ripcurl

Well I got sucked in today, I have been eye balling craigslist for about 5 months and finally bit the bullet. I am 28 and in Houston btw. I was initially drawn to the Lex because my Dad had an es250 and a ls430, I love the face thats currently if you find the right one you can some serious bang for the buck on luxury.

Stats-

1992 Lexus LS400
135,000 on the clock
Body is REALLY straight.
Loss of paint in a small strip right in front of the bumper(see pic)
Everything electronic works.
Little bit of moaning in the power steering which I hear is pretty customary for the LS.
6 disc CD player.
All the usuals.

Enjoy some pics, I plan to do a lot of lurking. The first thing on my list is to replace the speakers. Stereo seems to be pretty weak but what can you expect. I want to keep the stock head unit since it looks so right in the car.

Thanks for looking and can't wait to lurk around here some more.






Oh final price was 3800$

Greg

3UZFTE

Nice purcahse, a little more expensive than mine... but... I am sure someone else will chime in. Do a search for IACV, as it is a valve on the back of the steering pump that likes to suck fluid into the intake and will cause your car to have a white smoke as start up. The valve is about $100, or you can plug it with a bolt and block the vacuum lines, it's up to you. Nice find, and welcome to CL. Search is your friend, not your enemy. P.S. Interior is in great shape!

BLKonBLK98

ha ha... i had my eye on this one too.

ripcurl

did you drive it? What swayed you?

BLKonBLK98

naw... never went to check it out. after going to a few small dealers looking for a different car i decided to buy from an individual no matter what. hows it stack up to the one i bought? other than the ps obviously.

ripcurl

they were very similar.

no ps noise on this one and a hole in the tailight. Interior was a little more ragged out but all easy fixes on yours(new speaker covers, gear shift, etc.)
but the blue one had nicer wheels and didnt have the paint chipping on the front bumper.

BLKonBLK98

yeah... seems like anything that had glue on it in the interior needs to be reattached... no biggie. so your leather is better? looks like it in the pic but pics can be decieving.

the one i bought isn't blue... i dunno why he said that. jade green. had to clean it up to really be sure.

ripcurl

Leather was almost identical in both. The wheel, gear shifter, and all the glued pieces were just in tact in the one i picked up. I would have bought yours on the spot if I didnt want to do research on the power steering stuff. The noise was just concerning to me. I also didn't like how it had a brand new battery. I was asking him why and he said the other one was old but I was worried he was compensating for the alternator or something.

We should meet up, need a lexus buddy ha.

BLKonBLK98

word... i'm new to the lexus scene so not sure how the meets, if any, are. i do some with my nissan guys and been tryin to make some of the vip meets. not sure what you're into but i'll be around for sure.

trukn1

Ps is common with the LS series period, particularly the earlier generations. Noise is attributed to low PS fluid level. There is/may be a leak in the system somewhere, most likely on the underside of the PS pump (IAC valve <Idle Air Control valve>) It can be replaced, or capped off as stated above. Just do a search under power steering leak and you will find a wealth of info. May want to get the car up in the air and check the rack and pinion as well. This is/was another common must replace item, however it is easy to spot if it is leaking. For now, fill the PS reservior and keep an eye on the fluid to see if you are losing any. If so, the areas I mentioned above are where you are gonna start to check first.

ripcurl

Thanks folks...

Looks like I haver a bigger issue though.

Up at freeway speeds it seems to not want to stick in o/d. The second I begin to not accelrate it wants to kick out to 3rd gear then back to o/d etc.

Upon searching, going to get the tranny fluid flushed this weekend.

G