Dylroberts

Good evening,

I currently have a 2000 LS400, one of the last I believe and have been thinking about upgrading to something newer and more modern. I found a well priced 2006 LS430 in my area and have been seriously considering it. The car has 79,000 miles on it, I visited it and fell in love instantly. The salesman told me he was not sure if the timing belt had been replaced yet. I was curious, coming from the 400's if the 430 has any big ticket issues that should be taken care of quickly. I know the 400's have the common power steering leak issue which I have experienced etc. What are some of the things on the 430 I should be looking out for? It is not an ultra luxury model if that helps. I have spent probably close to $7000 in maintenance and repairs on the 400; strut rods and bushings, timing belt service, regular oil changes, new radiator etc etc...

I know this was the last year of the 430 before the 460's came out so I assume most of the kinks the early 430's had were worked out but what should I look out for or consider in general for this particular car.

I'd really appreciate some feedback.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

05 and 06 are pretty much as good as they get. I like the design and features of the 460 but I am not impressed with the drop in reliability and cost of repair. I will pick up a low mileage 06 when my 04 starts to feel it's age but I only have 134k on my 04.

TB / WP is the same as the 400. Lower control arm bushings, door lock actuators, and some other minor suspension components are fairly common. Nothing big ticket. I absolutely love my LS430 coming from my 99 LS400. Bushing you can buy from Lexus and the actuator motors are like $11 on Amazon or Ebay. You don't have to buy the whole assembly from Lexus for like $500.

LS430inDE.

Is it a dealer selling it? See if you can get a complete printout of the service records. If you know the VIN, you can enter it onto the lexus owners website and view the service history if/when the dealership entered it, and if/when the owner entered it too.

Probably the biggest ticket item is the air suspension repair on the Ultras, but like you said, you don't have it.

There aren't a lot of big ticket items on these cars, however, my mind jumped to the tilt/telescoping steering wheel, which seems to become flaky with use/age. I have an 05 with 134k on the clock and some days the (automatic) telescoping works fine when starting the car. Other days I need to extend the telescope manually.

Another possible flake-out are the folding mirrors. I've only experienced the problem a couple times but that was because ice build-up, no fault of the car. I probably should disable the folding option during freezing weather anyway. Related to the side view mirrors is possible issue of them not automatically tilting down when you put the transmission in reverse. (The mirror adjustment switch must be in L or R, not the center detent, for the automatic mirror tilt-down on reverse option to work.) Sometimes it can be fixed by cleaning the contacts on the side view mirror adjustment switch.

One other possible flaky item for this generation model is the Mark Levinson audio system. Others have complained about speakers/sub-woofer/amp going bad, hence, horrible sounding audio. Knock on wood, my audio sounds delightful even at very loud volumes. If you haven't yet, test drive the LS you have your eyes on, and play some music loudly .

Maybe, if the salesguy permits, ask to see the underside as it's lifted in the air and see if there's anything wet? I have no leaks what-so-ever.

Relating to waterpump & timing belt, I had my plugs & TB and water pump and also an idler/tensioner pulley done at the same time, around 100k. I could hear a 'bad ball bearing' sort of sound, more pronounced in very humid/wet weather. After getting the work done, the 'bad ball bearing sound' was gone.

Finally, you must upload to the Club, a minimum of 5 pics of the LS, within 72 hours of purchase. Good luck to you!