Transcription
The Lexus GX460 is one of the most important Lexus SUVs, period, in my opinion. It is very nice to be in. It's relatively reliable. It's a decent size. It's one of those SUVs that just flies under the radar. They don't get a lot of bad press, if you would. But in today's video, I want to share with you something I've been noticing in the shop and through talking to folks that are buying these. The Lexus GS could be one of the best trucks you will buy, but it could also be the worst if you're not careful when you buy one. Don't just go and buy one of these and it's a GX460. It'll be great. Doesn't matter how many miles, doesn't matter what condition it's in, it'll be fine. Don't do that because as you find out in this video, buy the wrong one and I will guarantee you one thing, you will not be happy and it will slowly bankrupt you. I hope this video helps those that are shopping around for a GX460 know what to look for, know what to check, and what to avoid. That's the biggest thing here. Let's get started. We'll talk about it in detail.
Let's start with the engine. So, the Lexus GX 460 has one engine, one URFE, 4.6 6 L V8, hence the 460 part. So, this engine is a rumbly, lazy V8. That's the best way I'll describe it. Not powerful, does that very hungry and does take premium fuel only. This to me is one of those parts in the GX 460, other than the frame, that'll make or break your purchase. If you don't check this part right, it could be disastrous because this is a good engine. If you take care of it as they get miles and they get a lot of miles, which they are meant to get a lot of miles, you keep an eye on things because you not keeping an eye on things just start and go and never check. That's how disasters start.
Starting with the first one, oil leaks. This engine, the problem with it is access. It is a very tight engine. It is not a simple engine to work on for basic stuff. You know, spark plugs, oil changes, although spark plugs a little bit tight. Not the easiest thing to do, but it's doable. Somewhat DIY, but when you get into its mechanical stuff, things get pretty complicated, and that's because of the space. This is not a big SUV to begin with, cuz a V6 was supposed to go here in the J150. So, oil leaks are common, front timing cover. You're going to inspect the car. You're going to look at it in this area. Do you see any wetness? You're going to look through the wheel well at the engine. Do you see any wet spots? If it's you see them towards the front of the engine, that is a front timing cover. Very common on these. Not something that's going to destroy this engine where it's going to leak all its oil out and we're we're running dry. Not like that. But repairing it is an expensive proposition. You have oil all over the engine. It's going to come back to the exhaust manifold. And now we have all the smell and the smoke. And I'm like, we bought this car to enjoy it. Are we going to be dealing with all that? This is something I would check.
Another oil leak that is more common actually on these cam towers. So, here's here's how that is. You have the cylinder head and then you have a cam cradle which holds the cam cam shafts and then the valve cover. Between the cylinder head and the cam cradle or holder or tower, you're going to have sealer. There's a certain area and it's always this side. You're going to realize that the engineers that decided designed this size of this engine didn't do as good of a job as the engineers that designed that size. Of course, that's a joke. One engineer decide this hopefully. But it's always starts on this side. The driver's side loves to leak more than the passenger. The passenger is possible, but it's always the driver's side that is worth. And the easiest way to detect this, you can look through here, right at the exhaust manifold in the back. Although that's not the best way, look through the wheel well at the back. If we see oil on top of the exhaust manifold or oil kind of in in that corner at the back of the engine, that's the cam tower. Both of these jobs are massive jobs to to repair. So, if you're going to buy one, you see that's what this is wet. There's leaking, there's oil all over the exhaust, either negotiate the price cuz you have a pretty big repair coming up, or walk away, find another one. Talk about finding another one cuz that's easier said than done. That takes care of oil leaks, which folks, these things are expensive to fix. Let's just say that truthfully right now, cuz it's not simple.
Another thing you want to watch for is coolant leaks. And coolant is one of the Achilles heels of this engine. Truth have to be said, this engine usually ends its life early because of coolant. folks don't change the coolant on time, which if you own one of these, 50,000 mi, 5 years is the most you want to go on the coolant because this engine has a notorious habit of finding a way to just get rid of his coolant either way. First one is simple water pump. Common to leak on these. If you don't watch it, it'll run down your coolant, overheat the engine, and it's done. The water pump is super simple to repair. actually is a DIY job. Second common leak, especially when we get into the older ones, radiators love to leak. These are side tank radiators, which in my opinion, they love to leak. This is a side design always leaks more than the top down tanks. So, keeping an eye on the coolant, keeping an eye on the radiator and the water pump is very important. Both of these super simple DIY. If you have a little bit of skills, you can pull through it. Do it very simply.
Then we get into the more serious stuff. Something called in the community or you might research and find that out. Valley plate coolant leak. So underneath the intake manifold you'll find three things on the GX. You'll find the EGR cooler, which this does have an EGR. Underneath it, you'll find a oil separator for the PCV system that is plastic. you never had an issue with one of these. Underneath that, you're going to have something called a heat exchanger. It is a kind of a pool of coolant that cools that valley and cools this edge the sides on the block. On top of that, there is a kind of a plate that sits that is actually called a heat exchanger, the part itself that loves to leak coolant. Very common on these. And I've seen so many 460s go down because that was not caught. Owner didn't check the coolant. It overheated and there goes the engine. Very difficult to catch too until they get very bad. That's the problem. They have sealer around it, folks. There has been essays written by the community of owners about why they leak. They just leak. Same thing. Why the cam towers leak? They just leak. Every engine has its weak spots. That's one of them. So the valley plate is a little tricky to find. If it's a small leak, you have to remove the manifold really to see it. And even that is still a little bit interesting to see it. You can send a camera underneath the intake manifold to see it. That's one way. When they get really bad, you'll see coolant leaking on top of the transmission bell housing and you see it literally dripping on the ground from the transmission bell housing. You see that? Don't drive it. Get it fixed right away.
Now, here's the thing about that. This is not exactly a DIY repair unless you are very experienced DIY because there is one engineer that decided to do one little design that makes this job extremely difficult. And that design would be there is a little coolant pipe with two O-rings. One sits on the front cover and one sits in that valley plate or the heat exchanger. You're supposed to remove the front timing cover, remove that pipe, then remove the heat exchanger. But do you want to do that? Cuz now you just added a few thousand bucks to this repair pulling the front cover. So through trial and error, technicians have discovered I this is the way I do it as well. We can pull the plate out with the pipe intact and then kind of stand them up and put them together. very risky to repair because the O-rings love to roll. So, you have to put it together, stop, let the sealer dry, pressure test it, make sure that those O-rings sealed. If they don't, you're starting it all over again. Little time consuming and it really tests your patience, but it is possible to do it without the front timing cover.
Then the biggest problem with this engine with coolant, I mean this one I've talked about it in another video when we starting to see a large number of these show up with the same problem. Head gasket failures for unexplainable reasons in the exact same spot every single time. Here's I did a lot of research into this folks because owners were concerned after that video. A lot of you commented down below and we really dug into it because I am concerned. I I own one. I am worried. Here's what I found in my research. The problem with the head gasket, I believe it is coolant related because the head gasket is eroding in a certain spot over time. So coolant replacements on time is very important for this engine. The second thing is it seems like 2010, 11, 12, and 13 are the number one suspects for this problem. Cuz starting 14 and up or late 13, we're going to say 14 to play it safe. We're buying one. They changed the design of the head gasket. And through service, we're noticing the head gasket that we take out of a Pre4 is significantly different than the part we bought. It's a different head gasket. The coding on it is different. Everything is different. So that may resolve that issue because I have never seen a 14 and up, but I have seen a lot of 13, 12, 11, and 10.
Here's the problem with that. Okay, so the head gasket coast at 200,000 mi. Let's say that's not the end of the world. I just do a head gasket and move on with our life. That would be incorrect because this engine loves to warp the block, not the cylinder head. When it does that, it's always this side. It's always the last two cylinders. Every single time. Never seen one on that side. It's always this side. So, here is something. We're going to start this off and we'll talk about a little bit more down the video. If you're not 100% sure about the service history of this car that you're looking to buy, that is a 2010 to 13 and you don't see coolant every 50,000 mi at least, walk away flat out. Pay a little bit more, buy a 14 and up, you're already playing a safer because the amount of these that fail with head gasket problems is getting alarming because of lack of maintenance. I hope that is only it. But there also there's also a possibility that the head gasket material is different. That is one important thing.
Now that we got the leaks out of the way, there is a few things that you need to know about this engine. First, they are a little bit, again, I told you this side of the engine is a problem. They're a little bit rattly. This is tough because if you don't have a trained ear, you've never heard a lot of them run and new and with miles, you may mistake things for problems that are normal. However, this engine has an has a notorious habit of chain tensioner rattle and they never fixed it. Never fixed it, folks. It's unexplainable to me why it even happens because we've seen cars that are neglected that do it. Okay, maybe the oil clogged the passages or the tensioner, but we've seen well-maintained cars also do it. Unexplainable. Here's a symptom of that in case you're going to buy one. You start the car cold, perfectly quiet. The fan will roar. That is normal for these. Fan will quiet down. You let it run for a few minutes. All of a sudden, there is a distinct clattering noise that appears. It like comes up and then it goes away, then comes up. Very loud. It can get super loud. Then all of a sudden, it just disappears. And then as soon as the engine warms up, it completely goes away. It never comes back until you repeat the cycle. And it doesn't do it all the time. Sometimes it will do it, sometimes it won't. And if you listen to it, it's on the driver's side again. Here we go. This side, this bank of the engine.
Here's here's the best way. Let me tell you what's behind the scenes so you understand what that problem is and and why it is important that you check it when you're buying one. There's four chains in this engine. There's two between the cams on each side and there's two for each bank. So, there's four tensioners inside. Two for the little chain, two for the big chains. We're worried about the big chain. The one on the passenger side on that side doesn't have a gasket. Okay. It's a hydraulic tensioner that has a lock. Perfect. On this side, it has a gasket. It has a little weird thing on the back of the gasket. Almost looks like an afterthought. It's always the driver's side that clatters. We've seen passenger side clatter, but this starts first. You got to check that because here is the bottom line. If you buy a GX that has a coolant valley plate leak, has a front cover leaking, has a cam tower leaking, has a water pump that's leaking, and has a clatter on like when it's colder, it'll clatter, you are looking at a 5,000 plus repair. If you want to get an idea what's involved in that, I'll leave a video right here. Although it is a Tundra, but it's exactly the same thing, folks, in this you'll understand why it costs that much. It's not a simple job. It's a pretty big job and it's very expensive. And parts for this engine are ridiculous. That's that's all I'll tell you. The chain is not a $50 chain. It's a $300 chain. Tensioner is not so bad, but it adds up pretty quick. And then if you have a leaky radiator and leaking hoses and it adds up very rapidly to a big bill. Make sure you buy the right engine, folks. Because if this engine is taken care of, maintained, it'll just run and run. That's that's the god honest truth, folks. But eventually, at some point, it will spring a leak here and there. It has 300,000 miles and things starts leaking. They're a little bit more expensive to fix. That's one thing you need to keep in mind.
And the last thing we're going to talk about with the engine here, the starter. Not as common as some of the other models, but it is possible. And the biggest problem with the starter of this car, see, when a starter goes out in a car, you know, you can reach on it, a little pry bar, and tap on it, it'll start. Uh, not as accessible in this car. It's doable. You can maybe access it, but it's not simplest starter to do in the world. Just heads up, cuz I've seen this mistake so many times. The starter does not live underneath the intake manifold on the UR series engine. None of them, including this one. It actually is on the passenger side, right behind the exhaust manifold. And just heads up, and it's very difficult to do. You can replace the starter on the GX without removing the exhaust manifold. Makes it 10 times more difficult, but it is possible because if you have a rusty one, we talk about rusty, which is the next problem. exhaust manifold may not come off and it may open a very large problem if you remove it to replace a starter. If you here's a good general rule of thumb. If you have over 200,000 miles on your original starter and you use this for long trips, camping, going really in remote areas, might not actually be a terrible idea, but I wouldn't just go and replace it with 50,000 miles. Not like that. If you have over 200 and you use it in that specific purpose. Yes. Otherwise, if it goes, it goes and usually replace it and life is moves on. And one thing on the starter, the starter usually is the least expense in that job. It's usually the labor that is the highest because it's pretty tight space.
Let's take a tour underneath the GX. And this is something I will I will give you an advice on. You're going to buy one of these, ask the dealership you're buying it from. Can you put it on a lift? I want to check it out. It's a very valid question. Dealerships may look at you like this, but if they're honest, they have nothing to hide. Sure, let's put it on a lift. You check it out. This is what I want you to check. But before we start, I just got to say something. This is Jose's truck. Uh, you will notice some zip ties and some things missing here. Jose had a little off-road adventure. pretty fun. But uh this GX have seen some serious off-road. So I'll leave you a video right here if you want to know what happened here, why things are missing and whatnot. But let's start with the main thing that you're going to inspect before you look at anything else. Before you start hearing in the engine and looking for leaks and whatnot, the frame. These GX460s can be the best truck you buy or the worst one depending how much rust we have. We're going to skip over everything. We're going to go right to the frame. This particular truck is an Illinois truck. I have seen salt. It's daily driven. It's a family SUV. It's been off-road. It's been everywhere. Look at this frame. If you're in a rusty area and you go find a frame that looks like this, we're doing pretty good. And it has nothing to do with, oh, the frame just holds solid. That's not how they look, folks. If you don't take care of it, it will rust. And and with rust, I have not seen yet GX460s get really bad except very few that are really neglected, but not like the GX470. But still, the problem with rust is every job becomes job and a half because this break and that break and this doesn't want to come off and just starts souring the whole experience. But the main area that I want you to look at is right in this area. See this one is just have a little bit of surface rust. Nothing over the top. Do you see this? That's an area that they're common for. This is one of the areas you want to check for. And the first thing you check if you don't if you can't lift it, you're buying it for private whatnot. Lean underneath it and look at this area. This right here and the other side where the recovery hooks are. This is if this is a neglected truck that has never been washed, never been coated, never been taken care of, and it's in a rusty area, these will rot heavily. That's the first thing you want to look at. If you see heavy rust here, be careful. And I'll show you one spot where things are Jose was very concerned. He wants to coat it. When you start seeing this and if you see this all over here and it's really bad and it looks like scale is falling off, take a screwdriver and try to push on it. If it's if you feel it's soft and it's like flexing, walk away, folks. This frame is about to go. Don't be careful. That's the number one thing you're going to look at.
Having said that, we're gonna start our inspection from the front. Remember, we talked about all the engine stuff. We're going to run through them here. Radiator. Look at the edges of the radiator. So, normally the GX, this one is missing all these covers because of Jose's little off-road adventure. If you have covers here, ask them to remove it. Remove this cover. Remove this cover. Even remove this cover if you need to. So, you can really get to the bottom line of the story. In my opinion, any car you look at, used, you're trying to buy, 25% of the story, you're going to find it outside cuz any any person can make any car look like brand new by detailing it properly. But the real story is underneath it. You're going to look at the radiator. That's the first thing you're going to look at. If you see any pink like residue or crust in this area, this radiator is leaking. Not the end of the world, but you want to find out, is it low on coolant? Has it been driven like that? Another area is if you come around here, you'll see another area right here, right underneath. Do we see any any pink? This one doesn't have any. Same thing here. These are the side tanks of the of the radiator. We look right here. We don't see any obvious signs of coolant leaking.
Then we pay our attention to the engine. You want to look around this area, especially on the edges. Do you have oil wet spots? And if you look, this truck has about 150,000 mi. You see how the compressor is coated with oil? Going to try to get you the best shot possible. See how it's coated with oil? That's actually the front timing cover that is leaking. on top. It's not a big leak. Jose knows about it when we bought it. Actually, Jose just said something because he's heavily into the GX and and he's a big enthusiast of GX as well. You will hardly find a GX that doesn't have a little seepage from the front cover. When you get into the older ones, they have more miles. That is just the norm, folks. But would I be worried about a leak like this? No, because this is a very minor seepage. You could drive it another possibly 100,000 miles before this becomes actually a dripping leak on the ground. But the ones that get bad, you'll have oil all over here. You'll have oil dripping from the covers. That's the ones we don't want.
Now, the next leak with the engine, which is going to be very difficult to see, but if you're at this angle, you look up, you will see the water pump. You're going to look at this general area right here. Do you see a trail of pink coolant? If you see it, well, that's uh that's your telltale sign. Water pump's leaking. Not the end of the world. Even if it's a small leak, if you're buying this car, we negotiate the price. If it's your own car, you're following this to inspect it. Just replace a water pump. Not very difficult to replace. DIY friendly. If you're a little bit skilled, you can take tackle it yourself. It's very simple.
Then the cam towers, which this is a very important one because this is one that's going to cause smoke and smell and whatnot. If you look around, come around. This is a catalytic converter right here. By the way, never buy one with like deleted catalytic converters, whatnot. You got to look right in this area all the way up. It's going to be extremely difficult to show you on video. It's easier to see it through, but do you see oil stains on the exhaust? We're going to come down and kind of look underneath it. See how this one doesn't have anything? That's what you want to see. We don't have any leaks. Same thing on the other side. Although this side is very common, this side is even easier to see. Can fully see the entire area. And if you actually look up here through this cover, just lift it up a little bit and you look into it. You're going to be able to see the cam tower. I'm going to point it in the video. If you were had a leak, you'd see wet spot right there. That's how you check the cam tower. Same thing on the other side. Haven't checked all this stuff. We don't have any leaks. Everything looks good.
Start with more stuff in the front. Calipers. If you get a rusty caliper like this, we want to check it. Ideally, the best way to check it is remove the wheel, try to compress the pistons, make sure they all work. The fast way. Turn the wheel. This one actually, this caliper potentially, we we just noticed it today. Potentially starting to stick cuz this wheel doesn't turn. Like when I try to turn it a little bit, it has a lot of resistance. This one a little bit better. But I feel it has a little bit of resistance. So, what we're going to recommend to Mr. Jose is we're going to take these calipers and clean the pins and make sure everything is working right. They are notorious for calipers. It's easing up on these. But the more important thing you want to watch for, do you see how clean this brake line is right here? This is an exposed brake line. This doesn't have any coating. This is a truck has been taken care of, folks, cuz Jose is very religious about his cleaning and making sure it doesn't rust. This brake line is notorious to get super rusty and break when the truck is rusty. But I don't want you looking at this cuz if this is rusty, the frame will be horrible and you would have walked away from this truck.
Then we get to the transmission. Transmission for the GX460 A760 F. We only have fulltime four-wheel drive here. For the most part, there's a robust transmission. However, in the early years, 10, 11, maybe a little bit into 12. We we do see occasional issues with the transmission. It's usually caused by lack of maintenance. Folks, you own a GX, you want to see transmission fluid replacement every 60,000. What happens with these transmissions as they age? You get to 200,000 mi on the original fluid. Here's what's going to happen. Torque converter shutter is very possible on these. They start shuttering and you drive at 45 50 mph kind of cruising at that speed, not heavy acceleration. The whole truck will stop vibrating. As soon as you accelerate faster, it goes away. That's a token converter shutter. That's one of the first signs of neglect on the fluid changes. Second thing is shuttering between shifts or kind of lazy shifts or a little flare between shifts. That's another thing. And the third one, which I see more in the early ones with with over 200,000 mi on the original fluid, loss of reverse. And then that means you're potentially going to need to replace the transmission because um solenoids and the valve body will get clogged. And if you go price out a valve body or solenoid set for this truck, you just paid for a new transmission. That's the problem. So, make sure you shift through this transmission. Service it every 60,000 mi, 6 years. If you are approaching 100,000 mi, never been serviced, service it right away. You don't want to service it after 100,000 because that's when you could start some problems.
We skipped over this something with the suspension. This truck unfortunately and some will disagree. In my opinion, this is one of the worst decisions Lexus did. This comes standard with KDSS. And some folks will love that. 90% of them shouldn't. That's that's what I'll tell you. KDSS, it is basically a ancient way of disconnecting front sway bar. When you read the technical data on it, it is groundbreaking. It is But the GX, most people folks that buy it don't off-road with it. So, it becomes a nuisance. Here's here's the problem with KDSS. First, servicing is a little involved. There's a special tool that 90% of dealers have and that doesn't work. Two things could happen with the KDSS. You got to watch for the GX460. No matter what you do, you look at the back of it, it'll be slightly lower on the it'll appear lower on the passenger side or the right hand side and the left hand side. There come a point where they lean so much there's literally you you drive behind your truck like your family member is driving, you're driving behind them, you'll see the truck leaning this way, just driving like that. That's how bad they get. This problem they never resolved. They knew it from day one. My 2023 actually had that issue. So what happens is the KDSS something happens in the KDSS and pulls that side up cuz this shock so strong it actually pushes and lifts this side of the truck up so it appears it's leaning but it's actually higher on one side than the other. The fix for that once it gets past a certain lean you replace this coil spring which corrects that lean. However, if it's leaning significantly, that's when this will fix it. If it's leaning slightly, that is actually normal. Believe it or not, by 2023, even after the fix, does have a slight lean. Jose's truck has a slight lean. We probably see at least four or five GXs every single week here. They all have that slight lean. So, they are folks. Don't don't look into that, see it, and then assume it's a problem unless it's leaning significantly. Actually, there is a spec. I'll leave it right here. If the difference between both ride heights is this much, that's a problem. One that the spring will fix.
Speaking of the spring and the shocks, if you own a luxury that has the actuator at the very top, just heads up, these shocks are very expensive. They're specific to the luxury trim. So, heads up on that. That's another thing you want to check. Are the shocks leaking? If you have a luxury, even if you have a non-luxury, I mean, they're still somewhat expensive, but these are the most expensive.
Going back to the KDSS, though, never buy a GX with a KDSS light. Usually, KDSS light indicates there's either a leak and the pressure in the system is weak or the valve block, which lives right here, there's a problem with it. Let me let me just tell you how bad your experience will be if you have a KDSS light on this because if the fluid is low and there's leaks, if the shocks are leaking, they're ridiculously expensive. And then if this block has an issue and the solenoid is not working or there's a leak here, they are ridiculous how expensive they are. And usually the problems will be with rusty cars. There are lines that runs all fourway front to back. If they're leaking, it just gets out of control. Don't buy one. They're normally reliable. They don't have issue other than the lean. Occasionally, they'll develop a phantom knocking noise over really hard bumps. That's about their normal issues, but don't buy one with a KDSS light. You'll be sorry. I guarantee it.
The one thing you want to inspect though, look at the shock all the way up. Look here underneath it. Do you see oil wet? Like dripping oil? If that's the case, shock is leaking. Be very careful. Things are going to get expensive. These bushings, there's bushing here, bushing here on this side. This is a stationary side, bushing here, and a bushing here. They are somewhat common to wear out. And one thing I want to tell you, this bushing will always have a strange appearance. Like sometimes it'll have a gap at the top. That is normal, folks. Don't assume that that is a problem. They're very difficult to diagnose because you can't just push on it. But you'll see the edge of the bushing like sticking out and it's it's about to tear. These have been replaced cuz I replaced them. But if you see them tearing or a part of the bushing is sticking out, that's when you know they are about to go and they start making a knocking noise.
Front differential, we don't have any issues. They're Look at your CV boots. Somewhat commonish. Not super common, but something to look at. Make sure your CV boots are not leaking. They're nice and dry. We don't have any issues. This is not a big deal. Just don't go replacing the axle. Just replace CV boots. Don't replace it. Rack and pinion. Not super common on the GX to leak, but it's expensive enough item to check. Just make sure we don't have any wetness in this area on the boot that in the case that the seal inside is leaking. Same thing on the other side. But don't mistake that for like a leaking front cover on top of the of the rack and pinion. That is another thing.
Walking away from that exhaust with rusty cars. Even this one, this one is is an Illinois car, but we could still have issues. Look at the exhaust flanges. Make sure, see though, this one is starting to really rot and it's starting to get smaller and smaller. Make sure we don't have one that you can see the gasket cuz these exhaust systems are super expensive on these. Another common thing with the GX with rust, they'll break. The muffler will break right here, right in this area. This weld will break. Truck will be quiet and that's the best part. This part will be dangling down here and it'll make one one very loud racket. You can remove the tail piece and actually leave it. But just know these mufflers and that tailpiece very expensive. That's something you want to know about these rear shocks. If you have the luxury trim, be ready. Last time I checked, they were over $800 each. non-luxury trim. I don't know, 80 bucks, something like that. So, you can convert it of course, but if you do convert the rear shocks, you have to convert the air suspension out. Otherwise, on the high setting, the shock will be maxed out. The way you know these, of course, other than the air suspension, you have a wire going to it. That's how you know this is a adjustable suspension or not, just by looking at it.
Speaking of the air suspension, folks, let's just one thing. This air suspension is not meant for comfort and ride and whatnot. This is just to lift the back and down. It's very slow, very archaic. So, don't buy an air suspension one thinking of, oh, it rides better. It's more comfortable. That's not really what they're made for. Buy it thinking I'm going to tow something and I want to lift the back or I'm going to put heavy things. I want the back to lift up. That should be more your heading when you're getting into the air suspension. Air suspension on the GX is not problematic. Uh, truth have to be said. It's a very archaic system. Super slow, very basic. You do have these airbags right here. I have not seen a lot of GX 460s leak from these airbags yet. 470, the previous generation. Now we're starting to see some problems. We're talking 2004, 2005, 2003. I mean, these are 20-y old trucks. Things are going to happen. But if you don't want to deal with air suspension, buy the regular. But the best part is you can convert it. So we have options. So, air suspension leaks usually happen right in this area. You spray them with soapy water in this bottom area. You'll see bubbles. That's when you have a a truck that kind of fell down in the back on one side or another.
Another thing is the pump. Pump is right here. Two things could happen with this pump, which I wish they never happened to anybody. Actually just quoted a pump on a GX the other day. They are ridiculous. $3,500 when if the pump goes out. Pump, dryer, filter. Rarely go out. I I don't see them a lot. This was actually a surprise cuz the truck didn't have a lot of miles. Not this one, but another one. They are notorious though for there are three bushings. If they deteriorate with age, the pump will get super loud. So, if your pump starts making noise, the first thing you want to do is hold the pump and lift it up or move it to one side. see if the noise goes away. If it does, you just need bushings. They're like $2 $3. Takes you 5 minutes to change them. But if you do that and the pump still makes that loud buzzing metallic noise, the pump is out. Expensive. Jose is already he's got his eyebrows up. I hope my pump doesn't go out there. Not common, folks. But make sure you activate the air suspension if you're buying one. Make sure it's quiet. Doesn't make any noise. You hear it buzzing a little bit, but nothing loud.
Next thing is the KDSS in the back. You have a shock here. Again, look at this shock. No leaks, no issues. That's what you want to see. Same thing with these bushings. Heads up on these bushings. If you have a rusty one, the these two bolts love to seize in here. Be very careful when you replace them because if this bolt breaks here and you can't extract it from here, you are now in a world of trouble because this shock is very expensive. This side, not so much. You can replace the top piece. Actually, we did replace it on this particular one. It was not worth spending all the time to drill this and spend a fortune. This is not expensive. But these bushings are notorious to go out. They make knocking noises over bumps. So, that's another thing we want to check.
Last few things. And these are little stuff. Look underneath here. If you see wet oil, that's the axle seal that is leaking here. Same thing on the other side. You see these are dry. You'll see oil almost wanting to drip out of here. They're not super common. The axle seals to leak out of the rear. But one thing makes them leak very rapidly. The differential breather right here. Reach out. You see how this one moves in and out, turns. If it doesn't turn or it doesn't move freely, change it. Cuz this is the the vent for the breather here. This is the breather vent for the differential. If this seizes, pressure will build up here. It's either going to leak out of the pinion seal, but more commonly it'll leak out of the axle seals. This is a 13 $14 part. Takes you 5 minutes to change it. Just reach up. Very DIY. Take it out. It's like a It has a I think a 12 or 14 depends on that. Can't recall right now. Take it out. Install the new one. We're done. 13 14 bucks. Don't even bother trying to free it up and clean. Just replace it. That's You replace it maybe once every 10 years and we're good.
Last thing I want to mention here, drive shafts and transfer case. We kind of skipped over them. Drive shafts are greasable on these and they'll tend to have a weird knocking and when you accelerate and you stop when they get dry, especially this yolk here, you do want to grease these. See the grease fitting right here? The U-jints are greasable. You do want to grease grease these. Don't over grease them because uh like Jose does cuz you'll have this. Not a not a problem, but you'll have grease all over the place. I'd rather see this than no grease. I'll be honest with you. Same thing with the front one. But here's the important thing. Do you see how this one appears to have a leak here? Like something is wet. That's actually grease, folks, from this U-jint being thrown on it from overgreasing. As Mr. Jose loves to maintain his truck, so that's something to keep in mind. transfer case generally does not have any issues on these leaks are possible. Seals, but they're not something chronic or problematic. One thing you do want to do, although these trucks are fulltime four-wheel drive, you want to activate the long range, make sure it works. If it doesn't, big cost is ahead. So, heads up cuz this actuator is is what controls that. If this goes out, you have to dissemble the entire transfer case to replace it. uh not if you're going to use low range, not something I want I want you to get into honestly because it's it's very expensive to do that.
Let's talk about the electrical stuff and the kind of the interior things about the GX. So, the GX had a few facelifts throughout its life, although we're talking about the outside, but some of the stuff changed on the inside as well. So, in 2014, it's got one of the bigger facelifts to it. A lot of things changed. something's got modernized or whatnot. Then in 2017, they added the captain chairs in the back in the higher trims. And then just for good measure, Lexus decided in 2022 for the 2022 model year in 23, they changed the center section here. They changed a few things with the interior behind the scenes. They added kind of a more modern infotainment system, although by today's standard is ancient. And they added Apple CarPlay and whatnot. a little bit of a I I I like the update. It's a super biased statement because I own one that has the update, but the old one, there was nothing wrong with it.
Folks, here's the thing about the GX. There's something you need to know about this car. As long as you don't modify stuff electronically, you'll not have many electrical issues. They're not known for electrical gremlins. They're not known for any of the inside electronics to stop working. They're not known for sunroof problems. As long as you keep the drains clean and use it and, you know, do the regular maintenance of the sunroof, they're not really known for any issues here. And the leather quality is very high, especially post 14 and up. They really hold up much better. The older ones, they will deteriorate a little bit faster. Not because they're older, really because the material got better at 14 and up. But here's a few things that you need to know about. you start getting into aftermarket radios and big screen and what whatnot, that's when the problems start. That's the first thing you need to understand.
One thing going into the GX, this thing is ancient. That's why it's reliable. That's why it doesn't have electrical problems. Things are ancient. This is a 14. That's a 23. There is nothing really different between them behind the scenes. The mirrors, they fold with a button, but they don't fold when you lock the car. Even in the 23, they just didn't deem it necessary to do that. You don't have a turn signal. You just tap it and it'll flash three, four times. And to change the lane, for example, they don't have that. And 23 also doesn't have that. There's a lot of these little things that just it's like, why didn't they do this? Well, they can't because this is an ancient car. That's the best way to describe it. But that's the good thing about it. Something about the interior of the GX that if you're going to buy one that you need to look for. Don't spend your time, oh, does this all the gizmos work electronic? They will all work. Unless somebody's modified stuff, they will all work. That's the bottom line. But you want to drive it. There's something distinct about the way the GX drives. It's quiet except in the rear. You will always, especially if you drive it in rain, you will always hear road noise in the back. That's how they are, folks. If you hear that, don't assume something is wrong. They're always like that. Especially on rain, you'll hear it super loud. Right out of the bottom of the back door, you will hear noise. That is something common with them. The second thing is they're generally just quiet, restrained, unless somebody's been behind the scenes trying to do things that they shouldn't have. So, you go drive one, test some of the electronics, make sure nothing is modified.
The second thing I want to talk to you about, you look at this infotainment system, it is ancient. You go look at the 22 and 23, other than the Apple CarPlay that is not wireless, it is even more ancient. It has a touchpad. If you want to modernize the infotainment system for the GX 460, don't go buy an aftermarket one, folks. There are solutions that will get you a modern system without changing everything. Some of the ones that come to mind, GR Audio, Beat Sonic, and there's a lot more that I haven't heard of. They're basically all the same. Just pick pick what appeals to you price-wise, features wise, but that is the best way to modernize the infotainment because otherwise things ancient. No way around it. Don't go putting an aftermarket radio because you will be sorry because things will not work right and the integration won't work and that's that's the problem with these.
Let's talk about some other considerations and me and Jose have had a talk. He owns one. I own one. So, some of this section will be about the actual ownership experience. Here's something you will always get with the GX. If you've never owned similar trucks, you will buy it week one. You will dislike it every single time. It's too big. It is. It has a lot of blind spots and it's very wallowy. You're driving on a highway with wind. It's a scary proposition. It's not stable at high speed. And and then you get into some of the technology that it has things Asian.
It's like I can't believe this car that costs this much doesn't have these basic creature comforts or technology comforts. But it doesn't.
But then after a month or two of driving it, you will start to what I call it the GX magic will appear. You will start to feel it. This is a subtle car. It has a just a beautiful personality in my opinion, but it's subtle. It doesn't strike you on day one. Takes a bit, but once you you feel that you feel what's special about these cars, it's going to be very hard to get into anything else. Unless you're going into an LX, which is kind of the next level up from this. Heads up on that because once you drive a GX and get used to it, you get into any other car, no matter how nice it is, you'll just feel it fragile, weak, not well built. This thing, even with all its drawbacks, it's built like a tank. That that's the feeling you get when you drive it. You go over bumps. This is this is something Mrs. Caran says. When you go over bumps in this car, you're not worried about the car. You're worried about the bumps getting hurt. That's how it feels. This is literally the feeling when you drive a GX.
However, there is the truth. The truth have to be said. What do you say, Jose? Jose says, "Yes, we have to say the truth. Mrs. Carot will never hear the end of this." But she loves her GX. So, here are the things you need to know getting into a GX.
It's not fast. And if you manage manage to get it to go fast, you will slow down automatically. The things is super wobbly. You get into high speeds, it'll just start shaking and throwing itself left and right. That is how they are. They're not meant for the high speed. That's one thing you got to keep in mind. And the second thing is the only way to get good gas mileage out of this car is to shut it off and not drive it. That's the only way. Just if that is, you know, I will hyper mile it and I will get good gas mileage and you see some folks post pictures. I got 20 m per gallon and got 22. Yeah. Let's just say no. You are lucky if you get 15 16 realistically mix some city more city driving you're down to 13. That's just how this works. So if you have any ideas of this thing getting good gas mileage it just doesn't exist. So get that that if that is a priority move on. Don't buy one cuz you will be very upset.
Second thing is the uh premium gas situation and this is a neverending debate on between community of owners and whatnot. Let's settle that debate and I'm just going to give you my humble opinion. What is the point of you buying this which is a luxury car and then cheaping out? Cheping out with the most basic thing which is the gas. I mean, when you put regular gas in this, you're still going to get horrible gas mileage. If you're worried about the expense of gas, you bought the wrong car to begin with. So, don't cheap out on the gas. That's the bottom line. Things hungry. It's going to it's going to cost you a small fortune in fuel. No matter what you do, just put the right gas in it. That's that's the thing. You put the right gas in this, yes, it's going to cost you more, but you put regular cost gas, it's going to cost you a lot more. and repairs later. Although folks will disagree on this, that's okay. And it's still going to cost you a small fortune in gas because things hungry. Just put premium fuel. If that's a deal breaker, don't buy this car. That's all I'll tell you, folks.
The Lexus GX is a car you buy, buy it, right? Buy the right one. Keep it for a very long time until it just doesn't make sense or you just can't stand looking at it anymore. Although usually owners never feel that way. This should be the mentality going into the GX. If you are a person into technology and latest and the greatest, the gizmos and the features, and there's nothing wrong with that. Everybody has their priority. Walk away from this. You're not going to like it. Things ancient. Mrs. Carrot calls this car the dinosaur because it is a dinosaur. It's very old. But you know what? It's good old because it has no drama, no fuss. Everything is ancient. They changed nothing from 2010 till 2023. Just the stuff you see. But behind the scenes, they changed nothing. Even the common problems, they fixed nothing. That's the God honest truth, folks. So, you need to know this stuff before getting into one.
So, what is the best GX to buy? What is the best year, the best trim, best everything to buy? Here's Let's start with the with the most important thing. In 2025, if you're shopping for a GX 460 14 and up, play it safe. Some folks will disagree that they own the 2010 to 2013, and I get it. But if you want to play it safe, buy a 14 and up because things are definitely a little bit improved on these. If you want the best version of the car that has the best technology-wise, not everything else, just technology-wise, 22 and 23. And if you want to buy the sensible GX 460, the one that is the least likely to break the bank, whatever you do, don't buy a luxury. That's all I'm going to tell you. And if you you're not sure where is this a luxury, if you're new into these, if you look at the back window, the corer glass, there's a trim. If it goes all the way around, it's a luxury. If it doesn't, then it's not. That's the easiest way to tell them from far away, of course, other than the options and everything.
If you want captain's chairs, which in my opinion, this is an important thing. When we bought this, easier access third row, although you do lose a seat, but you know, everybody has their preference. 17 and up cuz these are the only ones that have it. If you buy a luxury, you need to know shocks are very expensive. That's just the way it is. And if you get into the newer luxury, they have larger wheels and like this one with the sport package, tires are going to be more expensive. That's another consideration. If you really want to play it safe, or you're buying this exclusively to take it on camping trips, go off-road and whatnot, buy the base model. That's actually the best one to go off-road with. Doesn't have the air suspension, doesn't have the fancy adjustable suspension. The only problem is you lose some of the off-road features like the crawl and mountain select. You'll only find these in the upper trims. However, just hint, you can easily add these, just do some research online. Just buy a switch, buy a little computer, install them. Now you have them. So, small hint from me, if you really want the off-road rig, get the base model. Don't buy the luxury. As the name suggest, it is a luxury version of it. Yeah, the air suspension I could see maybe in some uses, but let me just tell you one thing, and Jose will agree with me on this one cuz we've talked about this. The adjustable suspension in the GX does absolutely nothing. You switch it to comfort, you switch it to sport. I mean, it's such a minor change that was this even worth this giant expense to replace these shocks. Honestly, it is. That's the god honest truth. If you own a luxury now and you're watching this video, your shocks go out. You can go and buy base model shocks, but in the rear, you're going to have some issues with the air sus suspension, unless you remove the air suspension, but then at that point, you have luxury to begin with.
And lastly, I want to tell you about the GX. When you're going to buy one, it's going to be very difficult to find a good one. So, you got to spend some time. Be patient. It's worth it. Don't be in a rush. Every owner of a GX will never sell it. You will rarely find them in really good condition with really low miles just available everywhere because if they that was the case uh the owners would hold on to them. So they are hard to find in good shape. You really need to look and look hard and know exactly what you want and go after it. You'll find it eventually but just be patient. They are very desirable trucks and finding a used one in good shape is not as easy as any other car. You walk up and find 10 of them on any lot. and that is the Lexus GX460.
After watching this video, some folks will be very concerned that own one. Wow, this is a lot of problems. Do they really have this many problems? And folks that are shopping for some will say it can't be that bad. It's a folks, all I'll tell you is buy the right GX460 and more importantly take care of it properly, which is that part of taking care of it is not going to break the bank and you will have this truck for a very long time. The biggest break of the bank will be the gas bill because it takes premium and it doesn't get good gas mileage. That part will never change. That is something you need to know going into it. And certain aspects of their repairs as they get older and they have a lot of miles. If you are not willing to deal with some of the high bills, some of the higher like you buy a luxury like we talked about, things are going to get expensive with suspension. But you got to fix it, right? If you're going to go into this on a on a very tight budget and you're you're going to try to find shortcuts and fix things cheap, it's not going to be a good a good experience, just buy another SUV flat out. I'll I'll be honest with you. And the most important thing is you buy the right one. Avoid the early ones. Start your search at 14. If you can't afford 14 and up, then that is not the car to buy because I have seen so many issues concentrated in the first few years. I actually skipped them in 2025 and the later ones. Don't just 14 and up just buy one. You got to watch the frame. You got to watch the engine. Little things that add up very quickly. This is very important that you check the car properly.
And the safest bet, and I'll be honest with you something. This particular car we used here, this is my own personal car. This is a 2023 luxury. This is a 2014 and it belongs to Jose who is standing be behind the camera. It is also a luxury. They both have air suspension and we are fully aware and Jose was the first person. This is a little bit newer. Jose has gone through a full set of suspension here. So, he knows how expensive they are. But he also specifically bought the luxury. Same thing for me. I know what I'm getting myself into. These shocks are very expensive. I get it. and I'm prepared for it. That's was part of my decision. If you don't want to deal with that, don't buy a luxury and then when something goes south, convert it to a non-luxury. It just doesn't make sense. Then why do you buy the luxury? That that's all I'll tell you.
Folks, I hope this video is helpful, informative. I hope you learned something new. If you like it, consider giving a thumbs up. If you're not a subscriber, consider subscribing to the channel. Check out some my other videos. Until the next video, folks. May the Lord bless you and keep you. And you have yourself wonderful.