MngreLMatt

Howdy folks,

A little background - Family has owned 4 LS 400s and will soon own an 04 LS430.
Tire of a Ford Bronco blew out on the freeway and totaled my Dad's 98, he would get another 98-00, but he doesn't have the cash upfront so will need to get it financed, hence the newer year. Kind of a plus I get a lot of practice on these model years and have done quite a few things so far from coolant temp sensor to power steering pump to new struts. Not too difficult to work on these cars with a little patience .

My main question is does anyone work on their own cars over here in the 430 forums? There are tons of guys working on the older LS400s, but not too much from what I've seen on the 430s. It could be that they are newer so less wear and tear stuff has come up. I plan on doing most of the work on the car for my Dad as it'll save us a ton of money and I am infinitely interested with these cars and really cars in general, the mechanical aspect at least.

I know to look out for the 04 transmission recall, which I will. The prospective car is an 04 with 58k. It doesn't have nav or air suspension which is a blessing because these two units don't tend to age well whereas my almost 16 year old 99 LS400 is still on factory struts that are working nicely and older fashioned push button HVAC, radio etc.

Is there anything else I should check out?

Thanks a ton in advnace and let's get some good DIY going for these puppies

Matt

airchomper

Nice choice of cars!

There aren't a ton of repair DIYs for this car because so few things go long. However, it seems like every issue has a thread in which some does explain the solution. As you know, these cars are generally pretty easy to work on. They have a lot of covers which can be a pain, but things fit together well and if you're careful, you can do it.

These cars have a lot in common with the LS400s, but some of the design issues are fixed, but some new ones persist, and some ones carry over. The telescoping steering gear rattle exists on 1998-2004 LS4s, for intstance.

If I were buying an LS430 again, I'd avoid Mark Levinson like the plague, for what it's worth.

The 2001-2003 cars are closer to the 1998-2000 LS400s, sharing the transmission and having similar engines. Have you considered 2001-2003 LS430s? It seems like they're cheaper than 1998-2000 LS400s in my neck of the woods.

In California, I don't think there's much else to check out. If the power steering fluid looks good, that's good. And if it had a timing belt recently, that's even better.

warminwisc

Hopefully you are looking at a LS with a track record and service history . If so then take it in for a 125 dollar inspection to Lexus. They will check serial numbers on doors etc for collision damage and check all electricals. do that yourself also push every button up and down.

There is a good post by stan van dam added to this week which explains what might go wrong in detail. Stan is a detailed guy, I myself very few repairs I 200k miles very few.

2KHarrier

There are a good number of DIY projects on this car, for those who want to delve into them. I recently did the brakes on my LS and they were fairly easy to do.
Transmission servicing is a breeze, plugs are easy, the site has loads of great info on how-to's for everything from TB to struts and replacing the Navigation screen...

Read through the stickies and you'll see.

01gs3

iTrader: (10)

The telescoping steering wheel function getting stuck is a common problem. Most get the function turned off via cbest setting. A cheap fix by replacing a rubber piece and lubrication, but I had no luck changing those things out.

On some Ls430s the side view mirrors get this splotchy chromatic effect. Only way to fix is replace the mirror. My 05 had it.

Other than that, a pretty bullet proof car. Good luck on the next purchase.

MngreLMatt

Thanks for the heads up guys. My dad bought it today. 04 with 57k white ext and tan on the inside. The thing drives like a dream. I'm going to check out the transmission fluid tomorrow. Just bought 12 quarts of WS for the 430 and GX470 and 12 quarts of T-IV for the two late 90s 400s. Great things to say about it so far. The only thing I noticed was the steering wheel was sluggish to respond to the telescoping feauture. Anyhow, we have 30 days where if something goes wrong they'll replace it for free.

Can't wait to start some good maintenance scheduling on this beaut.

Till next time

Matt

mappo

If you're a DIYer, you're going to like the transmission in the 01-03 better than the 04-06. The 01-03 has the same trans as the 98-00 LS400, while the 04-06 has a "sealed" transmission - no dipstick. Doing a simple drain and refill of the trans fluid is quite a bit more difficult as a result.

Tom57

Congrats on the purchase. Well bought. The LS is very much a modern day DIYers luxury dream car.

YoshiMan

Although i haven't had to do any work on my 02' yet, i did a significant amount on my 95', and have to say that it probably was one of the easiest cars i've ever worked on. One thing, in my mind, that reflects how well a car is put together, is how easy it is to service when things go wrong (Ask any owner of a Mitsubishi 3000gt, they will be overhoyed to tell you about their last service endeavor)

The LS430 is a pretty similar design, as others have said, and does away with alot of the problematic areas of the older models. No strut bar bushings going bad, no bad ECU capacitors, and the dashboard lights, from what i understand, use a much simpler system that is more reliable than the little neon tubes the older models used. They also use sealed wheel bearing carriers that just bolt on and off the car, whereas the older models required the use of a shop press to replace them..... to name a few of the things...

In fact, I take that back... I have changed the oil on my LS430, and one area where it has been improved upon, for example. The LS430 has a little "access port" in the bottom engine cover, that allows you to get to the oil filter. The LS400 required you to remove a whole bunch of bolts and then slide the whole cover out of the way.