SammyRed

Just wanted to say hi and quickly introduce myself to your wonderful club forum. I bought myself a beautiful white/silver 1994 LS400 about 5 weeks ago. Every day since, I've fallen more and more in love with this amazing vehicle with it's V8 power and amazingly tight suspension. Sure it has a lot of little issues that need to be fixed, but that's ok... I stole this immaculately clean ride for only $1200. No scratches, no dents... the previous owner took great pride in washing, waxing and regular maintenance.

Thanks to this awesome Lexus Owner Club and website I have figured out that fixing the "little inherent issues" (dashboard cluster, interior control lighting and driver seat adjustment) are an inexpensive and relatively quick/easy fix.

THANK YOU ALL for your input and advice!

Proud to be drivin' a Lexus,
Sam

YoshiMan

Welcome aboard! Got any pictures of the new wheels?

SammyRed

No Pics yet, but I'll post a few shortly as I was able to fix dash/tach/temp/fuel lighting issue yesterday with the help of these forums! THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP... U GUYS/GAILS ROCK!

LScowboyLS

how is everyone in here getting these immaculate LS400's for $1200?? - whenever I go looking at them, they are $5000 or $7000 or $9000!!!

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Congrats on the LS

Show us some pics, always want to see clean LS's still on the roads.

peterls

It's a bit of everything: first of all geography. I find that Los Angeles is cheaper than some other places in CA. Also, in LA you may find a Lexus that was owned by someone who did not mind taking it to a dealer for everything; some other places, such as San Diego, you'll need good luck finding a good car that is also inexpensive.

But above all, I would say, it is how fast you are. I have seen cars appear and disappear from Craiglist within 30 minutes tops. There are these used cars buyers/sellers running around with smart phones and live updates of newest posts on CL, with cash in their pockets and if they see a good deal (and you really have to learn how to read the posts to be able to tell), they call immediately, promise cash in 10-20 minutes and drive there like maniacs to make sure they ****** the car before anyone even sees the ad. In metro areas such as LA or SF, if you see a good deal and it was posted hours ago, it usually means one of two things: it is not as good as it sounds (some dealer already saw it and gave up), or it was sold but ad was not removed yet.

I had two cars snatched from me due to a hard working used car salesman getting there seconds before me. Then they just turn around and post the same car on CL for much more, or sell it on their lot.

SammyRed

The guy I bought my LS from has had it for 18-19 years. I've been bugging him for the last five years to sell it to me and he always shot me down. He finally decided it was time to get a vehicle that was born in this millennium and gave me first crack at the LS. When I said above that it was in immaculate condition, I was referring to the body and paint. It's got plenty of interior electrical and mechanical issues. He felt guilty selling me the car with so many issues. That and the fact he knew I would take care of it/fix it up again... he gave me a great deal.

Love a good project,
Sam

dc893

Welcome to the club. When I was living in Grand Forks a few years ago it seemed hard to find any of these cars for sale. Had to settle for a Caddy Deville.

Yamae

Hi, SammyRed. As the next project, I suggest you to do the ECU capacitors change as you have done for the cluster capacitors and enjoy one more crazy happy-dance there in ND.

May be you can wait some more time until the warmer season comes and also you can compare the differences of the engine and AT's performances of before and after. I'm sure you will be amazed at the result. The detail is written by LScowboyLS here at the Forum.

YoshiMan

My LS was pretty much the same story. Outside looked perfect, and inside was in very good shape except for some minor wear on the seats, but it had alot of mechanical problems, which likely scared the prior owner into selling it when he saw how much it was going to cost to get them fixed! Doing the work yourself can make all the difference

SammyRed

I read all of LScowboyLS's thread... guess I should through him a thanks too! I'm not having any of the described sysmtems yet, but I would like to replace those capacitors before they make a mess of the curuit board. Definately a spring/summer project!

Thanks again everybody,
Sam