ravi11

this was a duplicate post so was removed

ravi11

After having fought a losing battle for 5 years I had to concede defeat to an aging 1991 LS. I have to say I really tried hard to stick by this baby all the while fixing the major problems and overlooking the minor ones but the love affair finally came to an end . Sentimentally a part of me wants to say "it's not about the money" but let's face it - numbers do add up and there's a limit to what a man will do for a good stereo and silent comfortable ride.

The car is now in possession of a charity organization where they approximate it's value to be around $2000. My wife still claims it ran great but that was the catch - the only thing that was still running satisfactorily was the engine. Everything else was getting left behind. It was as if the body was not keeping up with the soul!

Since this is the only place where folks will appreciate this end of a love and hate relationship, I'm posting the final condition and vital statistics of this once-impressive sedan. Please don't try to diagnose possible causes or recommend solutions for these problem as I have already carefully analyzed each and everyone and have done more than enough to eliminate issues.

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1991 Lexus LS400
Purchase price in 1999 (@Lexus of Austin) - $16000
Mileage at purchase - 83K
Mileage by end of 2006 - 185K
Cost of repairs and maintenance - $12000 (!!)

Current condition
(-) Dim Lights
(-) Burnt LCD time/temp display
(-) Intermittent tape player issue
(-) CD changer busted
(-) Leather unglued from the top of the tape deck
(-) Unglued hand rest covers and various switches popped off
(-) Broken left lock/unlock switch
(-) Dead rear right window switch control at driver seat
(-) Broken right seat adjustment switch cover
(-) All door switches sticky and work intermittently
(this causes headlights to remain on - drains the battery)
(-) Crackling noise on the right front
(-) Steering handling heavy and nervious
(-) Keyless entry broken
(-) Rattling roof, unhinged inside roof cover
(-) Wheel alignment / steering alignment (always pulls to the right)
(-) Antenna mast very noisy and does not retract completely
(-) Windshield wipers lack squeegee effect
(-) Braking causes everything in the car to vibrate
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Before I leave here I would like to announce my current garage occupants:
(+) 2003 Audi A4 Convertible
(+) 2003 Mercedes C240 4Matic Wagon

This sad and sour ending seems like an end of my affair with the Lexus brand. For the short initial time it more than satisfied my two basic carnal needs - silence and sound system. But did I mention that this blissful time was short lived?

Thanks to the club for the great advice and tips in getting people like me through the tough times when all we are looking for is a steep cliff and a quick nudge to the bumper.

Adios amigos...?

widlfiresd

$12,000 in maintenance and repairs to drive an LS 100k miles?

I thought Lexus were cheap to maintain.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

im kinda lost where the hell you spent 12gs but i hope u werent comparing it to the other 2 cars in ur garage...

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Sorry to hear.

Don't hesitate to hang with us here...you are still part of the Lexus family at heart.

trukn1

Hopefully he means 12 g's since he bought the car,, looks like the car suffered the normal first gen problems coupled with neglect issues. Judging by the 2 other German cars in his garage, I can see why the LS was neglected; had to save money for those German parts. Not bashing, but sad to see. Pity he did not take the time to save this car.

widlfiresd

He must have hit a couple bad bumps along the way like tranny, engine, cooling system, etc.

Most of the items on the list can be taken care of with a littel DIY and and good indy mechanic.

Salil022

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear that!!! but i haven't heard of any major problems with the 1st gen's except for power steering leakeage and bushings going bad. my family had about 3 of those 1st gen LS400's and everyone of them went more than 325k miles with just oil changes and thats about it. no problems at all, i consider these cars more reliables than some brand new cars that are available today

omarg

I guess not every LS was perfect. but considering the car is now 16 years old thats not that many problems... really! Come on. I bet one weekend, $300 and some love could bring that car back. i wonder how that c-class will hold up over the next 12 years.

ravi11

Ah the story must go on then. I see we have some touchy ones here ready to pounce on the first sight of German cars. Relax guys both the Audi and Merc are barely 7 months old so let's focus away from them for a moment. Besides the extended warranty is cheap and covers things fairly until 2010. So needless to say me and LS really tried to work it out until August 2006 until when it was the only car we had.

Franky I wasn't too happy with going all German (or about the cabin noise) but for the specs that's the best I could do. Especially on the wagon. Even after all that severe maintenance diarrhea with the LS I was ready to jump on one if Lexus made a decent wagon (not the crappy IS300 they stopped making). Like RA40 said ... still Lexus at heart.

Breaking down the $12K Lexus costs bring back painful memories. Costs are easy to run up at the dealer (I don't have too much time to get under the hood). After dropping about 7-8K I switched over to another local Japanese car mechanic. I have to dig around for the long list but it includes timing belt change, steering rack replacement, ACV, alternator, tons of leaks, other sundry knocks under the hood. Sure if you have disposable weekends learning and working on the car the savings can be significant but otherwise like me it's a cash hemorrhage. And after all that I was left with a piece of junk. I just hope mine was one of the isolated cases. But don't get me wrong the engine sounds like it can go another 200K without much wheezing but by then all body parts would have fallen off and I would be riding my lawn chair attached to the chassis.

GKLCPA

Well even if he spent the 12g's since he bought the car, that's still a lot of money considering he paid 16g's for it to begin with. There's no way that I'm gonna spend anywhere near that for repairing and maintaining my 96 LS and if it looks like I'll even spend half of that, I'll be looking to get rid of it and put my money into a newer version. I've had my car for about 5 months and it's only got around 50K miles on it at this point, so I'm not looking to spend major dollars anytime soon and I'll be taking it somewhere other than Lexus when I get work done on it.

I think this story is out of the norm for most people's experience here that I've read. Maybe he just got a bad car.

Brandicus

iTrader: (6)

Sorry to hear you go bro but you had a lemon by lexus standards

I just hit 190k in my 93 and I dont have ANY major issues...I need to get my timing belts replaced. theres a rip in my dirvers seat. and my climate control is dimmed. oh and i have a hit and run dent i have to fix... thats it. I hope you give lexus another chance man, see you soon!

1uzfelbc

brandicus is right, my 91 ls4 is at 314,xxx and you get the usually seat tears and dim climate control but I have not had a major problem. my tranny is going out soon but that is only because i abused it on the freeways but other than that there was nothing wrong with it. but I can agree that the car does feel a little vibraty but dunno wat that is. lexus is the luxury brand of my choice because of its reliability, so don't give up lexus just yet

nthach

My LS is at 205K, it's got a few battle scars but it still runs great for its age. I want to have this thing painted in the summer...

damon

My Pops has a 90LS with 228,000 miles or so that he has had since new.

I would guess that his maintenance would be close to $12,000.00 over the 16-17 years he has owned it.

The primary offender in terms of cost has been the AC system. But he has had the power steering replacements & rack & pinion gremlins as well. He really got lit up for recovering just one leather drivers seat!! (I know the more cost effective solution).

This 90 now has a completely new suspension front & rear/ upper & lower (included in the $12K est) & really drives & rides nicely. This was all new parts & not bushing replacements so it was costly!!

On its 3rd TB & 3rd set of struts.

I just hit 188,000 on my 94 & running strong.