Hey there!

This is my First Lexus, but definitely not my first Toyota; I cut my teeth on Celicas and a solitary Tercel in my relative youth so I know how solid and awesome these cars generally are!

I needed a daily driver to keep the miles, wear, and tear off my fun car, a 1988 Celica GT-Four(or Alltrac Turbo as they're known here in the US) with ridiculously low miles. My old BMW decided to fall apart, and considering how well my Celica has done for me despite being pressed into daily service I felt it was time to go back to Toyota. So, here I am!

For the princely sum of $1500 I now have a 1995 LS400, silver on black. She does need some attention as there's several cosmetic blemishes and dents, but the drivetrain seemed absolutely solid and the car is otherwise unmolested... there's even factory plastic around the penlight in the toolbox! Mechanically it looks like she needs front ball joints, new tires and possibly engine/trans mounts(I could feel a bit of vibration when selecting shifting from park to reverse, but overall shifting was silky smooth) but that's about it. She's in amazing condition for nearly 220K on the clock! She's about an hour and a half away; I'm riding out there with a friend next weekend to pick her up and take her home.

I've been doing my homework on these cars for a few weeks as I was looking for one, but wanted to run this by the forum and get some suggestions where to start. The stereo isn't working. The LCD is completely good, and I'm seeing where the head unit(non-Nak) is picking up radio stations and even playing CDs, but no sound. I'm leaning towards a bad amp, but is there anything else I should check?

Thanks for being an active forum, and here's to many more miles and enjoyment out of my 'new' LS!

 

Welcome to the LS400 group!

 

solid and awesome they GENERALLY are?? You just got the pinnacle of toyotas entire career! well almost - you got a 95+ which is a step down from the UCF10 :P

220k - so the oil finally got to the valve covers! lol Things to absolutely make sure of. STARTER MUST HAVE BEEN DONE. If you have to ask yourself why - just look around down there and tell me if you see it. lol Second. Timing service. Since its a 1995 - if you dont know and they dont know, guess what time it is. The 95+ cant eat a timing belt and survive.

I also once was into the celicas. I had a 5th gen w/ turbo 1mzfe swap that was an absolute PIT of money. bought with a spun bearing 5sfe and did all the work in my back yard lol then the car caught on fire and burned to the ground thanks to my old man. (he said I was going to kill myself with it, and lit it on fire). The LS400 can be a pit too - depending if you are going for performance (like I am)..

Welcome. We have everything you can need for it - check the classifieds - and dont forget to join us on facebook.

 

Congrats on your decision and hope your purchase goes smooth. There's a list of known issues with those earlier models and some with pretty cheap and easy fixes (ECU). Good luck.

 

Thanks, everyone! Just got her home tonight.

Had a friend with access to a lift check her out, and everything seems fairly solid. No real records, so I'll be taking things very easy until I can get all the major services done. No idea on the starter, but there's no issues there just yet. Brakes and tires are a definite need, and there's minor leaking from the steering rack boots. Any idea if replacement boots or available, or is this an instance of having to get the whole rack?

Either way I'm very impressed so far; she rides rather smoothly and quietly and made what would normally be a jam-packed, stressful 80-mile commute more or less a pleasure! As far as taking the LS somewhere, at the moment she's staying stock. My fun car is definitely my GT-Four, and the LS is more of a daily driver beast so I don't rack up as much wear and tear. I'll be definitely getting some pictures tomorrow once there's a bit of light to play with. She's not incredibly good cosmetically(some dents and what looks like an encounter with a parking garage pillar), but I've got an in with a good body shop.

However, the stereo isn't working and I'm trying to track down the source of the problem. The head unit powers on and the LCD is pretty much perfect. I can select different sources. CDs are playing just fine, but there is no sound. Additionally the antenna is frozen in the up position and there are no dash lights on the radio at night. Does this sound like a bad amp, or something else? The seller claimed the stereo was working recently, but I'm taking that with a grain of salt. Any input would be helpful so I'm not just throwing parts at it that I don't need. :/

 

Welcome to Club Lexus and congrats on the LS.

 

You can easily get the records - go to lexusdrivers.com and type in the VIN and boom.

 

nice going on the purchase, it will serve you well... as far as your radio sound dilemma i don't know what could be causing that but if the buttons aren't lighting up at night the only solutions are to either replace the entire head unit (more expensive and less explorative) or replace the circuit board that the lights are soldered onto. the individual bulbs really can't be easily replaced and even if they could i'd have no idea where you'd get them.

since it's not the nakamichi it's the pioneer KEX-P8156ZT (http://parts.pioneerelectronics.com/...156ZT&x=25&y=8) the board is somewhat of a specialty item so it'd have to be ordered by them for you, but pioneer refers to it as the "keyboard unit" and it'd probably be in the neighborhood of like $120-130. if you're comfortable doing the installation yourself it's really not so bad. i had to change my LCD, and keyboard (because i broke it in the process of replacing the LCD) and the entire thing can be done in under an hour. plus you get some neat behind the scenes insight into the LS construction