33,000 Mile Time Capsule 1996 LS400 on Craiglist! Clean AZ Car
08-15-17, 02:38 AM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
33,000 Mile Time Capsule 1996 LS400 on Craiglist! Clean AZ Car
Someone better jump on this! its not going to last long for the $4995 they want. I copied the photos in case it expires. https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/c...264027318.html
-Original Owner
-32,487 miles
-Grandma Driven, literally
-Dealer Maintained each year
Is this the Holy grail of LS400 finds?
-Original Owner
-32,487 miles
-Grandma Driven, literally
-Dealer Maintained each year
Is this the Holy grail of LS400 finds?
Last edited by Losiracer2; 08-15-17 at 02:50 AM.
The following users liked this post:
wnyjazz (08-20-17)
08-15-17, 10:41 AM
#4
That is an extremely rare find, just 1 major thing to note...
Check to see if the ECU has been replaced recently, the only reason I state this is that I also found a rarity, a 1992 with 86,500 miles, garage kept, old man driven (literally), ALL services done by the same local Lexus dealer that imported it from Japan back in 1992.
Some things that needed to be done were and Oil change, transmission flush & fill, power steering flush and fill, replace alternator, replace battery, replace blown A/C - Radio fuse, replace outed tail light, add freon (it's a 92 so yeah, no R-132A), and radiator flush and fill. This was all done when I bought the car, the seals are good as there is no sign of leaking, I do not have an vacuum leaks (yet), but what did just start happening 5 months after I bought the car....
1. A/C controls turning on and off at random (when the climate control has power it blows cold air, diagnostics showed no faults)
2. Sluggish performance when compared to other cars of the same generation LS400.
3. Very low idle, my idle was saying around 150-200 RPM
4. OBD reader shows no fault code, is not recognized (despite being an OBD 1), my mechanic has a reader for it, confirmed that the ECU is NOT communicating.
5. STRONG gas/sulfur smell when car is running, like it's running rich.
6. This is what drove the nail home.... erratic idle surges going from 150/200 RPM to 1000 RPM and getting worse until the engine stalls. It gets worse the longer the engine runs, and if you let the car "cool down" you get another 5 minutes of drivability before you get 5 minutes of erratic idle and the car stalls again. Attempts to clean the throttle body, MAF (Mass Air Flow Sensor), and IACV showed little improvement.
What does all this point to?
A Dying ECU with bad capacitors.
A new ECU will easily run you $1,200 - $1,500 NEW, IF you can find one. Then you have to have your car reprogrammed by Lexus due to the security system, that is another expensive endeavour.
So is the car now a piece of junk? HELL NO
Luckily there are 2 people registered on these forums Yamae & LSCowboy. Yamae is an electrical engineer from Japan, is knowledge is of the highest caliber and he is an extremely well respected member of this community. His knowledge is so extensive you might as well consider him to be the electrical engineer that built the LS400's. LSCowboy is an American electrical engineer who used to work for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center as an engineer, yes he worked for NASA, as did his father, both he and Yamae are THE PREMIER sources of information on all ECU problems.
Here is the good news, should your ECU be the factory one or even a replacement from 10 years ago, it may very well still have the capacitor flaws that can wreak havoc on your ECU. The longer you wait, the more damage it does from the leaking caps, this can lead to a whole nore core being needed, and that can get expensive depending on the year. LSCowboy does repair ECU's according to Yamae's very detailed and specific guidelines, and his prices are a whole lot cheaper than buying a new one, and in many cases even buying a used one, plus there is no reprogramming needed!
LSCowboy has a facebook page where you can ask him all the questions you need regarding your year and what kind of work your ECU might need, his page is called Japanese ECU ECM PCM Repair by LsCowboyls
What you have is an extremely rare find, and if maintained well it should last you through 2 more average cars lifespans before you sell it, unless you want to put it in a will, they do last that long when properly cared for and not wrecked by other idiots on the road
How do I know so much about this, besides personal experience?
I talked with LSCowboy extensively, he is a wealth of knowledge on the matter, and I am also an IT hardware professional with over 12 years of experience, with certifications to match and a college education in IT hardware. I have repaired motherboards, fan connectors, and a few other PC related components, the ECU is pretty much like a PC, so it's easy for me to understand.
The capacitors that Yamae and LSCowboy used are literally the top %1 of caps in the world and are VERY SPECIFIC. I prefer Authentic Japanese Nichicon caps as I have experience with them in the PC industry with ASUS and ASRock high end boards that are freaking beasts when it comes to performance and reliability.
Check to see if the ECU has been replaced recently, the only reason I state this is that I also found a rarity, a 1992 with 86,500 miles, garage kept, old man driven (literally), ALL services done by the same local Lexus dealer that imported it from Japan back in 1992.
Some things that needed to be done were and Oil change, transmission flush & fill, power steering flush and fill, replace alternator, replace battery, replace blown A/C - Radio fuse, replace outed tail light, add freon (it's a 92 so yeah, no R-132A), and radiator flush and fill. This was all done when I bought the car, the seals are good as there is no sign of leaking, I do not have an vacuum leaks (yet), but what did just start happening 5 months after I bought the car....
1. A/C controls turning on and off at random (when the climate control has power it blows cold air, diagnostics showed no faults)
2. Sluggish performance when compared to other cars of the same generation LS400.
3. Very low idle, my idle was saying around 150-200 RPM
4. OBD reader shows no fault code, is not recognized (despite being an OBD 1), my mechanic has a reader for it, confirmed that the ECU is NOT communicating.
5. STRONG gas/sulfur smell when car is running, like it's running rich.
6. This is what drove the nail home.... erratic idle surges going from 150/200 RPM to 1000 RPM and getting worse until the engine stalls. It gets worse the longer the engine runs, and if you let the car "cool down" you get another 5 minutes of drivability before you get 5 minutes of erratic idle and the car stalls again. Attempts to clean the throttle body, MAF (Mass Air Flow Sensor), and IACV showed little improvement.
What does all this point to?
A Dying ECU with bad capacitors.
A new ECU will easily run you $1,200 - $1,500 NEW, IF you can find one. Then you have to have your car reprogrammed by Lexus due to the security system, that is another expensive endeavour.
So is the car now a piece of junk? HELL NO
Luckily there are 2 people registered on these forums Yamae & LSCowboy. Yamae is an electrical engineer from Japan, is knowledge is of the highest caliber and he is an extremely well respected member of this community. His knowledge is so extensive you might as well consider him to be the electrical engineer that built the LS400's. LSCowboy is an American electrical engineer who used to work for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center as an engineer, yes he worked for NASA, as did his father, both he and Yamae are THE PREMIER sources of information on all ECU problems.
Here is the good news, should your ECU be the factory one or even a replacement from 10 years ago, it may very well still have the capacitor flaws that can wreak havoc on your ECU. The longer you wait, the more damage it does from the leaking caps, this can lead to a whole nore core being needed, and that can get expensive depending on the year. LSCowboy does repair ECU's according to Yamae's very detailed and specific guidelines, and his prices are a whole lot cheaper than buying a new one, and in many cases even buying a used one, plus there is no reprogramming needed!
LSCowboy has a facebook page where you can ask him all the questions you need regarding your year and what kind of work your ECU might need, his page is called Japanese ECU ECM PCM Repair by LsCowboyls
What you have is an extremely rare find, and if maintained well it should last you through 2 more average cars lifespans before you sell it, unless you want to put it in a will, they do last that long when properly cared for and not wrecked by other idiots on the road
How do I know so much about this, besides personal experience?
I talked with LSCowboy extensively, he is a wealth of knowledge on the matter, and I am also an IT hardware professional with over 12 years of experience, with certifications to match and a college education in IT hardware. I have repaired motherboards, fan connectors, and a few other PC related components, the ECU is pretty much like a PC, so it's easy for me to understand.
The capacitors that Yamae and LSCowboy used are literally the top %1 of caps in the world and are VERY SPECIFIC. I prefer Authentic Japanese Nichicon caps as I have experience with them in the PC industry with ASUS and ASRock high end boards that are freaking beasts when it comes to performance and reliability.
Last edited by Spartan536; 08-15-17 at 11:33 AM.
08-15-17, 10:49 AM
#5
omg those dash needles!! finest example indeed
^^ what spartan said about the ECU is on point.The leaked capacitors can destroy traces on the PCB and is very time consuming to repair. It requires extensive cleaning and rework (ohming out and verifying under a microscope) to repair the traces destroyed by the leaked caps, even desoldering the large engine harness connector. not fun.
^^ what spartan said about the ECU is on point.The leaked capacitors can destroy traces on the PCB and is very time consuming to repair. It requires extensive cleaning and rework (ohming out and verifying under a microscope) to repair the traces destroyed by the leaked caps, even desoldering the large engine harness connector. not fun.
Last edited by jadu; 08-15-17 at 10:55 AM.
The following users liked this post:
Spartan536 (08-15-17)
08-15-17, 02:22 PM
#7
Racer
Thread Starter
and what stickers do you mean?
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08-15-17, 02:24 PM
#8
Racer
Thread Starter
omg those dash needles!! finest example indeed
^^ what spartan said about the ECU is on point.The leaked capacitors can destroy traces on the PCB and is very time consuming to repair. It requires extensive cleaning and rework (ohming out and verifying under a microscope) to repair the traces destroyed by the leaked caps, even desoldering the large engine harness connector. not fun.
^^ what spartan said about the ECU is on point.The leaked capacitors can destroy traces on the PCB and is very time consuming to repair. It requires extensive cleaning and rework (ohming out and verifying under a microscope) to repair the traces destroyed by the leaked caps, even desoldering the large engine harness connector. not fun.
08-15-17, 02:41 PM
#9
08-16-17, 11:34 PM
#10
Are you kidding? Do you know how hot AZ gets in the summertime? Inside car temps can reach 175 degrees...I tested it with a meat thermometer one summer when I used to live there. Window tint is a must, I doubt Lexus owners would skimp on that, it's not like it's a single cab Tacoma pickup with crank windows....we're talking about a luxury car here.
and what stickers do you mean?
and what stickers do you mean?
I dont have a 1LS but two SC's, a 92 and 93, and yes they both are going out, unfortunately. I'm not sure if the burned out needle epidemic is only with 1SC nor if the LS needles are significantly more superior but they're only a few years apart. It is absolutely nice to see a mint gauge cluster
08-18-17, 07:08 PM
#13
Racer
Thread Starter
Yep, looks like it sold in a day and a half. Might even have had a bidding war over it with perspective buyers being that clean and low mileage
02-28-18, 09:43 PM
#15
Racer
Are you kidding? Do you know how hot AZ gets in the summertime? Inside car temps can reach 175 degrees...I tested it with a meat thermometer one summer when I used to live there. Window tint is a must, I doubt Lexus owners would skimp on that, it's not like it's a single cab Tacoma pickup with crank windows....we're talking about a luxury car here.
Oh yeah,I can see Gram and Gramps getting it tinted.
Last edited by spuds; 02-28-18 at 09:46 PM.