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Howdy yall, I am Justin from Houston, Texas, I just signed up on the board. It is a great resource and ultimately helped me make the decision to purchase this 24 year old 93 LS400. It was a dealer trade in and looks to have spent most of its life in a garage.
I have an 09 Nissan Armada that is lifted with 33' tires and currently getting the transmission rebuild on it. I purchased this Lexus with intentions to be a daily driver/beater car. .... but now after driving it for a week I believe it drives better than anything i have ever owned.
The interior/exterior is 9/10 i just could not believe it. The motor has 178k miles on it with no mechanical issues.
The 2 issues is electronic which is the most common I have seen from the members on here. bad ECU which is causing bad shifting and no power over 2K RPM(I confirmed by opening up the ECU and seeing the bad caps) also gauge cluster needles sticking/back lighting. I knew about these problems before I purchased the car and used it for negotiating! I'm expecting my new rebuild ECU in a few days.. and in April I will send my gauge cluster off to get repaired from Mr Wizard.
Im not sure whats up with those center caps... ill pick up some replacements on ebay. Once the tires are finished, I will start searching for a set of the LS430 5 spoke rims with spacers. I like that look a lot on these cars.
Welcome to the club. Yes, you found out our secret...even at 20+ years old these cars are so much better than younger cars. Sounds like you've made a good choice. Good luck with a few repairs and hope the car serves you well.
I replaced the ECU, it defiantly smoothed out my shifts on the tranny... but i'm still having the car lose power when i accelerate hard. I am going to take it to the shop tomorrow. I'm suspecting the fuel pump or filter.
Yea, my Armada only had 135K, I am still upset...
I have been looking around but I have not seen any other LS400 on the road around my place here in Houston.
My long term plans would be lighting upgrades, coilovers and wheels, nothing more.... but we shall see.
As for the center caps I had to repaint mine too.
Carefully remove the logo, they have plastic riveting on the back which usually breaks, when you're done painting the caps stick what's left of the rivets back through the holes and apply JB weld. Give the caps a sanding, paint with duplicolor Toyota silver, maybe clear too.
Did mine years ago still look ok.
center caps are a natural occurrence of age! looks like a nice car with decently low miles. enjoy it and gl with your armada...maybe the trans couldn't take the 33" tires?!
Funny, I did the same thing. I purchased my 93 as a luxury beater, but I was so blown away by how nice the car is, that I decided to store it in the winter and only use it after the last grain of salt has disappeared from the roads.
...I replaced the ECU, it defiantly smoothed out my shifts on the tranny... but i'm still having the car lose power when i accelerate hard. I am going to take it to the shop tomorrow. I'm suspecting the fuel pump or filter....
Sounds right to me. I recently replaced the fuel pump on my '91 at around 190k. Similar. Easy job to do. Denso pump for around $100 did it.
03-07-17, 05:44 AM
New Member from Houston
