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Lately I've been looking for a sedan to replace my little beater Toyota that I have had for 9 years for the 40mpg and to keep the miles off my truck. It's been a great car but is small and unsafe without ABS and airbags to say the least. I looked at a 1997 ES300 recently with blown head gaskets but the rest of the car was too much of a mess to spend anything on to acquire it. I wanted to find a car that was well maintained for the most part, had a good body and interior with decent paint and had some sort of bad mechanical issue. I came across this '96 LS400 on CL the other day with a couple of pictures and saying that the radio was missing and it MAY have a transmission issue. I drove down to check it out to find a car that appeared to be in pretty good shape at first glance. The radio and cd changer are, in fact, missing. The lady (salvage yard employee) also said the engine smokes, which we all know what that is. I wasn't able to test drive the car as they don't have a dealer tag but I'm recently pretty well versed in the A340E after rebuilding my mothers transmission and installing it about a week ago. I'll end the long winded typing and outline some good and bad about the car as well as what is missing and some photos. I'm feeling pretty good about this decision and think it will turn in to a good car after some trips to the you-pull-it yards and maybe a few to the dealer.
The Good!
Great sounding and running engine. No ticks, knocks, or anything that would point towards an internal issue.
The transmission at least engages reverse and first, with good authority and no delay.
The paint is very very good (Diamond White Pearl.) There is a dent or scratch here and there but is overall in garaged condition. It will wash and wax up VERY nicely I think.
4 Michelin's with 70ish percent remaining.
Pretty clean interior with no cracks in the dash or rips or tears in the leather. There is some cracking here and there but nothing all the way through.
Everything I think to test on the interior worked including all 4 windows, sunroof, seats, tilt/telescope, and the cluster.
The AC works great.
It comes with a genuine key and one remote FOB that works.
It doesn't appear to have ever been smoked in.
It has the chrome wheels. (Can someone enlighten me on the package required to get the chrome wheels and if there was an additional one for the gold badging? I've never looked much into that.)
The carpet has some stains here and there but it's in great shape otherwise and should shampoo up nicely.
It doesn't appear to have been worked on by very inexperienced or poor quality mechanics. The engine under cover is still there with all of it's fasteners and there aren't many missing or broken parts around the car from it being worked on.
The Bad!
There MAY be a transmission issue.
The power steering vacuum valve is leaking causing the engine to smoke.
There is at least some power steering fluid in the power steering system.
The hood struts barely hold the hood up.
The front bumper has some bug and road debris damage.
The back bumper cover is simply destroyed from someone backing into something multiple times.
The left tail light assembly is broken.
The right front fender has some small damage that caused a small bit of paint to flake off and subsequently flash rusted.
The truck doesn't perfectly line up on the left side. There doesn't appear to be any tweaking on the body but maybe the trunk can be adjusted. The gap is a little off and the trunk lid is a raised 1/8" or so above the body when shut.
At least one radio connector was cut from the dash harness leaving several open ended wires susceptible to shorting if messed with.
There appears to be some fluid dripping from the power steering rack upon a quick inspection looking underneath the car as well as possibly some around the pump area.
There are a few oil leaks collecting on the engine oil pan.
There may be some slight clunking heard when slamming on the brakes from a slow crawl to test for strut bar bushings and ball joints.
The Missing Parts!
Radio
CD Changer
Spare tire
Engine beauty cover and fasteners
Tool kit
Floor mats
Top trunk mat
I think that's about all I could think of. There may be more bad things listed than good but the car is a good starting point to end up with a nice condition LS400 for not a whole lot of money. In my opinion the great quality paint and interior far overshadow mechanical issues or a few missing parts as those are much more easily fixed than body work and/or paint. The most expensive thing that I may be looking at worst case scenario is another tranny overhaul for $500 in parts. I think the engine will no longer smoke after the power steering fluid leak into the vacuum lines is fixed. After that I just need to inspect the timing belt a little better, replace the coolant and power steering fluid with the proper stuff, and start replacing parts as I find them from the salvage yards. I could solder a salvaged connector(s) onto the existing harness but if I find a complete harness in a car in the yard I may just pull the dash and salvage the complete harness for the $30 or whatever that would be. There is a matching LS400 in a yard 1:20 from me that has been in there a month that I'm going to check out this week. If the rear bumper is solid and has decent paint I'll be bringing that home with me as well as whatever parts that car still has on it. I'm sure the radio and changer are gone by now but maybe the tail light assembly and some other things are still there. After that I'll just have to watch the inventories until another LS400 comes in.
I was hoping to get the car for $700 to get more of a head start on parts to get it back in ship shape but they won't take less than $800 as they say they could sell the cats and some other parts and scrap the car for more than that. They also think the engine is bad which it's most likely not so they're not factoring the tranny and engine as sellable parts. But, at $800 it still feels like a good project to get a nice daily driver out of in the near future. With 165k miles she's got lot's of life left in her.
A wrecking yard would only pay 200 max. Personally I would not do it, only if the body and paint is good and interior, which it is not its missing too much stuff and had someone messing with the electricals. You will spend way more than 800 on it. If you want it nice. Its way better to find better for more money, because the pick n pulls don't give the stuff away. If that was a year I wanted I would not pay anything for it even for parts, because of whats missing I would not want to have a title in my name for a car missing the parts I would want. For a decent price maybe do it. I think 800 is too much for a huge project. Its still going to need all the normal stuff like timing belt too. The interior looked good but still a cut harness, so unprofessional.
A wrecking yard would only pay 200 max. Personally I would not do it, only if the body and paint is good and interior, which it is not its missing too much stuff and had someone messing with the electricals. You will spend way more than 800 on it. If you want it nice. Its way better to find better for more money, because the pick n pulls don't give the stuff away. If that was a year I wanted I would not pay anything for it even for parts, because of whats missing I would not want to have a title in my name for a car missing the parts I would want. For a decent price maybe do it. I think 800 is too much for a huge project. Its still going to need all the normal stuff like timing belt too. The interior looked good but still a cut harness, so unprofessional.
Yes, the cut harness does suck but splicing another pigtailed connector on or getting a salvage yard dash harness isn't all that hard. The u-pull-it yards near me actually have some pretty great prices. For instance, a bumper cover is $40 and a radio is $20. The interior is nice minus the. Using radio and the exterior is nice once the rear bumper cover is replaced. Most of the cars that are complete that I see around are in much worse condition inside and out overall. The OE timing belt and water pump kit is $175. I think the radio was removed shortly before the car ended up at the yard. Apparently it's a one owner and I found some old oil change stickers so it seems to have been taken care of MOST of its life. A car in this condition with no issues usually goes for around $3k around me. I think I'll be in this one a bit less than that at the end. And, it spreads the cost out over several months or however long it takes instead of dropping 2-3k all at once. The satisfaction and results seen during the progress of this car will be worth something to me as well. Luckily my day job allows me a good amount of time off so spending some time tinkering on this thing isn't much of a burden.
Yes, the cut harness does suck but splicing another pigtailed connector on or getting a salvage yard dash harness isn't all that hard. The u-pull-it yards near me actually have some pretty great prices. For instance, a bumper cover is $40 and a radio is $20. The interior is nice minus the. Using radio and the exterior is nice once the rear bumper cover is replaced. Most of the cars that are complete that I see around are in much worse condition inside and out overall. The OE timing belt and water pump kit is $175. I think the radio was removed shortly before the car ended up at the yard. Apparently it's a one owner and I found some old oil change stickers so it seems to have been taken care of MOST of its life. A car in this condition with no issues usually goes for around $3k around me. I think I'll be in this one a bit less than that at the end. And, it spreads the cost out over several months or however long it takes instead of dropping 2-3k all at once. The satisfaction and results seen during the progress of this car will be worth something to me as well. Luckily my day job allows me a good amount of time off so spending some time tinkering on this thing isn't much of a burden.
I bought a neglected 1996 that had windshield and driver side door damage, for $300. It took a years work(I too used the pick/pull places to save money. I'm now north of $4000, but I have it totally sorted now. I got lucky and they had some LS400 at the pick/pull when I first started working on it. But, I haven't seen any in 5 months or so. Mine was at 217k miles and yours is a little younger miles wise. But, I can almost guarantee you that you will have more trouble than you think. The positive is the self satisfaction you get from repairing your car.
I bought a neglected 1996 that had windshield and driver side door damage, for $300. It took a years work(I too used the pick/pull places to save money. I'm now north of $4000, but I have it totally sorted now. I got lucky and they had some LS400 at the pick/pull when I first started working on it. But, I haven't seen any in 5 months or so. Mine was at 217k miles and yours is a little younger miles wise. But, I can almost guarantee you that you will have more trouble than you think. The positive is the self satisfaction you get from repairing your car.
How in the world did you end up spending that much money. Once I figure out the possible transmission issue and install the radio and cd changer this car will have the same issues most any LS400 out on the market has. As far as the missing spare tire and all I'll plan to find that at a junkyard at some point.
How in the world did you end up spending that much money. Once I figure out the possible transmission issue and install the radio and cd changer this car will have the same issues most any LS400 out on the market has. As far as the missing spare tire and all I'll plan to find that at a junkyard at some point.
Congrats on the find... and yes, nothing cleaner than the diamond white pearl paint when it's cleaned and polished.
Good luck with the rebuild and keep us posted.
You can find almost pristine condition for $4K, its a mistake getting damaged goods. I got a $1K wonder with 133,000 miles, and a few little dents and some bird poo paint damage spots. All I did so far is upper control arms, front struts, ps pump the normal stuff, the driver seat back is not perfect but the rest of interior is ok. That's nice low miles and not a lot of other problems like the one your talking about. I had also got another $1.4K wonder that was at about 137k miles, and needed one tire. These cars all have good transmissions not perfect bodies though, little things here and there, second car perfect interior, and not a leak anyplace.
http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/cto/5659914544.html
Here you go, this is way better car than Jaaa has for what he has spent. Everyone else here will agree. Drive it till it dies if you want to work on it.
http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/cto/5659914544.html
Here you go, this is way better car than Jaaa has for what he has spent. Everyone else here will agree. Drive it till it dies if you want to work on it.
This has to be a record for you Dicer. Two posts in a row without the word "Paint" in it.
I'm leaving in the morning for a u-pull-it yard that I frequent that has a matching 96 white LS400 that it got one month ago. That usually means that it is picked through pretty good but I have a 23 item list of parts so I'm sure I'll come home with something. My main items that I want are rear bumper cover, radio, cd changer, dash and dash harness. I noticed today that the cd changer was apparently pried from the glovebox with some force. This seems apparent because a couple of the fiberglass tabs that must hold the cd change are broken from the dash frame. This is part of the whole dash panel so I would have to be replaced. My dash is perfect so I'll only buy a dash if it is perfect, otherwise I'm sure the cd changer would be somewhat secure until I found a really nice dash.
Goodness me. I just came across another 96 LS400 posted Aug 3rd for $540 that say's it needs a starter which is included. The ad say's he wanted the car sold before Friday or he's selling it to the junkyard for the same price. If it's available it's coming home with me for parts and a possible little flip to fund the parts for my white one. The dash looks to be the same color and I'm sure it has the radio and cd changer.
08-03-16, 08:20 PM
$800 '96 LS400 project
