TrapMaster

A coworker is selling a 94 or 95 (don't remember the exact year) LS400 with around 240k on it. I'm from the Nissan realm and while I've worked on plenty of Toyota's, I have no experience with the LS. I'm paying $800 bucks for the car but I'd like some insight on things I should check for before I hand over money. Basically I'm looking for advice on common rust areas, engine issues, transmission issues, etc. I plan on this becoming my daily driver so reliability is somewhat important. I'm pretty capable mechanically so the main things I'm trying to look out for are structural integrity problems and signs of imminent failure mechanically. Anyway, I appreciate any help and I'm really looking forward to getting an LS.

lextout

TrapMaster

I should be able to get it up on a lift at school. Current owner mentioned that the radiator is new but the car has overheated again recently. I checked on water pump pricing, seems reasonable enough. How much of a pain is the water pump to replace? I'll most likely do a compression test just to be sure there hasn't been HG damage.

Superfast1

These are the common problems for the old LS400's: Starter, ps pump, alternator, ECU's caps, tranny, tranny's mount, flexdiscs (1 at the tranny & the other at the rear axle), strut bars & flex EGR pipe so ask the current owner if they've been changed along w/ the timing belt/water pump but for $800, you can't expect much. If it runs well & in decent shape, you should consider it but plan on putting some money aside to fix those things if they haven't been replaced. It's inevitable!

TrapMaster

Thanks. I'm sure its got some problems so money for repairs will definitely be set aside. Water pump was mentioned as questionable, if it does need to be replaced should I go ahead and do a timing belt at the same time? From the brief looks I've had at the car it seems like a good catch for $800. I'll definitely enjoy it more than my current DD (01 Prelude) and it'll be nice to have something with a back seat once I get my 350z back up and going again.

CELSI0R

Check the dog legs of the car (at the bottom of the rear wheel arches, behind the rear passenger doors). These areas are covered with plastic rocker covers, so the actual body can potentially rust here.

Also, look around the insides of the wheel arches, between the black rub strips that are screwed into the four wheel arches, because rust can form when salt gets trapped between this trim and the body. Also check around the moulding seams, the front and rear bumper seams, the inner bottoms of the doors, by the water drain holes (the door mouldings can hide rust here), above and below all of the door seals, and around the top of the front windshield.

For structural issues, make sure the black radiator support beam has not been bent and is actually painted black in the front of the car. Remove the lower trunk carpet and inspect the spare tire area for any water or rust from water settling. Also ensure that the spare sits properly and that this area has not been bent.

Superfast1

You should ask the current owner if & when the timing belt was replaced (~ 100K miles interval). If he didn't or doesn't know then you should if you're going to replace the water pump. Replacing the tb/wp isn't cheap as parts alone will cost you around $150-$200 (complete ASIN tb/wp kit) & labor will be in the neighborhood of $200-$400 or more, depends on who's going to do the work for you. If money is tight then my recommendation for you is to replace the thermostat first as it may be stuck closed or almost closed which could very well be the culprit of the overheat problem. Try that first then report back. Good luck.

TrapMaster

I'll be doing all the labor myself so that's not an issue. I have access to pretty much every tool you could imagine at school so I'm good there. Good thought on the thermostat I'll definitely check that first.

TrapMaster

This is exactly the kind of rust info I was looking for. Thanks man.

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

This sounds like a really good pickup for your situation. Access to tools, low initial cost, but expecting to buy parts along the way, doing it all yourself. All sounds good, assuming of course that there is nothing seriously wrong with it right now. These engines are known to last forever unless overheated or damaged by some weird failure.

On the timing belt, yes the WP is driven by the T-belt, so you're in there anyway. One factor - you said the car is either a 94 or 95 - in 95 the engines were interference, so a failed TB could cause engine damage. 94 and earlier they are not interference engines.

Here's TB instructions for 90-94, with tons of pics so you can scan through quickly and get an idea of what's involved.
http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/engine/timingbelt.html

I've had my '91 for about 10 years now and it has been great for me. I bought it from my in-laws, who were the original owners and took good care of it for most its life (they did let it slide a little at the end). From reading this list, it seems that the times when people get into real trouble on these cars is when they have got just a little too far out of maintenance, so there are about half a dozen things that could be causing a problem.

liazon

iTrader: (1)

telescoping steering wheel motor
door actuators

TrapMaster

Thanks for the info man. Yea, we work on a lot of Toyotas at school and our only gripe is that everything is such a pain to break loose because they run so long without breaking. I see a lot of them with well over 300k on the clock. I'm also a sucker for a big boxy sedan so this is right up my alley haha.

Losiracer2

make sure you replace ALL the vacuum lines and engine bay hoses if they've never been done. At this point they'll probably be all dry rotted by now. My 97' had all the vacuum lines petrified by the engine bay heating/cooling cycles. You'll solve a lot of pesky driveability/idle issues by sorting this out from the get go.

spuds

Buy OEM when you can unless its stupid expensive.You pretty much cant go wrong OEM but you can easily go wrong after market. OEM bargains can also be found if you will spend time looking on the net,there are deals even on OEM out there.Poly bushings are NOT recommended if you want the Lexus ride,same for aftermarket motor mounts arent recommended same reason,your call on that.Some say they are OK.I say,pay your money on those.You can get deals on them too by web searching.

All of this I found by doing advanced search and searching within LS board. Im a newbie passing on the experts stuff here.

Do this,they say this is very important for ECU to perform its best.Also look at the ECU cap replacement.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ange-pics.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...capacitor.html

spuds

If you have cam experience may as well do valve cover and cam seals and crank seal while doing belt and water pump kit.That is,if you seriously want to keep the car.Set you up nice for next 70K miles or so.

If its disposable then maybe dont want the cam seal/valve cover work.240,000 miles crank and cam seals are getting pretty used up.