45:19] right around 6 mm just by looking at
[45:23] them. So, this car actually does not
[45:26] need brakes. That's the best part. 6 mm
[45:28] here as well. There's a little bit of a
[45:30] rust ridge. Not a big issue on the rotor
[45:32] here. That's not a big issue. But these
[45:36] are original. Not the original, of
[45:39] course, but this is an original Toyota
[45:42] pad. So, the previous brake job. Yeah, I
[45:44] see the Toyota logo there. This whoever
[45:46] did the the brake job before used the
[45:49] original parts. That's the best part.
[45:51] Let's walk around here in the middle
[45:53] section of a car. In the case of a
[45:55] front-wheel drive car, you don't really
[45:57] have much. Want to make sure all our
[45:59] covers are intact. For example, I saw
[46:01] something on this car. It's been hit
[46:03] here. Maybe some road debris from all
[46:05] the miles it has. This has popped out.
[46:08] can actually secure it
[46:11] better. See if I'm able. There we go. It
[46:14] is missing a clip. I'm going
[46:17] to do the right thing and spot them with
[46:21] a clip. It's just a
[46:23] clip or hurt nobody. Now, this panel is
[46:26] secure. Stuff like that. We're not
[46:28] worried about this side. This one is
[46:31] intact. I don't see anything. Exhaust.
[46:34] Everything looks great. fuel tank. Not
[46:37] anticipating much. This particular one
[46:38] has covered fuel tank straps, so we're
[46:41] not worried about rust. This one does
[46:42] have a crack. Something hit it probably
[46:45] from all the miles that it has. We're
[46:47] going to come take a look at the rear
[46:48] here. Same thing. Sway bar links. This
[46:51] one is solid. This one is solid. Sway
[46:54] bar bushing. See, it doesn't move at
[46:56] all. Same thing on this side. Nothing.
[47:00] All these control arms. We already shook
[47:02] the wheel. Nothing moves. Inner
[47:05] pad about the
[47:08] same exactly the same. There's not
[47:10] really rust on the rotor in this
[47:12] one. A little bit of noise. This one
[47:14] makes more though. Looking at these
[47:17] rotors and these pads, I think that
[47:19] noise is the parking brake. Not a big
[47:21] issue. We look at the rest of the
[47:23] flanges for the
[47:24] exhaust. I don't see anything. This
[47:27] particular car has a level sensor for
[47:30] the headlights. Level sensor is not
[47:32] broken. Nothing looks out of the
[47:35] ordinary. I don't see anything out of
[47:37] the ordinary here. You notice something?
[47:40] This
[47:41] scrape. Something happened here. Either
[47:43] they backed up and something was high
[47:45] and it scraped it. Not a big issue.
[47:48] Flanges look actually even better here
[47:50] than in the in the front. Do you notice
[47:53] something? Now, we're going to stop
[47:55] talking about the used car. We're going
[47:56] to talk about this particular car. Isn't
[47:58] it amazing how a car has 275,000 mi?
[48:01] And I'm going to call this customer and
[48:04] tell them car needs nothing. The little
[48:06] stuff that it needs is nothing. You find
[48:09] this car, you tell me this car has
[48:11] 100,000 miles, I'll believe you
[48:14] cuz needs nothing. Isn't that something?
[48:18] Folks, this generation Lexus ES 350 is
[48:21] hands down the
[48:23] best and the nicest used car you can
[48:26] buy. And it doesn't even take premium.
[48:29] That's the best part. So, now that
[48:31] you've done your inspection, and here's
[48:34] where mistakes
[48:37] happen. You're looking at, for example,
[48:40] I see this all the time.
[48:42] You're buying a Toyota Lexus for the
[48:46] first time. Your previous car was not a
[48:48] Toyota Lexus or something else that was
[48:49] not a reliable car, and you're freaking
[48:52] out about the tiniest things that your
[48:54] previous car had. That's the biggest
[48:56] mistake you can do while buying a used
[48:58] car. Not two cars the same. The ES350
[49:02] and the GS 350, they're not the same
[49:05] car, even though they're made by the
[49:06] same people, very different. That's why
[49:08] it is vital that before you go look at a
[49:11] car, research what are their common
[49:13] problems, what to look for in that
[49:15] model, what go in the forums, go in the
[49:17] groups, go on YouTube, go on anywhere,
[49:20] Facebook, in everywhere, search the car.
[49:23] What are people saying? Hey, you see a
[49:26] hundred posts about the same problem.
[49:28] Well, maybe that's a common problem you
[49:29] should be checking. Educate yourself
[49:32] about the model before you go see it.
[49:34] Because if you had a model with bad
[49:37] transmissions and leaks and all over the
[49:38] place, and you come here, you just look
[49:40] at this. Oh my god, this thing is
[49:42] perfect. You actually missed the other
[49:44] one, the other leak up top. Even though
[49:46] it's not a big leak, but
[49:49] still, this is the most important thing.
[49:52] You're thorough with your inspection.
[49:54] you don't miss things and you look at
[49:56] everything. Focusing on the common
[49:59] things. Something common with this car.
[50:02] I'm just going to go out and say is you
[50:05] getting scared of it because the thing
[50:07] will just keep going and going and going
[50:09] and nothing will go south. Nothing. I
[50:12] mean, nobody will be upset if these
[50:13] struts were all worn down and and need
[50:15] replacement at this mileage, but they
[50:17] are not. That's the best part. We let
[50:20] our test here simmer for a while. Let's
[50:23] look at the brake
[50:25] fluid. So, here's our tester for the
[50:28] brake fluid. Copper corrosion level is
[50:30] at 10. Replace at 200 and 300. 400 is
[50:34] very critical. So, we don't need brake
[50:37] fluid. How about the
[50:42] coolant? First one is boiling point.
[50:46] This is literally perfect.
[50:49] And then the corrosion acidity level,
[50:52] I'd put it right at an eight somewhere
[50:56] in that level.
[51:00] But I have a little bit of a concern
[51:03] with the coolant. Talk about let's look
[51:06] at the service history of this car. This
[51:08] is a Carfax service history. We have
[51:10] access to it. So let's look through it.
[51:12] Let's read through it. So, the owner of
[51:14] this car, a little bit of backstory,
[51:16] owns four ES
[51:19] 350s. We did an inspection on all of
[51:21] them. This one he just bought not long
[51:24] ago. Not just bought, but recently
[51:27] bought. We're going to see that right
[51:29] here. So, let's start. This car is
[51:32] delivered in October 17, 2013. This is a
[51:36] 2014 model year. So, they did the pre-
[51:40] delivery inspection. Great. At 85 mi,
[51:43] car was washed. 5,000 mi
[51:46] service. 10,000 mi service. 15,000 mi
[51:50] service. And they were late to the
[51:52] 15,000 mi service. Also late to the
[51:54] 20,000 mi
[51:56] service. A little bit more late to the
[51:59] 27 to the 25,000 mi service. And then at
[52:02] 33, they service the car. Brake fluid
[52:04] flushed. Cabin air filter. Four tires.
[52:08] Nice. The original tires only lasted
[52:10] 33,000 mi. That's typical. 40,000 mi
[52:14] service. 45, 50, 60. At 60, we uh four
[52:19] tires balanced. Four tires mounted. So,
[52:21] replace the tires again. And this one is
[52:24] even worse. 70,000 mi service. 75. Here
[52:28] we replace the
[52:29] wipers. 80,000 mi. 90,000
[52:35] mi. This is another 93,000 mi. Brakes
[52:39] checked for brakes replaced. 98,000 oil
[52:42] change. So, you notice the oil changes
[52:45] are
[52:47] done. I'm pretty sure there's an oil
[52:49] change between these two. So, 88 and 98.
[52:52] 10,000 mi oil changes on this one. But
[52:55] they are, let's look at the time. From
[52:58] August
[53:00] 2016 to January 2017, they drove 10,000
[53:05] miles. This car was driven a lot. That's
[53:08] why they can the 10,000 mi oil changes
[53:11] didn't cause any issues. Then we got to
[53:13] 103. Oil change. Oil change. Here we go.
[53:17] Four tires replaced again. This time
[53:19] they started lasting longer. 120,000 mi
[53:22] service. This is where I presume the
[53:24] spark plugs were done. Then we go 127.
[53:28] Oil change. Oil change. Did you notice
[53:30] that this has a full service history?
[53:33] 150,000 mi service. This is where it
[53:35] resets. Goes back to 10 to 5 10 whatnot.
[53:39] Vehicle
[53:41] serviced. Drive belt replaced.
[53:44] Everything belt replaced at
[53:47] 155. Oil change. Four tires replaced
[53:50] again. This car too goes through tires,
[53:52] I suppose. We keep going. Oil changes,
[53:56] ignition coil replaced. The first actual
[53:58] repair was 167,000 miles. It's just an
[54:01] ignition coil. Hardly a repair. This is
[54:03] where things got a little interesting.
[54:05] 20,000 mi service at 172. Like we said,
[54:08] 15
[54:09] resets. Tires balanced. Tires rotated.
[54:13] 30,000 mi service. Then we keep going.
[54:16] Oil changes front brakes.
[54:19] oil change, four tires replaced
[54:23] again, 30,000 mi service, and then
[54:26] here's the interesting part. We kind of
[54:27] dropped to the 25,000. This is when a
[54:29] dealership messes things up. We have a
[54:31] wheel bearing that was replaced.
[54:33] 217, oil change, oil change, oil
[54:37] change. One tire replaced, brake,
[54:40] brakes, actually replaced, not tire,
[54:42] sorry. Keep going. Oil change. Here we
[54:46] go. This is where the original owner
[54:49] actually traded this car in. This was
[54:51] the last service they did, which at 263
[54:56] they traded it in. So, they
[54:58] reconditioned the vehicle. They fixed
[55:00] some upholstery. And then here's what
[55:03] the selling leadership did. They did the
[55:06] air filter, the cab filter. That's why
[55:07] they're not in terrible shape. Four
[55:10] tires balanced. That's probably the
[55:11] tires we have on the car right now. And
[55:13] tires are rotated. I just don't
[55:15] understand why they replaced the tires.
[55:16] And then they rotated them. How about
[55:18] that? And the wipers, the horrible
[55:20] wipers were installed and they service
[55:22] something with the
[55:23] headlights. And the owner, current
[55:26] owner, bought a 263, did an oil change
[55:30] at
[55:32] 270 and did an alignment check. And
[55:35] that's the end of the service history.
[55:37] And the next service history entry will
[55:39] be here. So the last oil change were a
[55:42] 270. So, we're actually going to
[55:44] recommend an oil change for this
[55:46] gentleman. Unless I know him. He is a
[55:49] DIYer type. So, he may have done his own
[55:51] oil change already. We will inform him
[55:53] that according to the record, your car
[55:55] may be due for an oil change. When was
[55:57] the last oil change? To make sure. Here
[55:59] are my concerns with the coolant. I
[56:01] don't see coolant ever being replaced,
[56:05] per se, part of a service.
[56:08] Even though the acidity level is not
[56:10] very high, but that's the whole point.
[56:12] See, this is one of these fluids where
[56:14] you don't want the acidity level to be
[56:16] through the roof to replace it. It's
[56:18] kind of counter point. So, I'm going to
[56:21] recommend to him sometime soon, replace
[56:23] the coolant, do an oil change. The oil
[56:26] change according to this is due, but
[56:28] I'll I'll confirm. And transmission
[56:31] fluid's never been replaced on this car.
[56:34] At least according to this record. We
[56:35] have to dig into the official record and
[56:38] see. I'm going to ask him cuz he's the
[56:39] owner. You can go to owners.exus.com or
[56:42] owners.toyota.com. If you are the owner,
[56:44] you can actually review the service
[56:45] history. We're going to ask him to
[56:47] review it. But if this transmission flow
[56:49] has never been serviced, can leave it
[56:51] alone. Could cause a lot more harm than
[56:53] good. Even though this transmission
[56:54] shifts perfectly, no torque converter
[56:57] shutter, no issues whatsoever. That's
[57:00] that's the part here. But I would like
[57:02] to go back to the second part of this
[57:05] video. This 2014 Lexus ES 350, it is 11
[57:10] years old. It has
[57:14] 275,000
[57:17] miles. Here is everything that it needs.
[57:20] It needs a cabin air filter, needs a set
[57:23] of
[57:25] wipers, and that's about it.
[57:29] And whenever convenient, do an oil
[57:31] change and maybe change the coolant.
[57:33] It's preventative. And if you really
[57:36] want to take it to the next level, if
[57:38] the vibration of the brakes bother you,
[57:40] even though they're not a safety
[57:41] concern, they're not really heavy
[57:43] vibration, maybe change the brakes or
[57:45] ride on them for a while, then change
[57:47] them.
[57:49] If you really want to take it to the
[57:50] absolute next level, you want it
[57:52] perfect, change the sunroof seal, which
[57:55] other than the little noise that it
[57:56] makes, it's absolutely
[57:58] nothing. And that's the end of
[58:02] that. Unbelievable, isn't it? If I tell
[58:06] you this car has 100,000 miles and this
[58:08] is all it needs, you'd believe me and I
[58:10] would believe it, too. 275, folks. This
[58:14] generation ES350. Before we wrap up this
[58:16] video, 2013 all the way to
[58:20] 2017, easily one of the best Lexus ever
[58:24] made. Even going back to the tank
[58:27] ones, even going back to the ones that
[58:29] were built like a tank, this is one of
[58:31] the best ones. Flat out the best version
[58:35] of the 2G RF. The best transmission
[58:38] version ever. The interior holds up. No
[58:42] power steering leaks like the previous
[58:44] generation. This is easily the best
[58:47] Luxus you can buy in 2025 used. And as
[58:50] you can see, even ones that have this
[58:53] kind of mileage, they hardly need
[58:55] anything. And that's not not something
[58:58] that is strange to me. The owner of this
[59:01] car owns this is the fourth ES350 that
[59:04] he owns. He he owns multiple businesses.
[59:06] He's always traveling place to place and
[59:08] he puts a lot of miles and very heavy
[59:10] use on the cars.
[59:12] The first ES350 that we've been kind of
[59:15] switching cars for a while. The first
[59:17] ES350 he brought me, I believe it was
[59:19] an09 or or 10 had a lot of leaks, had a
[59:22] lot of issues and he was like, "You know
[59:24] what? I am at the verge of selling this
[59:26] actually." So he actually sold it and
[59:29] bought this one and another
[59:31] one. This one, as you can see, needs
[59:35] almost nothing. The one prior to it had
[59:38] around 170,000 mi. It needed literally
[59:41] nothing. Not even a wiper, a filter, a
[59:44] float, nothing. Full service history.
[59:46] The one
[59:47] before has around 180,000 miles. That
[59:50] one needed brakes all around. That's all
[59:53] it needed. Nothing
[59:54] else. These are good cars, folks. But
[59:57] let's go back to the other subject of
[59:58] this video. You inspect the
[60:02] car before you go see it. Research the
[60:05] car. Understand their common problems.
[60:08] When you go do the inspection, be
[60:10] thorough. Check everything. Don't leave
[60:13] a stone unturned. Check not only
[60:16] mechanical repairs, check maintenance as
[60:18] well. Because honestly, I'll be I'll be
[60:21] some I'll be honest with you, say
[60:23] something. The lack of transmission
[60:24] service would worry me a little bit with
[60:26] this car. But after I drive
[60:29] it, maybe negotiate the price. Hey, this
[60:32] guy's high mileage, never had a
[60:34] transmission service. Can we work on
[60:36] that price a little bit? cuz if
[60:37] something happens to this transmission,
[60:39] you may have to replace it. But you know
[60:41] what? Looking at the rest of the car, I
[60:43] would cuz it's definitely worth the
[60:45] thing drives like a new car. That's the
[60:47] best part, folks. Take your time with
[60:50] car inspections. The best thing to do
[60:52] with a car inspection is to put it up on
[60:54] the lift if you're buying it from a
[60:55] dealership. Sometimes you can't do a
[60:57] pre-purchase inspection, take it from a
[60:58] dealership. So, put it on a lift and
[61:01] start checking yourself. Take your time.
[61:04] It's it's better to be that nuisance
[61:07] customer at the dealership that wants to
[61:08] check everything and takes their time.
[61:10] They're okay. They'll they'll get over
[61:12] it. But if you buy a bad car because you
[61:14] didn't look well enough or didn't check
[61:15] it well enough, you're stuck with that
[61:18] car forever. That's the problem. So, I
[61:22] hope this video was helpful. I hope now
[61:24] you have some more information how to
[61:26] check a car, what to look for, how to
[61:28] kind of start your process, and what to
[61:30] look for. But the biggest thing is
[61:32] research. Folks, if you like this video,
[61:34] consider giving a thumbs up. If you're
[61:35] not a subscriber, consider subscribing
[61:37] to the channel. Check out some my other
[61:38] videos. Until the next video, folks, may
[61:40] the Lord bless you and keep you.