phillipin

Hey people, im purchasing a ls400 in the next 7-10 days or so. My brother just bought my car http://www.cardomain.com/ride/369666 and i have wanted an ls4 for a while now. I even wanted one before i knew just how damn good they are. So i decided to pick up one of the yakuza mobiles myself.

The issues i know to look for are
***check power steering
- check for ps leaks and smoke when lock to lock
- valve is about 70 bucks
- pump replacement is a few hundred
***air ride suspension
- for me this is just a no go i wont buy one with it
- makes it a B**** to lower the ls
***a/c display
-295 to remanufacture it
***engine tick noise
- valve adjust or cylinder 5 or 7 lifters are bad

Things that will probably need to be replaced
-most or all suspension bushings
-struts and springs (kyb gr2 and eibach)
-yota type 4 atf fluid replacement
-diff and engine oil replacement
-a/c recharge

Besides the usuall maintance stuff what LS specifics should i look out for. Their are a plethora for 90-92's available in souther california where i am located. Their are over 40 available at the moment on autotrader for under 10k. So i definitely should be able to pick out a clean one.

Any input is appreciated.

Macc

Some minor things I can think of:

Interior rear view mirror coating coming off

Hood struts (autozone has a cheap fix)

gas tank door release (easy spring fix, but I got the dealer to deduct $100 for this)

trunk release

front cup holder hinges

probably will need to replace subwoofer as it gets baked in the sun, check the other speakers too, BTW not sure why but one 1990 LS4 I knew of had problems with the radio after it got washed, as it dried prob's went away

of course, leather condition

front bumper paint flaking

moonroof leaks

window controls

you mentioned maintenance...see if there are records on the timing belt and water pump being replaced; I had to do the ATF change you mentioned to solve the acceleration vibration

the only rust problems I have seen was when the LS4's had been in accidents

I hope it works out for you. I really like my '92 LS4.

phillipin

I have waited a little longer than i wanted too, but their are just so many ls400's available in southern california. Way to many. it seems all the ls' that i see at dealerships look clean but if you really go over the car you can see that they almost all have indications of minor accidents.

im now scoping out the private sellers in the richer part of orange county, people who have 10k in lexus mantaince over the years. So many great cars... grrr makes it so hard to pic. Grr im sick of driving my oher backup car a 1990 corolla.... i'm 6'4 for gods sake i need the lex

DoubleWhoosh

Good luck man, I shopped last week for a 90-92 LS and all I got was people so proud of their cars, when I drive miles and miles to get there I'm standing there PO'd just thinking, "WHERE THE HECK IS THE CAR YOU DESCRIBED TO ME???" Yeah where is that one that was always garaged and you bought it from the original owner not too long ago. This is certainly not that car!

OC is definitely the place to look though, you can probably find a 1 owner one with anything from 50 to 100K but in mint condition. I have one customer with a 90 and a 92, both are as if they rolled off the new lot yesterday, so they are definitely out there. I can already tell you that around 5000 will be the threshold of the clean ones, as mentally there is a barrier that people think their car is worth more than. Anything in the 4000's-down becomes a serious crapshoot, and it just goes downhill quickly from there. If you are looking to spend 6k+, you should have no problem finding something in like-new condition, inside and out.

I had a pearl white 90 for 3200 in Santa Monica with 80K original miles and a bad air suspension, but the guy tells me to pick it up the next day. The next day he wants 3800 because he said someone outbid me...whatever. I'm like ummmm I already came last night cash in hand and YOU were the one that wasn't ready. That guy was a complete jackhole who thought the car was worth 7K.

Only 2 days of searching for a Gen2 and got a Blackberry Pearl '96 (wanted black but this color is actually pretty nice). As far as shopping goes, I decided the 95+ would be in better condition for the most part (since they're newer of course), as the aggravation of looking at 90-94 POSs was beginning to become a waste of time and many dollars in gas!

Already did all the fluids and full service, now its off to the body shop to color sand it, get a couple dings out and redo the bumpers, should be pretty good after that, as the interior is fully in A+ condition. Not bad ended up getting it for under 8K and shouldn't end up spending much more than 500-700 total on stuff I need to do to it.

Some pretty clean ones at decent prices are at A-Professional in Anaheim, Universal Auto in Studio City, and some here and there on them used lots on Bolsa in GG. The Universal Auto place has quite a few, I know one guy there if you find anything of interest. Some of the ones at these smaller lots are very clean and fully competitive with private party pricing, you just have to know what you are looking for so you don't get snowed over. Sometimes private party pricing is ridiculous as these morons think their cars are made of gold or something. One guy kept telling me his car was worth more than the blue book price because the mileage was not that high. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......................

Touch up/spot paintwork isn't necessarily a bad thing if it's done right, but that's the key, to find someone who would do that kind of work correctly!

Used car purchasing is a lot of work to find what you want at the price you want, but if you can do it it's pretty satisfying if you can get the right car at the right price.

phillipin

Well i just picked up a 90 black ls4 for 4900, has 137k but runns earily smooth. Ive already done my first newbie move and tryed to start the car when it was already started. The guy who owned was a realtor and has all the mantaince records. This is a very very clean and well taken cre of car. It does 80 like nothin.

This week i plan on taking care of all the routine mantaince. Damn going from a corolla to this thing is such an improvement and such a hit on gas hahaha but i love it.

LEXkid

welcome aboard! I only recently joined the club myself and trying to start the engine twice must be a common mistake hehe.

its crazy how smooth these beasts are! i just need to change my oil now and give her a clean.

what colour is your interior?

phillipin

Ill post pictures when i get home, its black exterior with tan leather intior

http://images.autotrader.com/images/..._A.562x421.jpg

http://images.autotrader.com/images/..._A.562x421.jpg


This is the car that i bought but these are the crappy photos from the autotrader ad from the guy who sold it to me.