creaser64

Hi, A new member here from Toronto. I am buying a minty condition 1993 LS400 with 85,000 original kilometres (about 52,000 miles)
It has never seen an Ontario winter and the exterior and interior look hardly used at all. What I need now is a good mechanic in the Greater Toronto Area. I have a good mechanic where I live, but will need someone who knows older Lexuses (Lexi?). I have searched this forum but some of the recommendations are no longer available. Does anyone know a good place to take an first gen LS for service/repair etc? (The timing belt and water pump have been replaced recently, btw). Any advice would be great, thanks. I will post pics when I get the car.

94V8coupe

Sadly, the best one around (Aussie Auto) just closed up shop last month.

creaser64

Great. Just my luck. And Bullock has just informed me that he no longer works on old lexuses. But the guy who sold me my 93 LS400 has an invoice from Bullock for work done on the same car in 2022. Talk about bad timing!. The two guys recommended in the GTA just recently stopped working on vintage LS’s.
I am taking it to Clarkson Fine Cars. Any opinions on those guys!

94V8coupe

Clarkson! Sounds like we're not too far apart brother.
Is there a particular reason you need the mechanic? Is it to give the car a once over before buying?

I have a shop I've been going to for YEARS in Burlington. They are not Lexus "experts" but they are excellent mechanics and have never done me wrong.
Family business (40 years) and these guys ran their own race team for years - they know a thing or two and they are not afraid of old cars.

https://www.lancasterautoandtire.com/

Just putting it out there.

400fanboy

If you don't have a LS400 wizard in your area, finding a shop who works on old European\Asian cars is the 2nd best option.

The Lexus\Toyota specialists can be hit or miss. The one in my area never impressed me. The interface never felt nice, I was talking to a non-mechanic with minimal knowledge. I felt one step removed, they didn't have answers to qualitative questions. They were unable to diagnose things which I later on diagnosed myself. And back when I was a noobie, they neglected telling me about items which needed to be addressed (like the motor mounts being ****ing shot, how do you miss this???). They also never saw many 400's, mostly working on newer cars (2005+), with an occasional old LX.

The guys I have the complex work on my car done are Porsche specialists first. There is consistently a row of 930, 964, 993, 996, 997, 986 and 997 Porsches parked outside of their shop. Along with a smattering of other 80's and 90's European and Asian cars. I've found they are really lovely to work with, the main interface guy you talk with has been doing this for decades and is an absolute wealth of knowledge and knows more than me 100 times over. And, they've brought things to my attention when they needed doing.

Remember. Your mechanic can be: Cheap, Fast, Good.

If you're lucky, you get to pick two.

creaser64

Thanks for the heads up for Lancaster, 94V8coupe. I am actually in Burlington and am close to Lancaster. I have bought the car already, and it has the usual gauge cluster problems, which I knew from the seller going in. My regular mechanic, (Good Cars Only in Burlington. He is as good as his business name is dumb) has a local guy who can take care of the cluster, but I also have the “OD/Off” light blinking, so I need a guy who can find out what code it is that needs attention, and can fix it, be it solenoids or capacitors or what not. Other than that, the car works flawlessly. Very excited to finally have an LS400 at last.