I found a really nice two-owner '98 for sale with 146K miles and its on its way to me in western WA - it was sold here and spent its entire life in western WA too. The car is in incredible condition cosmetically, and has no leaks, no suspension issues, drives very nice. Used Lemon Squad for the PPI and they basically found nothing at all wrong with it. Everything works.
First order of business will be a TB/WP using the Aisin kit. Local Toyota dealer will do that with me supplying the kit.
I plan on replacing all the fluids and filters myself.

Other than that, is there anything else I should look at as far as preventative maintenance?

I have really nice '05 LS430 also with low miles, and this will be a summer/fun car. I do my own maintenance on that too. I'll post pictures after it arrives and I give it bath.

 

early congrats! i would check all fluids and assess their need for replacement. if unknown, i would replace for my peace of mind. i like to check tire condition/age, bushing conditions, electrical functions like windows, sunroof, steering wheel adjustment, and keyless entry, trunk pop, etc. i'm not sure if your PPI shop did all this but i like to see it for myself and not take their word for it.

did you do a test drive or bought it sight unseen?

 

The PPI basically looked at all the electrical functions, steering wheel, radio, sunroof, AC, heat, and on and on. I will double check everything too. He did that while the engine was warming up and then took it on an 8 mile test drive. He even measured the paint thickness on all the body panels. Sight unseen transaction (my first).

 

Obligatory:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10411641

 

Congrats! There is something special about the 98-00 for sure. I liked my 99 more than my 05 actually, although there is no doubt the 05 is a technically superior vehicle.

Edit: I’ll give some reasons why I liked my 99 and other differences vs. the usual comments everyone is used to seeing

• leather seats on 98-00 hold up incredibly well and can look literally brand new after 200k miles and 25 years. 430 seats are amazing too, just not quite as bulletproof
• 98-00 limited to 155 mph vs. 130 mph
• transmission shift points were smoother
• Nakamichi stereo in the 99 is leagues better than the fragile, made-of-glass Mark Levinson in the 430
• 98-00 feels slightly smaller and more nimble than the 430 (both are big boats obviously)

 

My '98 has heated seats and no navigation, plus Nakamichi. It looks like the options for this generation were a la carte and not bundled like ML, CL, UL as in the '01-05s. While I have not seen it in the flesh yet, from the high resolution photos the Lemon Squat guy took it looks like the seats were never sat on. Unbelievable for a car with this age and mileage. It has this dove gray interior with a silver exterior. I think it must have been garaged its entire life. Undercarriage looks like a 30,000 mile 3 year old car. It has a battery from 2017, probably get a new one. It also does not have tinted windows, unlike my darkly tinted'05. I actually find the tint a little annoying in the gray winters of the PNW and may take it off the '05.

 

The limo tints are excessive IMO, not just because they're illegal, but you're right you actually can't see **** lol.

Personally, I put 27% all around on my car. Enough darkening to hide the greenhouse, but not enough to cause problems at night. And best of all, it's legal in my state!

You do want some sort of tint on the windows though. The thermal energy rejection is incredible, comparing my side windows vs. my un-tinted windshield it's nuts. You can get "clear" tints if you don't want the darkening aspect and just want the heat rejection.

 

Car arrived yesterday.
The Good: Transit from Boise via open carrier left the car unscathed, but filthy as expected. The pictures did not lie, the car is in beautiful condition. I am working on a full set of maintenance issues now, wash and wax etc.
The Bad: Dealer forgot to include the temp registration in the rear window. Had to drive it home from drop off in stealth mode avoiding the cops in town. Trying to get it sorted out now. Dealer is a clown.
The Ugly: The car has locking lug nut (1 per wheel) and there is no key to be found. Will drive to a local tire shop today and hope they can remove them and replace with a proper lug nut. I am not worried at all these 16 inch old school Lexus wheels will be stolen. If that fails, I will see of the Toyota dealer doing the timing belt job in a week has key and can remove them.
The Prayer: That the timing belt holds up for the next week and 60 miles or so I drive the car until it is changed. From all appearances, car fax, maintenance log in manual etc. it is original at 146,000 miles.

 

Nice shape overall - just a few minor blemishes.

 

wow such a beauty! looks like a great find and purchase.

 

I've been able to remove locking lug nuts without the key by POUNDING on a slightly small impact socket.


Rich

 

^ thank you for the suggestion. I called McGard, which manufactures keys for locking lug nuts, and they are selling me one for $ 17 + shipping. I sent them 4 high resolution photos and they knew what I needed. Excellent customer service at McGard- highly recommended. www.mcgard.com.
Local tire shop wanted $ 120 to forceably remove the four nuts and replace.

 

Done- MAF cleaning, Oil change with 5W-30 full synthetic, OEM filter; rear differential service. Topped off battery with distilled H2O. New passenger side wiper.
To do still: F/R OEM brake pads and brake fluid flush - after I can get the wheels off. TB/WP with full Aisin kit, new Toyota coolant, new OEM serp. belt, 3 drain/fills with Toyota T-IV fluid. OEM Air Filter. Apply 5 more coats of CMX "ceramic coat" polish. (After one coat the car looks like it is still on the showroom floor. After 6 it will really pop)

I noticed that the throttle is very sensitive to input, much more so than my '05 LS430. Transmission is in "normal" mode. I might try using "SNOW" mode to see if that smooths things out. The suspension seems more floaty than my '05. Why might that be?

 

Nice car! Cosmetically it's in incredible condition. Rare to see it that nice. Sad to see the mechanicals neglected (original timing belt!).

Re: I've never driven a 430 so I don't know know minute details. But the cars should pretty comparable. Does it tramline on the highway? Does it roll a lot in the corners? If the timing belt is original, there probably are a bunch of other original suspension components. Wouldn't surprise me if the lower ball joints were totally washed out, but who knows. Needs investigation.

Re: throttle. What part of the throttle is sensitive? The top of the pedal should be pretty dead, far far far smoother than most modern economy cars. You have a 430, and while I've never driven one, I imagine it should be quite similar.

"snow" mode is completely useless. Car won't rev over ~2200 rpm, won't give more than 25% torque or something very low. I understand the intended purpose, but it neuters the hell out of it.
"PWR" mode does slightly change the throttle response, but not by much. The biggest change is to the transmission programming where it's a lot more eager to kick down a gear under even mild throttle request.

1) does the transmission kick down all the time under even very mild throttle requests? 10 or 20% the car should want to stay within the gear it's already in.
2) does the throttle seem very sensitive at low speeds? For example coming to a roll, 5mph, but not a complete stop, and accelerating again. Where the car kicks down into first gear while performing a California roll.
3) Is the throttle sensitive at-speed? Car will normally kick out of overdrive on the highway and bump the revs +300 or so even when maintaining normal speed with traffic and moderate throttle requests. You have to be very deliberate to get a 2nd kickdown and gear change.

Much above is talking about the transmission behavior, rather than any specific throttle pedal behavior. But if you were to lock the car in 3rd gear and drive around, the pedal would be reasonably mild mannered. Not "spikey". Lots of travel is needed to achieve actual full torque request from the engine.

Suggest performing this maintenance: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ttle-body.html

And then re-evaluate further hardware testing if it is an actual hardware fault.

 

Thank you 400fanboy for that link. I'll do that service tomorrow. I have only driven the car a few miles, and not even out of town yet, so can't really comment much but I do seem to have a little of symptom 2) (excessive low speed throttle sensitivity) and the symptoms you describe in the idle air port cleaning thread. After the timing belt and brake work next week I will inspect the suspension more closely.