One step away from buying a '93 LS400, need some advice
 

Here are the details:

- 1993 LS400
- Every option
- 190,000 miles
- One owner
- White/Tan
- Drivers seat is worn
- Couple scuffs on the wheels, very small
- A/C may have a leak. Dealer looked at it and added some dye. It blows cold but not as cold as it used to, says the owner.
- Outside of the above issues, the car is mint inside and out
- All service done by lexus its entire life. Timing belt done at 120,000
- Tires have 20,000 miles on them, brakes were done last year
- Owner was asking $5500, but ended up talking him down to $2500


Now, I have a few questions:

1) Is the price right?
2) What am I looking at with the A/C (Price wise)
3) Where should I look for a new drivers seat?
4) is there anything else I should know before i put the money down on this car?

The owner is 69 years old. The car was driven by his wife most of the time. They just bought a couple brand new cars and do not have room for the LS. Is this a good deal or should I go a tad lower on the price?

By the way, great site you guys have here.

1) The price sounds excellent.
2) No idea.
3) www.car-part.com to search your local salvage yards. Whether or not you can find one in better condition than your own is unknown.
4) If the car drives well and is otherwise in good condition I'd say you've found yourself an excellent LS400.

Welcome to CL.:)

Well, kbb says that the car books for $4725 in good condition, so it looks like ur getting a pretty good deal.:thumbup: About the A/C, I read tonight that a new compressor is around $450+ and that you should get it switched to R-134a in the process.

1993 and up LS400's used with R-134a from factory.

Sorry, didnt know that. I dont study the UCF-10's that much.

for 2500 its a pretty good buy considering it has a FULL service history for its 190k mi. :)

still have a dealer do a prebuy :p

Can't really go wrong at $2500. Very surprised he went from 5 grand to half his asking. I would get it looked over.

I got my 94 with 228k for 4495$ -- Though came with stipulations and many free maintenance fixes from the mechanic, so about 2grand in maintenance.. so I guess you could call my sale more abour $3000 or so.

At any rate if it checks out, get it. Is it really clean (paint) and interior?

Also expect some maintenance on the car. Power steering issues, alternator, Climate control blackened, Instrument cluster needles fading, gauges slow to respond and so forth.

There are elements of the LS's that everyone has a problem with eventually.. But thankfully most of them aren't essential to the function of the car.

I am personally dealing with the Power Steering on mine.. Other than that she's beautiful. Good thing about this, I'm learning a ton about it,.. bad thing it is being a pain in the neck.

I'll take some pics tommorow I think of what I've done so far to add to the Power steering bible perhaps..

But again, get it checked out.. and go for it. A $2500.00 car is well a 2500.00 car. Can't expect too much, but take it for 2500, and sink 2 grand (over time) into small repairs and it can be a 50,000$ car that functions perfectly.

Best of luck - If you can take pictures of outside and inside at many angles that would help .. but at that price it could even be a touch banged up inside and be worth it.

Thank you sir.

Thanks, I'm happy to be here.

Do you know how much Lexus would charge me to install a new compressor if it is shot?

That is exactly what I was thinking.
I'm sure he would allow it, but I don't want to push it.

His wife was pushing him to get $5500. This guy lives in 1.5m house. He isn't going to lose any sleep by selling it for $2500. Keep in mind, it took me almost an hour to talk him down to that price.

Sounds like a great deal.

Very, very clean. Except for the drivers seat. It is worn and has a couple small tears in it.

I understand. The car has the Climate contol issue. Is that an expensive fix?

Sounds good, do you have a thread with photos of it?

I was hoping it wouldn't need more than a grand worth of work, but that is wishful thinking I guess.

Thank you.

Based on the information so far, it sounds like a no brainer. I will take photos when I head back there Thursday.

I can see the scenario,.. but sounds good.

Sounds great -- The tears and what not can be repaired for about 100$ or so .. I have a good leather/cloth interior guy here and I'm sure you do as well.

Depends on what you think is expensive. I justifiied the expense, as it is something I was not going to replace with an aftermarket piece. It is roughly $200. I sent mine off and had it done by the guy who supplies them, (same price) -- but you can do it yourself if you don't want to send it off. It involved a bunch of solder work.

Guy I used is Jim Walker -- He does good work, and gets it done in a 1 day turnaround.

Yeah I have many threads :) -- This is the earliest one --

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/for...howtopic=49179


Here is a picture after a detail job of mine. (I am heading into the world of using Rotary (DA's) now.. so the next batch will be of my work using polishes and such) -- Here is an overall picture of how it looks atm.. (Tinted windows and a little paint work added.

With NXT 2.0 of course heh.

http://webpages.charter.net/jaredguess/nxt2-1.jpg

I was just saying if you decided to invest the 'difference' in price you negotiated you could do some amazing things. Not that you will need any certain amount of money for repairs/maintenenace. I would hold some back just to fix some minor things, but these are good cars -- Yours should be relatively maintenance free.

Check those service records for the Waterpump, PS pump, Alternator, and maybe the starter (usually no problems there) -- If those have been replaced your good.. If your PS has been replaced excellent.. If PS and Altenator even better. The Waterpump is generally ok despite miles, and the Alternator can be good much further than your mileage now, but you never know.

You will probably also notice the seatbelt tensioners are slack.. another common problem. If they aren't, then fantastic!
Great! It is a no brainer from the way you describe,.. almost a steal ;)

Keep in mind that there is no substitute for a quality piece of buckskin to begin with. Those interior repairmen, however skilled they may be, can only do so much to a seat in miserable condition. I personally used a local repairman to fix a tear in my rear seat and respray my armrest, but for a seat I think NuGateway would be better served with a salvage unit.

That's one hell of a mint LS400 you've got by the way!

he should allow it, just offer to pay the ~$80-100 out of ur own pocket....

it is worth it as they check to match up the VINS on all the body panels they can and they'l do a service history checkup on the car as well (if u ask)