Recently looked at a 98 gs400 “gold edition” (tried researching it but found nothing so idk why the seller put that) when I first looked at the car I went to start it and got nothing with weak lights on the dash, I informed the seller and he told me he just put a new battery in it. Battery looked fresh so it checked out. We jumped the car with the driver door open, and the key was possibly in the on position (I have a terrible memory so assuming it was in the on position) After jumping car ran fine. The seller notified me today that the car now starts and stalls 10 seconds later with the dash lights turning off. Iv been doing research on it and haven’t seen anyone report the dash turning off when it as a dying issue. I’d like to chalk it up to the maf or a fuse from jumping it with the door open but I want to be a little more confident before I make a final decision. Any advice would be great, thanks all

 

If you want to be confident, don't buy this car or from this seller. Have potential purchases inspected by a mechanic. It could be minor, like corrosion on the battery clamp. Or it could be moderate, like a failing alternator. Either way, there's no point in guessing, only looking at the car will reveal the problem.

 

I'd try looking at output from the alternator in the 10 seconds the car is running. What I mean by that is to check the voltage at the battery terminals to see if the alternator is even putting out anything.

 

If the battery is charged it will last more than 10 seconds if the alternator isn't working at all.

Often these cars have a mysterious parasitic drain. That could be causing the battery to drain so there could be enough to start the car. Then if the alternator isn't working yeah it might shut off in 10 seconds.

If you really, really, really want this car you definitely need to have it evaluated right away.