How To Properly Inspect a Used Car So You Wouldn't Buy a Lemon

[00:00] Hello and welcome to the Caron channel.

[00:03] In today's video, I want to show you how

[00:05] to inspect a car properly. Whether it's

[00:07] a used car you're buying, your own car,

[00:10] you want to give it a proper check over

[00:11] to make sure it's all in good shape and

[00:13] everything. And at the same time, this

[00:14] video will serve as a second purpose.

[00:17] This particular ES 350 has 275,000

[00:21] miles. We've never seen this car. I've

[00:24] never inspected it. This is the first

[00:25] time we're doing it. So, we're going to

[00:27] show you how to do used car inspection

[00:29] and then we're going to actually see

[00:30] what does this 275,000 mi Lexus actually

[00:34] need service-wise. Let's get

[00:42] started. So, every single used car

[00:45] inspection or car inspection in general

[00:48] starts with a test drive. Let us test

[00:51] drive this car. Engine sounds healthy

[00:54] when it's started. That's something you

[00:56] want to listen to. This car is

[00:58] completely cold. That's how you always

[01:00] ideally would like to get the car. So,

[01:02] this car is uh barely broken in.

[01:08] 275,000 mi. Barely broken in. Just got

[01:13] to say something. This ES 350, this

[01:15] generation, one of the best Lexus ever

[01:18] made. I mean, this thing is coming up on

[01:19] 300,000 mi. Leather's fine. Everything

[01:22] else is looks fine. starts like any car

[01:25] with 15,000 miles sounds wise. So, let's

[01:28] take it for a drive. Transmission

[01:30] engages pretty quick. Reverse engages

[01:33] pretty quick. Camera works. That's the

[01:35] first things we're going to test. Now,

[01:37] let's go for a drive and just check the

[01:40] steering column. Make sure we don't have

[01:41] any strange noises. We got a bump here.

[01:44] So, that's the first thing you want to

[01:46] purposely go over some bumps to see.

[01:52] Actually, I'm going to go over this

[01:54] again. Few more bumps to

[01:59] see. This sounds almost

[02:06] perfect. The only noise you're hearing

[02:08] is something rolling around in

[02:10] here. Let's take it for a drive. We'll

[02:13] test a few

[02:14] things and we'll see where things are

[02:16] at. AC works. I already turned it on.

[02:19] That works pretty good.

[02:23] So far so

[02:25] good. Brakes work. That's

[02:42] good. So when you take off initially,

[02:45] we're feeling for transmission

[02:47] shifts. Two things you're going to

[02:49] check. how the car tracks. We're going

[02:52] to get it going at a steady speed and

[02:54] very safely. We're going to let go of

[02:56] the steering wheel to see if it tracks

[02:58] left and right. This one drives

[03:00] perfectly straight. It is perfect.

[03:05] That's That's how I'm going to say it.

[03:07] The next thing is steering wheel. It is

[03:10] perfect on

[03:13] center. Almost 300,000 miles on this

[03:16] car.

[03:17] The next thing we're going to test is

[03:19] going to be the brakes. I'm going to

[03:21] speed up a little bit. We're coming up

[03:22] on a traffic light here. I'm going to

[03:24] hit the brakes a little bit harder than

[03:30] usual. Very little pulsation I feel. So,

[03:33] here's with pulsation how you can

[03:35] determine. If you feel the pulsation in

[03:37] steering wheel, slightly front brakes.

[03:40] If you feel it in the pedal on the body

[03:41] of the car, the seats, but not in the

[03:43] steering wheel, slightly rear brakes.

[03:45] So, these brakes have a little bit of

[03:47] pulsation. I feel in the steering wheel.

[03:49] I feel it in the seat. So, we

[03:50] potentially have both rotors have a

[03:53] little bit of warpage, but again, these

[03:54] rotors are still cold. It's important

[03:56] that you try this a couple times. So,

[03:58] safely. I have nobody behind me. I'm

[04:00] going to break a little

[04:02] bit. Yeah, I definitely feel it all

[04:04] over. So, we may have a little bit of

[04:06] warpage front to back. Not terrible.

[04:09] We'll test it a little bit more. Here's

[04:11] the important stuff. I don't hear any

[04:13] roaring weird noises. And here is what

[04:16] you do if you do hear a weird roar or

[04:20] noise.

[04:22] Safely swerve the car left and right

[04:25] just like I am doing right now within

[04:26] your lane. You know, especially in the

[04:28] United States, we got pretty wide lanes

[04:30] there. You can swerve safely within your

[04:32] lane. If you start hearing the noise get

[04:34] louder and then get quieter, louder then

[04:37] quieter, you have a wheel

[04:39] bearing. If doesn't change at all, it

[04:42] may be something with tire noise. And

[04:44] I'll show you how we check both when we

[04:46] get it on a lift. But this particular

[04:49] car, it is checking every single box.

[04:53] The only thing I have so far is a very

[04:56] slight pulsation from the brakes. And

[04:58] let me tell you one thing. You buy a car

[05:00] for 275,000 mi and all you need is some

[05:06] brakes. Yeah, you uh you're doing pretty

[05:09] good. I'm idling right now. It's pretty

[05:11] smooth idle. 2G RF will always have a

[05:14] little bit of a rumble at idle. That is

[05:16] normal. But it's pretty smooth. I don't

[05:18] feel any vibrations, anything abnormal.

[05:20] The next thing we want to do now that

[05:22] we're at almost a stop, the street is

[05:24] empty. I'm going to push it. Never go

[05:26] over the speed limit.

[05:33] But that is a pretty healthy engine. The

[05:36] traction control actually came on. These

[05:38] are your initial impressions because you

[05:40] have a problem with this engine mass air

[05:42] flow is

[05:43] dirty, spark plugs are never been

[05:45] changed or whatnot. When you push it,

[05:47] it's going to start hesitating, bucking

[05:49] and whatnot. This one is perfect. It

[05:52] almost let the tires up and the

[05:55] transmission is very healthy. Speed

[05:58] limit here is 45. You want to drive

[06:00] right around 40 and just coast very

[06:03] light acceleration. Let that torque

[06:05] converter engage. We want to see

[06:07] shutters. If all of a sudden you you

[06:08] engage that torque converter and the

[06:10] whole car starts shaking, as soon as you

[06:11] accelerate goes away, that's a torque

[06:13] converter shutter. That's a big problem.

[06:15] You got to catch it. If you drive it a

[06:16] little bit faster, you're not going to

[06:18] notice that. So, you want to drive it

[06:20] hard to push the engine, see how it

[06:22] does, and then very soft to see how it

[06:24] reacts. That's the next thing. The last

[06:27] thing with this ES is, which I hear it,

[06:30] the sunroof seal. You can check it

[06:32] easily. Like right now, I have this

[06:34] open. I hear all kinds of wind noise.

[06:37] When I close

[06:39] it, it gets very quiet. I open it again,

[06:43] it almost feels like a window is open.

[06:45] That's how it feels like. The sunroof

[06:47] seal is worn out. This is very common in

[06:49] these particular cars, but it could be a

[06:51] thing with any

[06:56] car. GPS is tracking properly. I mean,

[06:59] this car, if this car at this point had

[07:02] 50,000

[07:04] miles, I'd go with it because it's

[07:06] checking every single box so far. Here

[07:10] are a few things we're going to check.

[07:11] Let's check the wipers. So, Jose, show

[07:13] them the view of the

[07:15] wipers. Yeah, that's

[07:18] uh Yeah, that wiper have seen better

[07:21] days. And I'm noticing one thing about

[07:22] these wipers. Do you see how they stick

[07:24] up? I think they need an alignment. So,

[07:27] we need to reposition them down cuz

[07:29] they're way too high up. Yeah, the

[07:31] brakes are definitely pulsating a little

[07:33] bit. And then while we're here, let's

[07:37] operate our sunroof. Check it. Sure it

[07:42] works. That

[07:45] works. Let's do the

[07:49] tilt. That

[07:51] tilts.

[07:53] Beautiful. Born.

[07:56] That works. We already tested our turn

[07:58] signals. Now, before we pull into the

[08:01] shop, we're going to do a quick function

[08:04] test of things. We're going to just come

[08:06] to a

[08:09] stop again. This suspension

[08:11] is Yeah, I wonder if it's been replaced

[08:14] before. So, right before we pull in the

[08:16] shop, let's do a quick function

[08:20] test. Door locks.

[08:26] They all work. This is something very

[08:28] important that you do. Don't operate the

[08:30] door locks once. Operate them two, three

[08:31] times cuz you could have a weak motor

[08:33] here and you operate it two, three

[08:35] times, it just stops. Always operate it

[08:37] multiple times. Let's check all our

[08:40] windows. These motors are running now,

[08:43] not just opening. So, we don't have any

[08:46] issues with the window motors. We

[08:48] already tested the sunroof. Let's test

[08:50] our mirrors real quick. Although rare

[08:53] for these cars to have mirror issues,

[08:56] but check the mirrors. I already saw

[09:00] that the navigation was tracking. It's

[09:02] tracking correct. We can test the shade

[09:05] in the back. Shade in the back works. We

[09:08] can kind of go over all the features.

[09:12] This is not a bad

[09:14] idea. The seat coolers work cuz I hear

[09:17] the fans running. We're not going to

[09:18] test the seat heaters because it is 77°

[09:21] outside. We don't want to do that. And

[09:24] steering wheel heater. You can also test

[09:25] it, but really when you're testing a

[09:28] Lexus or Toyota, you could test the

[09:29] radio, check the CD player if you're

[09:31] interested in that. But this car is

[09:34] checking all my boxes. And some of the

[09:37] safety features you do want to check

[09:39] things like the blind spot monitor. See,

[09:41] when I turn it on, it do does a self

[09:43] test and then it goes off. So far, the

[09:47] only thing I see with this car, the

[09:49] brakes slightly pulsate, the wipers are

[09:51] a little bit off. We can adjust it.

[09:53] That's very simple. And if you look at

[09:54] that mirror, see how the edge of it is

[09:57] 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

[1:00:02] car before you go see it. Research the

[1:00:05] car. Understand their common problems.

[1:00:08] When you go do the inspection, be

[1:00:10] thorough. Check everything. Don't leave

[1:00:13] a stone unturned. Check not only

[1:00:16] mechanical repairs, check maintenance as

[1:00:18] well. Because honestly, I'll be I'll be

[1:00:21] some I'll be honest with you, say

[1:00:23] something. The lack of transmission

[1:00:24] service would worry me a little bit with

[1:00:26] this car. But after I drive

[1:00:29] it, maybe negotiate the price. Hey, this

[1:00:32] guy's high mileage, never had a

[1:00:34] transmission service. Can we work on

[1:00:36] that price a little bit? cuz if

[1:00:37] something happens to this transmission,

[1:00:39] you may have to replace it. But you know

[1:00:41] what? Looking at the rest of the car, I

[1:00:43] would cuz it's definitely worth the

[1:00:45] thing drives like a new car. That's the

[1:00:47] best part, folks. Take your time with

[1:00:50] car inspections. The best thing to do

[1:00:52] with a car inspection is to put it up on

[1:00:54] the lift if you're buying it from a

[1:00:55] dealership. Sometimes you can't do a

[1:00:57] pre-purchase inspection, take it from a

[1:00:58] dealership. So, put it on a lift and

[1:01:01] start checking yourself. Take your time.

[1:01:04] It's it's better to be that nuisance

[1:01:07] customer at the dealership that wants to

[1:01:08] check everything and takes their time.

[1:01:10] They're okay. They'll they'll get over

[1:01:12] it. But if you buy a bad car because you

[1:01:14] didn't look well enough or didn't check

[1:01:15] it well enough, you're stuck with that

[1:01:18] car forever. That's the problem. So, I

[1:01:22] hope this video was helpful. I hope now

[1:01:24] you have some more information how to

[1:01:26] check a car, what to look for, how to

[1:01:28] kind of start your process, and what to

[1:01:30] look for. But the biggest thing is

[1:01:32] research. Folks, if you like this video,

[1:01:34] consider giving a thumbs up. If you're

[1:01:35] not a subscriber, consider subscribing

[1:01:37] to the channel. Check out some my other

[1:01:38] videos. Until the next video, folks, may

[1:01:40] the Lord bless you and keep you.