Stereorob

My 95 already needs some work and I couldn't afford it but for $400 I just couldn't resist ! It has some issues but I've been wanting another ucf10 so I got it. Car kind of has a sad story behind it though. I got it from a woman in her late 30s that got the car as a graduation present in high school. Yeah, one owner, fully documented too! Anyway she met a guy a few years later, that also had a Ls400 and they were engaged. -no not enthusiasts it was just a coincidence. Anyway he died unexpectedly 4 years ago and she got horribly depressed and she totally let the car go to ****, like TOTALLY let it go, not even changing the oil for a few years. Anyway she drove it till it wasn't drivable anymore and took it to a mechanic. The mechanic said the car has clogged cats and she wanted to throw it away, get a new car, and move on with her life (I actually sold her a new one). Anyway my dealership didn't want it as a trade-in it was so bad, and it wasn't on site anyway so she left with her new Ls460 F-sport. A few days ago she called me out of the blue and told me how much I raved about the old Ls400s, that I had one and that I was a tinkerer , and asked me if I wanted to "adopt" it lol. -for a small fee of $400 I agreed on it site unseen and really had no idea what to expect this thing to look like so after work today I drove over to her mechanics shop wherevthevcar was. Actually it wasn't too bad! It had been smoked in to death, it was filthy dirty and hadn't been washed in a few years, it has some road rash and small dings but nothing major, and it is all there and almost everything still works! It was a mile drive from the shop to my house but it was a fight to keep it running. It can barley move under its own power and is very very tired. The engine idles perfect but as soon as I touch the gas it bogs down and has no power at all. Aside from that, the drivers window is stuck up, the cd changer is jammed, and there is a tear on the passengers seat but all in all it's a okay car. -It took me 20 minutes to go a mile doing 20 in a 45, coughing stalling and sputtering all the way there, but in 60 degree air (yes the AC is perfect lol) the only other issue is the cluster lights are out as is every other interior dome light. So yeah it's a project but the price was right! Anyway I've never had a later ucf10 before. Are the cats easy to fix? I'm in Florida so I'm thinking about just deleting them and going with straight pipe. Ideas?

Stereorob

Interior pic

sayow

Change the coils... had the exact problem with a 93, idled perfect, ran worse than a Yugo. I changed the plugs and wires, repaired all vacuum leaks but still the problem persisted, ZERO power but nice idle.

New coils, new life.

Legender

Congrats on the find... at least you'll know what you'll be doing in your spare time.. lol

Gene01

The cats are quite expensive, and they are of high quality. I would not necessarily take the opinion of the mechanic that they were bad. My recommendation would be to verify that for yourself.

anesthesia

Great fun project to get her running, enjoy and good luck. Keep us gear head posted on what your doing to the car

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Nice that you adopted it. Hope she takes care of her 460.

randal

$400? The rims alone are worth that much. And if it is a rust-free FL car, you just have to fix her up. Congrats.

I have heard that if you look under the car at night after a good 'run' and see a red glowing cat converter, that means a coil is out on that side as suggested by sayow. Due to a very rich mixture of course. Distributor caps and rotors should also be changed as general maintenance.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

Is it throwing codes? It should be if it's running that bad.

peterls

Nice looking car, but looks can be deceiving
Congrats anyway!

Few thoughts: some guy on youtube claims that you can clean almost any cats by adding paint thinner to the gas tank if memory serves me. The thinner should dissolve whatever is in the cats, if they are bad at all (which I doubt).
If the car was a "bad luck" car, perhaps it is best to sell it for parts or in parts - you can probably get a grand if not two grands for it, in parts that is. I am kinda superstitious that way so I would do that, make some money and use that cash to repair your other LS.

Kingsoup

Disconnect the exhaust before the cats and take it for a spin, if power is back, cats are clogged. Depending on your emissions laws perhaps smash them out with a pole and reattach?

Look like a pretty good car that will go to someone who appreciates it, rust free, good shape, nice!

sayow

I have also been told that Berryman's B12 (which might be paint thinner for all i know) will do the same thing.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Do not use paint thinner, lacquer thinner, acetone, etc in the fuel system. These are a bunch of myths and it is more likely to cause issues with the fuel system. If the engine is running reasonably well, all these chemicals will be burned off in the combustion process. If it isn't running well, you have just exposed yourself and any others downwind to some pretty toxic chemicals compounds to breathe in.

The simple way is as Kingsoup mentions. For old exhaust systems breaking the rust-heat frozen bolts will be the more frustrating task. The likely code will be related to dead O2 sensors and I'm pretty positive it will have a host of other common fixes.

Stereorob

Yeah at a cold start it runs perfect. Smooth engine tranny shifts right etc but as soon as it heats up it bogs down and barley moves under it's own power. I can hear a rattling sound under the car after it warms up and it runs very very rich. Pretty sure it's got bad cats, haven't put it on a scanner yet, prob need to

BluesImage

Cool deal, congrats!