UTA LS

I should be picking up a 93 LS400 with 116k miles on Friday and I had a few questions about it. Mostly things like, when do the transmissions usually wear out. I am a college student lookin for a nice car to drive and I don't want ot have to put a new transmission in it 4,000 miles from now. I need to ask when the timing belt and other items were replaced last before I do buy it, however it appears to be a clean well taken care of car.

I've been lurking around this web site for a while now to see if there are any major problems with these cars and can't find anything on transmission life. It would be greatly appreciated if you could provide me with some idea of mileage when it is well taken care of.

Horta

Welcome to the club!!

You will love you 98. I recommend you get the vin drive to your local Lexus dealer and meet the Service manager. Tell him that your planning on buying the car and have it serviced by them. Ask if he would mind running the service history for you. Specify you don't need to see it or get a copy but just his blessing that it WAS properly "Dealer Maintained" and that it has had all required work done for that mileage. If he is half way nice and you present the questions right he should have no problem doing it for you. It takes him seconds and cost nothing.

Depending on what you get from him then next step if run a carfax. There you can see how many owner, was it a lease car, was it in any accidents, when it was put into service (Oct 1997 or Sept 1998) plus and accidents.

After you find all this out we can give you more help.

In theory you should have nothing to do until 120k miles and it would be like a 30k service which is $200 some at the dealer or less at some independents.

Jerry

GRAND_LS 4

iTrader: (2)

The tranny is no problem on these cars... your getting a sold car

Lexkost

UTA LS, As for the trans. take it to the dealer and have them do a flush and fill...............I had mine done at the local Toyota dealer and it was $118 and then every 15,000 do just a drain and fill, and it will last forever.

SharpLS-96

Looks like he's getting a 93 and not a 98 LS like the thread stated.

UTA LS

Yeah, sorry about that. It was a typo. I wish I could have afforded a 98, but I do not have the funds to afford that car. There is nothing wrong with the 1st generation of the LS series, just a little dated in my opinion. Since I am a college student I do not have the largest source of cash right now to get a car, that's why I searched for quite a while to find a nice clean 93-94 LS and should be picking it up tomorrow, assuming the gauge cluster gets back.

I'm also going to immediately dive into the VIP scene. Going to look at a set of Simmons OM 18" wheels for it next weekend. If they fit right then I'll purchase them. I should have just enough cash left over to be able to do this purchase, I feel that the wheels are tasteful without going over the edge.

hlovepenn

I live in Dallas and am on my second LS400. Since you are in school, if you are the least bit handy, you can save yourself a bunch of money by doing a lot of the service yourself. E.g., change your oil for under $10.00 and change the transmission fluid for about 1/4 what the dealer will charge you! My first LS400 had 219,000 on it when I sold it last month and should be ready for anothr 100,000 at least. I have never had any trouble with the transmission. I would suggest that when you need to replace the air filter, check on the web and get a $50.00 K&N air filter. It will last forever and gives you about 10 HP or so. Your insurance will be a lot cheaper with the LS400, also, but you should shop around for the best deal. Let me know if you need any other help. Good luck--you're getting a great car!