Need opinions on the fate of our LS400
02-18-17, 03:32 PM
#32
Thanks Jim, I logged on this morning thinking I might upload some pics and you beat me to it. I've always liked this car but it might be with the wrong owner. The rust is on the RR just behind the tire. To be honest, yesterday was the first day I noticed it and I wanted to be sure to include pics of all the warts. As for being dirty, this is February in Wisconsin and I stopped cleaning my kids cars years ago. My daughter will only clean the trunk deck when she scores another sticker. Besides, I have no way to get it near a hose.
Besides frequenting too many beer gardens, she commutes to graduate school and works crazy hours on weekends at hospitals. It was great when she was a UW undergrad, commuting a couple miles to a part time job and beating around campus. Now she has a daily 15 mile r/t to school and 40 mile r/t to work she drives more than anyone else in the family. There's no escaping the fact that a high mileage car risks reliability. This may not be the right car for her anymore. I'm not thrilled that she's taken over my Denali but I still have access to it when I need a Home Depot run.
I see my options as follows:
1) Pay to have it fixed and keep. See above, will probably end up selling anyway but I haven't yet ruled this out.
2) Take it home and repair myself. I have 2 bikes apart and I actually enjoy working on those. Same issue as above w/r/t keeping it but my wife has softened on this idea.
3) Pull the battery, stereo, unused and perfect rim and newer front tires and let a bone yard have it. Not my favorite option.
4) There's a mechanic student kicking the tires as we speak. I'm certain he only intends to fix, detail and flip.
5) Find someone who is passionate about these with more time on their hands than I have. That's what I am doing here.
Hope this makes better sense to those suggesting I might be nuts although I've never actually denied that. The shop owner where it is parked will let me keep it there for a while so I am no longer feeling any pressure to decide. I don't want to push my luck and ask to use his hose to detail it.
-Carl
Besides frequenting too many beer gardens, she commutes to graduate school and works crazy hours on weekends at hospitals. It was great when she was a UW undergrad, commuting a couple miles to a part time job and beating around campus. Now she has a daily 15 mile r/t to school and 40 mile r/t to work she drives more than anyone else in the family. There's no escaping the fact that a high mileage car risks reliability. This may not be the right car for her anymore. I'm not thrilled that she's taken over my Denali but I still have access to it when I need a Home Depot run.
I see my options as follows:
1) Pay to have it fixed and keep. See above, will probably end up selling anyway but I haven't yet ruled this out.
2) Take it home and repair myself. I have 2 bikes apart and I actually enjoy working on those. Same issue as above w/r/t keeping it but my wife has softened on this idea.
3) Pull the battery, stereo, unused and perfect rim and newer front tires and let a bone yard have it. Not my favorite option.
4) There's a mechanic student kicking the tires as we speak. I'm certain he only intends to fix, detail and flip.
5) Find someone who is passionate about these with more time on their hands than I have. That's what I am doing here.
Hope this makes better sense to those suggesting I might be nuts although I've never actually denied that. The shop owner where it is parked will let me keep it there for a while so I am no longer feeling any pressure to decide. I don't want to push my luck and ask to use his hose to detail it.
-Carl
02-18-17, 05:51 PM
#33
Moderator
Around 100K miles is not high miles for this car lol. I drive to school 25 miles there and 25 miles back almost every day. This car is awesome, and everything still works. The only time I had to dump money in the car was when I bought it due to its maintenance being delayed. Now everything is done on time. Only other issue I had was my power steering leaking but got that fixed the next day.
02-18-17, 09:26 PM
#34
02-18-17, 10:15 PM
#35
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
02-20-17, 12:23 PM
#36
Racer
If this helps your decision, I just drove to California and back to AZ in one day, 12 hrs of almost nonstop driving, 752 miles and my LS400 didn't miss a beat. AZ and CA had some of the worst rains this past Saturday too, I think I saw 20-30 min of no rain. With SC430 18" wheels and 235/45/18 tires, I averaged 26mpg on regular unleaded, could've easily done 500 miles to a tank but I didn't want to pay CA gas prices so I filled up earlier. Car has 278k miles and I feel its my most reliable car ever, even better than my 93 Accord which I've owned for 14 years.
I would stop thinking in a monetary aspect of seeing how much the KBB value is of the vehicle or how much you could sell it for and think of how reliable the vehicle will be after it has the starter replaced and how many more years of trouble free service it'll give. Any car you buy today will plummet in value the minute you drive it off the lot new, and a used car will most likely need more maintenance to get it up to par anyways, so you're best spending the money in a tried and true solid, reliable car such as the LS400.
I already know the engine and transmission in my 97 are bulletproof for many hundreds of thousands of miles so I didn't hesitate spending money to fix her up when I got her at 253k miles for a DD car that I drove 80 miles a day in, in AZ climates nonetheless. When its 115+ outside I still have confidence driving this car around. You'll be hard pressed to find a driving experience as nice as an LS400 in today's cars unless you spend upwards of 50-60k.
I would stop thinking in a monetary aspect of seeing how much the KBB value is of the vehicle or how much you could sell it for and think of how reliable the vehicle will be after it has the starter replaced and how many more years of trouble free service it'll give. Any car you buy today will plummet in value the minute you drive it off the lot new, and a used car will most likely need more maintenance to get it up to par anyways, so you're best spending the money in a tried and true solid, reliable car such as the LS400.
I already know the engine and transmission in my 97 are bulletproof for many hundreds of thousands of miles so I didn't hesitate spending money to fix her up when I got her at 253k miles for a DD car that I drove 80 miles a day in, in AZ climates nonetheless. When its 115+ outside I still have confidence driving this car around. You'll be hard pressed to find a driving experience as nice as an LS400 in today's cars unless you spend upwards of 50-60k.
02-20-17, 04:43 PM
#37
Moderator
Losiracer makes a good argument. It's a fairly decent car and if she is planning on buying something to drive, she may be money ahead by investing some cash back into the LS.
02-27-17, 07:48 AM
#38
Moderator
Any updates?
02-28-17, 11:47 AM
#40
Clogged cats mean you were running pig rich for a long time. First thing that comes to mind is coolant sensor and ECM. I wouldn't throw money at it until you confirm both of these items working correctly -- running rich enough to destroy both cats with no codes is NOT normal.
02-28-17, 11:59 AM
#41
Lexus Champion
You can pick up CARB-approved cats for under $125, and any muffler shop can weld them in - expect to pay $300-400 to have that done.
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sha4000 (02-28-17)
03-02-17, 12:17 PM
#42
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
In CA and NY, our cars must use CARB-approved cats - they have more precious metal "loading" and have a 5/50 warranty, the same as OEM powertrain warranties on new cars. I had Walker cats, but they are smaller and a little more restrictive than the OEM cats. If I had to do it again, I'd go with Magnaflow. Cats fail when something is wrong with the fuel/ignition systems - these cars are known for the ECU cap issue, but coils/plugs/wires do go bad.
You can pick up CARB-approved cats for under $125, and any muffler shop can weld them in - expect to pay $300-400 to have that done.
You can pick up CARB-approved cats for under $125, and any muffler shop can weld them in - expect to pay $300-400 to have that done.
I offered the LS to the auto tech program at a local high school. If they agree to repair it I will cover the cost of parts. They can either keep it as a donation or return it to me repaired and I will then donate to Rawhide ranch. I do not have the time to tackle this project and after careful consideration we no longer have a need to keep this car.
03-03-17, 12:39 PM
#43
Pole Position
Nice to see there are still some nice people in this world thinking of others. That will help the kids learn and someone will get a good car cheap. I applaud your thinking. I donated my 93 when the junkyard wanted to give me only $100. They were gonna give me a slip for $500 tax write off but I just said "forget about it, I don't need it."
03-10-17, 10:56 AM
#44
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Awesome!!!! Nice to see there are still some nice people in this world thinking of others. That will help the kids learn and someone will get a good car cheap. I applaud your thinking. I donated my 93 when the junkyard wanted to give me only $100. They were gonna give me a slip for $500 tax write off but I just said "forget about it, I don't need it."
Nice to see there are still some nice people in this world thinking of others. That will help the kids learn and someone will get a good car cheap. I applaud your thinking. I donated my 93 when the junkyard wanted to give me only $100. They were gonna give me a slip for $500 tax write off but I just said "forget about it, I don't need it."