drs23

Vehicle in question is my wife's '97 LS400 with 167k on the clock. I logged on to search for answers as to why her heater doesn't work any longer. After following advise found in several helpful threads I got to the root of the problem which is blown head gaskets. I'v got all the parts coming including TB & WP as well as dist. caps, rotors, well the whole nine yards.

On my way to work I spotted another LS400 in a park-n-sell lot locally. In talking to the owner I got her version of it's history which I have no real reason to doubt. It's a '99 w/140k. It's white over silver (not pearl like my wife's is) with immaculate interior, new tires, receipts for new WP, TB, PSP & drive belt, battery and service which was (by a stroke of luck) done at a buddy's shop so it was easy to verify. She's asking $5500. The thing that concerns me is that it was wrecked two years ago. The owner's daughter was turning into a local grocery store and was rear ended. The right rear quarter panel, bumper & trunk lid was replaced in lieu of being straightned/repaired.

This is where I find myself on the fence. I've read several posts about folks that have parted their cars out. I'm seeking opinions/advise on what folks would do in my situation. I have all the replacement parts either in hand or in transit totaling roughly $600ish and a car mechanic buddy lined up to hold my hand during the repair process.

This is what I find myself weighing:

Pros:
1) Wife's car has never been wrecked and we know the history beyond any doubt.

2) Have all the parts here or coming and an excellent mechanic to assist

3) Will be like new again with many trouble free miles ahead when completed

Cons:

1) That's a HELLAVA LOT OF WORK!

2) The car will be down until it's completed. She'll be driving my truck and I'll be riding my motorcycle during the brunt of winter here. (Feb & 1st part of March)

3) I'm a Harley mechanic not a Lexus mech though as mentioned I do have a buddy who'll be on site while I'm doing the job lending a guiding hand. I just would feel awful if after completing the job I hit the key and find I've wankered something somewhere deep inside and have to go back in.

Last stanza of this marathon post. How much of the $5500 purchase price of the '99 could I expect to recoup by parting out the '97 and is the market strong enough that I wouldn't have a problem flipping the parts?

Thanks

SpencerT

It is alot of work but if your having a mechanic do the work it shouldnt take longer than a few days so you will be off the bike pretty quick.

but if you choose not to fix it, 5500 sounds pretty good for the 99 and you should be able to get some of that back with a part out.

The market is not that strong due to the rarity of the car but you should be able to get close to 1000 depending on the condition.

Brakes will sell first for about 100
interior will sell if the leathers good. For about 400, more if you take the time to sell all the leather pieces.
various engine and electronic will sell but more slowly totaling a few hundred.
you can return or sell the new parts you bought.
Then finally you can scrap the remainder for a few hundred.

drs23

Thanks for responding SpencerT. I would have thought the part out would have generated considerably more. Should have mentioned in the OP that my wife's front seats are a little long in the tooth. That's on the replace/repair list after the engine work.

SpencerT

Part out probably will bring in more as I just listed a few things that would sell quickly.

It all depends on how long you want to have a semi parted out car in your driveway and how many different places you try and sell the parts

Yotarip

My question is, what evidence do you have that points to a headgasket. That's not a typical issue with these engines.

LScowboyLS

I cannot recommend ever buying a previously wrecked car, it doesn't matter how it was fixed, even if no expense was spared, the reliability, which is the reason you buy a Lexus in the first place, is forever gone after a hard impact, even the reliability of systems on the opposite end of the car - sit tight and wait on a deal on a never wrecked 98-00

PS - I agree with Yotarip - a head gasket should never fail on a 97, unless someone did something really dumb and grossly overheated it by running it with no water etc. there are LS400's all over the place with 300K miles on their original head gasket, I have never heard of one failing in this model of Toyota!

drs23

Losing coolant. You can smell it and watch it drip from the exhaust as well as watch the steam roll out after it warms up. I work 7 miles from my house. After a 14 mile round trip I have to refill the reservoir. Also my ace mechanic buddy said that's what it was. I understand it's not common but it's not unheard of either. All of this started when my wife advised me that the temp needle registered hot in stop and go traffic and shortly after the weather turned cold and the heater wouldn't work which is another indicator.

I followed a thread and then started one about no heat and one thing lead to another. I still think I'm going to have the heater issue to deal with after this. Then driver and passenger seats, then paintless dent repair. A whole big laundry list.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

I would just swap the motor out for a salvaged one and call it a day, will be significantly cheaper than rebuilding the motor in the car and (in my opinion) more reliable than just slapping new headgaskets on the old motor.

Something else to consider is that you wouldn't be allowed to part your vehicle out on this forum as you don't come close to meeting the requirements to do so. Parting out a relatively niche vehicle like an LS is a long-term prospect, i've seen guys part out complete S13s in DAYS because demand from the (far larger) 240sx community is ridiculous, but for the LS you should probably budget months...

Yotarip

PD beat me to it.
I've swapped 1uz's into two of my cars.The motor and complete electrical harness can be pulled in one complete unit without cutting anything. It would be much easier to get a good used motor with correct harness and drop it in.

Plus, if you put significant miles on the the car with a bhg, you could have caused damage to the bearings. You may be successful with the headgasket repair, only to result in rod knock a few weeks later. Coolant + oil is not a good thing.

drs23

I understand that the posting requirement is 30 IIRC what the pop up said. Is that indeed correct? As far as taking months to flip the parts, it wouldn't be overly taxing on my part I don't think. If I were to go that route my mechanic's brother has a salvage yard and that's where I would be doing the work. He said he could list them on the nationwide search program that he belongs to. I do all the work on his motorcycle so we'd barter it out like that.

How would I know for sure what I'm getting when purchasing a junkyard engine? How would I be assured of "getting a good used motor with correct harness"? To the bolded above, there's no water/coolant in the oil at all. Oil is crystal clear as is the underside of the filler cap. It just drips and steams from the exhaust. This being said, the bearings/caps should be cool, huh?

Thanks for the replies and this fantastic forum.

LScowboyLS

are you certain you don't have an intake gasket leak, or throttle body leak, idle air control valve coolant leak, etc.?

coolant in the exhaust is not automatically a blown head gasket, and I am having my doubts, since this just isn't a failure area on LS400

please do a compression check on all 8 cylinders, and also examine all 8 plugs, a real blown head gasket situation will typically have "steam cleaned" one of the plugs and it will look very different from the others

drs23

Thanks for insisting. Benny (my mech buddy) is bringing his pressure tester by the shop after he gets off. Going to pressure test the system, do a compression test and of course we'll be able to check the plugs at that time.

You mention a "steam cleaned plug". Wouldn't that also mean water in the oil since it's in the combustion chamber?

I do absolutely want to nail down exactly what the problem is before is start scattering an engine "***** nilly" for sure.

LScowboyLS

almost always not, the oil control rings do a good job and all of the steam tends to exit out the exhaust valves (they get cleaned too!)

a small amount of coolant can be getting into the oil and you wouldn't know it, because it is boiled out over time at engine crankcase operating temperatures, through the PCV valve.

drs23

Thanks for the reply. As mentioned, Benny's coming by tomorrow now instead of this evening and we're going to do a pressure test and compression test on all the holes. We'll get to the bottom of this. I'm very grateful for you guys responses. It's sure saved me a ton of work and worry. I'm confident we'll get to the bottom of this.

Also thanks to PD and Yotarip for the engine exchange suggestion. I found this place where I can get an engine for $780 guaranteed to have 50k or less miles with a 6 month warranty. If this thing does end up having blown HGs that will certainly be the route I go. That's less than $200 more than the rebuild parts cost! That's insane!

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/whe...-for-sale.html