2008 Lexus IS250 Purchase Review

[@CeeZee001]

Seems like a good find. I bought an 2008 lexus gs350 from a dealer in Feb and it had a blown head gasket they just rigged it up enough to sell. Hindsight I went to the lexus website to run the vin and saw the summer before a record of the car going into the lexus dealer for overheating and tech noted that they saw coolant in oil. Scummy dealer just gave me the AS IS bs... I still drive it, i just don't let it overheat. I'll probably get an engine replacement eventually. I'm just blessed I made 4x the money of the car by now. Thanks for your videos. They helped me fix a hydrolock engine from coolant seeping into the cylinders, just took off plugs and coils and cranked to let the coolant shoot out.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

Dang, was that a Lexus dealer that did that? What year and how many miles did it have? After watching many videos on that topic in the past, mechanics often talk about how coolant leaking into piston chamber burns off all the carbon build up, which supports the idea that if you trickle feed very small amount of water mist slowly through the throttle body while rev-inflation the engine at high RPM (2000) that it actually cleanses carbon build up in pistons. I’m thinking at least you may not have severe oil burning issue as oil ring on piston gets cleaned by the coolant???

[@DIYLifeSkills]

How much coolant do you add over what miles? I guess if it’s just small loss you could still drive for quite some time. Hopefully it’s just small amount of coolant getting burned off so that your oil level is not increasing and the oil is not getting contaminated with coolant.

[@AustinsCoins]

@@DIYLifeSkills A Lexus dealer wouldn't do that

[@KingDrewPhilip]

My friend sold me his 2008 Lexus IS250 in 2020. At the time it had 119,000 miles on it. As of today in late 2023 it has 134,000 miles on the odometer. Pleased having that car as my second car. My main vehicle I drive mostly is a 2018 Toyota Corolla. It’s fun to have options and have that second car. It’s very reliable, and it looks fresh still in 2022 despite its age.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

Two excellent choices. Corolla is good for daily work drive car that puts in lots of miles. IS250 definitely more powerful and gives better performance and ride experience. My son’s 2016 Corolla got totaled so this time we got him the IS250 now that he’s making good bucks working as a cyber security analyst.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

I plan to do lots if maintenance in this car in the near future on things like: trans fluid flush , intake carbon cleaning, spark plug change and piston head carbon cleaning, etc.

[@KingDrewPhilip]

@@DIYLifeSkills in 2021 I actually did a lot of things for my IS. These include: PCV valve replace , MAF sensor replace, brand new OEM suspension, new brakes and tires, brand new OEM water pump and thermostat , new air filter, drain and fill on transmission fluid , fuel induction cleaning to clear carbon on valves, and spark plugs. I think I’m good to go for a while? Oil changes always done on time and one other thing I may need to do is the rear differential fluid.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

@@KingDrewPhilip Great!!! you’ve just listed all the things I have to do. LOL. I think you are good for 50K+ miles. This one has lots of rock chips (like over a hundred) so that’s another work waiting but probably do that in spring once weather warms up.

[@Unplugged704]

I just bought an 11’ IS250 F Sport. 139K, $8800. Dark grey.. still looks great! My son is very happy!

[@DIYLifeSkills]

Wow you did much better than I. I had to rush because son needed the car immediately to drive to work. I’ve got bunch of updates coming so come back and check it out.

[@Unplugged704]

@@DIYLifeSkills Yeah great deal! So many people still refuse to lower their prices, hanging on to market highs! And even some salvage titles still asking for$13-$14K smh!

[@DIYLifeSkills]

@@Unplugged704 This is a such fun car for youngsters. Our kids are spoiled. I only drove a junker when I was young because I paid for my own car and that’s all I could afford at the time. 😂😂

[@Unplugged704]

@@DIYLifeSkills Right! My first car was a $1500 85 Nissan Sentra hand-me-down! 😂😂😂. And I didn’t even care… I had a car! 😂😂

[@thebigcheese6529]

I recently purchased a 2008 Lexus IS250. All was well until I noticed the engine temperature go up high for like just a couple seconds. Well, after I saw that I pulled over right away and refused to drive it anymore. I took it to my mechanic and he said I needed a new water pump. So I changed that and now it drives fine. Now I wonder if water pumps go bad on this car faster than other models? Maybe mine was just due. I don’t know if it was the original water pump in there, but the car has 120k miles so maybe it was finally due for replacement. Anyhow it’s a good car despite that slight scare I had.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

Yeah for this engine the failure point seems to range between 100K to 180k miles

[@DIYLifeSkills]

Check out my GS300 videos, which has same engine as IS250

[@w.7407]

I’m looking for a 2007 or 2008 model but the IS350. It’s very hard to find those because people don’t give those up. I need to ask you, is the 250 a bad car? I heard something about carbon buildup, but I haven’t heard of any of the 250’s dying from that. In other words no engines have met their demise with carbon buildup but it’s something you can easy remedy. But it’s expensive to fix that? Walnut blasting isn’t cheap. Unless there’s another way to fix that? I would totally get a 250 but I’m very very worried about carbon buildup. Is the 250 just not reliable because of carbon buildup alone?

[@DIYLifeSkills]

The carbon build up on IS250 and GS300 were due to GDI design where fuel doesn’t spray to intake valves and carbon builds up there. I cleaned the carbon on intake valves at 115K miles on GS300 which shares the same engine. The car was running fine but I did it so that I can drive it reliably for another 100k miles. Right now my son’s 2008 IS250 drives just fine with no engine issues but I’ll be cleaning carbon on this in the near future.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

If you change oil on schedule with good quality oil, and use top tier fuel you can delay some carbon build up.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

I don’t think it’s something big to worry about. You can pay about 800-1000 to clean the carbon every 100k miles or just do it yourself like I did. First time it took long because I had find exact methods myself but having done it once, I think it’s not a difficult work.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

The people that are having problem are those that ride on old cheap oil too long. The key is change oil every 5K miles and you can delay the carbon build up. Follow my GS300 videos as IS250 has same engine.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

If I was afraid of the carbon build up, I wouldn’t have bought IS250 with 155k miles.

[@30minforasn]

You should dbl check the tranny on these model and year IS. I used to have one with similar miles and the tranny would slip from time to time. I dont think its the transmission itself but ecm/ecu or something inside the oil pan if i can recall.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

For sure. I drove it hard several times to see how everything shifts and this far looks good. Looks like the car never had the trans fluid changed, so I’m gonna do that soon.

[@francisau8003]

@@DIYLifeSkillsHello, its me again, did your IS250’s gearbox run okay after your transmissions fluid change? I got a huge headache with mine in UK with just 140k miles 🙈

[@AustinsCoins]

The radiator cap might be aftermarket, I would replace it anyways even if it was oem due to age.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

When son comes home I’ll compare it to Gs300 radiator cap. Was there known issue with IS250 radiator cap? I’m new to this car.

[@AustinsCoins]

@@DIYLifeSkills No, I don't thinks there was a issue. Oem has a yellow and black warning label on it. It could be just missing that, but your radiator cap also looks newer looking compared to the rest of the engine parts. But even if it was oem, due to age I would just replace. Seals wear out and you just want the cap to pressurize the system good. It's a cheap part and quick to replace, it's one of those why not replace it.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

@@AustinsCoins Yup agree.

[@adamdistortion8810]

He bro, you dont need to do timing chain on these unless you hear major noise or do a headgasket job or somthing. I have a 06 is350 looks just like yours, same color, interior, everything. Very low maintenance cars, just oil every 3 to 5k. Trans and diff fluid every 20 to 50k, and coolant every 50 to 100k. Brakes and brake fluid should be done at same time to keep performance up to par. And tires here n there. Thats all rlly.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

Yeah I’m not I rush for timing chain work but previous owner told me the water pump and thermostat were never replaced so at least those should be replaced.

[@adamdistortion8810]

@@DIYLifeSkills you are right. When i got mine, i had to replace the engine so i did waterpump and thermostat then. But i got a cheap autozone thermostat and the plastic that holds the spring broke. It made the car never come up to temp. Stuck open. So dont buy a cheap one. Got a japanese thermostat and its been fine since.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

@@adamdistortion8810 Yeah I’ll probably go with OEM since it’s good for next 10 years.

[@anh2bonsai78]

👍😍😁

[@DIYLifeSkills]

Do you drive IS250 also? 😀

[@Re1nTs]

Why timingchain replacement?

[@DIYLifeSkills]

I see conflicting info on whether they should be replaced or not. Should I keep it as is?

[@smamq]

@@DIYLifeSkills Ya I thought only the 2006 & older GS had the timing chain problem. I do know of the water pump issue with this generation IS & GS though, something I should probably get done on my GS

[@Re1nTs]

@@DIYLifeSkills if u dont have any rattles then keep,toyota/lexus timingchains are pretty much lifetime. When vvti gears rattle,most change only gears. The chain has timing marks with colours,if then colour is nice then the chain is good.

[@DIYLifeSkills]

@@Re1nTs Grwat to know. Saves me a bunch of work and money. :-)

[@DIYLifeSkills]

@@smamq my 2006 GS300 water pump is replaced but this one needs to be done.