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I am trying to buy an used car. I found a 1995 Lexus ES 300 that is Interesting and I liked the way it drives. I had a mechanic do an inspection of the car. He mentioned that a major issue in the car is that it has heavy sludge built up in and around the engine.
How important is the issue of sludge in the engine.
On an average, how much $ it would take to fix this...
I'd avoid the car unless you intend to replace the engine....cause that's where it's going. The Toyota 3.0 is a sludge maker and catastrophic failures are well documented. The issue is with a faulty design and there is no cure. Toyota designed the cam bearings at the front of the head to be cooled by the oil alone. Sludging and coking are common in this location. As the sludge builds, it causes the bearings to bind and the cam breaks off at the front bearing. Toyota at one time was quietly replacing these engines but decided screw the owners and stopped. My brother has had 2 of these replaced for this reason. Synthetic oil buys you nothing in this case and neither does any kind of engine flush. It's a design defect with no cure.
It's not a good sign. By "in the engine", what did he mean? In the oil filler cap? All Toyota 1MZ engines are sludged up there because the filler has a baffle in it, and that prevents it from getting washed by circulating oil, just a bit of a film of oil now and again, and crankcase gases. If the mechanic opened up a part of the engine like the valve cover(s), and saw sludge, that is not good at all.
The 95 ES300 is actually a great car, one of Toyota's best, IMO, along with the 1st gen Avalon (95-99). Strong engine, strong transmission, very long life. But, the 1MZ engine was known for sludge, and even well-meaning owners who did routine maintenance at suggested intervals, had problems. There was a large service campaign for that engine in later models (starting in 97, IIRC). You can google it and find out a pile of info. I don't know how that affects the 05s. The problem could be largely avoided by following more frequent oil change intervals and using synthetic oil. But many people did neither. Serviced properly, the engine is very strong.
Potentially, the sludge issue, depending on severity, could require a new engine at some point. Or, it might not. It's a gamble.
Stay away from this car..... I would move on right away.
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