saforo

I have an opportunity to buy a 95 ls400 with a 99 ls400 engine with 35000 miles on it for $5500. The body /interior is in good shape but the story of why the engine switch took place seems kind of fishy. Under what stipulations should I take the deal i.e take it to a dealership and have the whole thing checked out, carfax, non-salvage title, etc. or should I just pass on the deal? Any advice would be helpful. Just found out that the 99 engine was from a roll over wreck, but I can go check out the 99 If I want to to match the vin.

lspower

hmm i dunno but w/ that nice swap u have an OBD-1 car w/ an OBD-2 motor not to metion w/ vvti... hmm kinda interesting. im guessing it runs sounds like a sweet find. thats quite interesting

id research a little. what ecu does it have? hmm..

LexAnt

iTrader: (2)

wouldn't they have to have swapped in the 99 ecu too to work with the engine along with the tranny? if they did that, that's a steal at that price imo... well in terms of if you are going to modify it.....

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Sounds too good, I'd be very cautious. I dunno, what kind of mileage does it take to get a '95 down to a $5,500 value? I'd ask, "Why is this engine in here to begin with?" I suspect it has well above 200K miles and/or was likely a salvage. All kinds of different scenarios come to mind.

lexusondubs

iTrader: (9)

yes id have it fully check by the dealer and have all the numbers run including the numbers on the engine before going any further with it

MRLEXO

for 5 g's i'd take the chance. that's a steal! but take it to the dealer just to be careful.

saforo

Just checked the mileage on it... 167,000. I'm getting that price because my friend owns a small car dealership, I do work for him at no charge, in exchange I can use his dealer id number as a dealer rep at the auction. So you guys think If I take it to the lexus dealership and everything seems to check out I should go for it?

update: Tried to start the car and it starts fine initialy, but then dies a second later, the dealer(my friend) says he'll fix this and still give me the same price... So wadaya think?

lspower

95 ls400 OBD2 hmm news to me 95 es's are obd1 right? and same w/ 95 sc400/300 right?

maf, battery, or alternator are my guesses