I am looking at buying a 2015 Lexus RX 350 from a Lexus dealer with approximately 25,000 miles on it. It is under warranty for another 2 years under Lexus’s L/Certified program. My mechanic looked at the car separately, and discovered a small leak of oil from behind the A/C compressor. I brought this to the dealer’s attention, and the dealer says that it is oil seepage, which is not something that is covered under warranty, and that they therefore will not fix the car at this point under warranty, either prior to or after my purchase. They say that if it becomes a leak, they will fix it under warranty (assuming the warranty is still in place of course). They claim that this problem is not unusual for this model of Lexus. What can I do to make sure this won’t be a problem down the road(or should I keep looking for a similar model that doesn’t have oil seepage issues)?
You can’t do anything to keep it from being a problem . Frankly my theory is if a used vehicle has me asking questions I pass and keep looking.
Now if the vehicle is what you want just assume that any used vehicle will need repairs some day.
I will say this . . .
The 2GR-FE V6 . . . which that Lexus uses . . . does have several areas which leak. To be more specific, there are technical service bulletins which describe exactly where the leaks are, and what the remedies are. That said, it sounds as if there’s just seepage at this point, which the dealership rightly won’t address at this point in time, as you’ve already discovered.
My brother-in-law bought a Certified 2015 RX-350 from Lexus of Fremont CA last week. It had leaks from timing cover and camshaft cradle. This is a known problem and there are bulletins from Lexus on it. The dealer pulled out the engine and repaired the leaks before brother-in-law picked up the car.
Since this is a known problem, I would not take it home unless it is corrected, even if it is only seeping a bit at the moment.
This vehicle rides a bit rougher than you would expect from a Lexus because the 2015 used a Highlander chassis, but otherwise it seems to be a nice vehicle.
Stop looking! A replacement turbo on this car costs a lot and ins not covered!!!
The RX 350 does not have a turbo charger but if this was a NX 200t that does have a turbo why would it not be covered by the warranty?
The problem with insisting on repair at this point is that the dealer may not get reimbursed for the repair by Toyota.
Seems like you haven’t bought the car yet. Not sure what you want to buy it.
The whole purpose of the pre-purchase inspection is to see if the car has issues. This car had issues, you still want to buy it. Seems like you wasted your money on the inspection.
Car is 4 years old and supposedly prone to the oil seepage in the area of concern.
Oi seepage is something what might take many years to develop into a leak.
Lexus/Toyota are known for the reasonably good mechanical quality, so I would doubt that car will have some extraordinary problems, other than “family mark” of that oil seepage.
If OP looked for the “100% clean health”, he should rather target a brand new vehicle.
Any used/old vehicles will have some areas of concern.
Oil seepage (given it is not big) would not be high on my concerns list here.
I would be more concerned about clean maintenance records track.
25M miles over 4 years… how many times oil was changed ??
Was is up to manufacturer recommendations for BOTH mileage AND age?
What about brake fluid change? At 4 years it is due.
Any rust or paint damage?
Any area on the car paint looking “kinda newer” then the rest?
etc… etc…
4 year old cars often develop a few places where they seep oil or transmission fluid or power steering fluid. In other words as long as are looking at 4 year old cars, pretty good chance they’ll all have similar problems, although the seepage will likely occur at different places for each one. Whether this is a show-stopper or not cannot be determined using internet forum. You did the right thing to have a pre-purchase inspection. Tell your inspector what the dealership told you, then ask him if they were considering the car, would they buy it or not. The inspectors are naturally biased in favor of finding a small problem in order to justify the cost of their inspection. Sometimes the seller will correct the problem gratis, which makes the car buyer (you) feel good about paying for the inspection. But in this case they won’t. But it could still be an acceptable deal. Trust your inspector’s judgement on the buy/no-buy decision is probably the best advice.
My brother’s car has the same 2GR-FE engine, and it’s had oil seepage from the front cover for several years now
It’s not an ideal situation, but no oil has been hitting the driveway, either
Keep the fluid levels topped off and everything will be fine, in all likelihood