Hey Guys,

I can't stress how valuable these forums are and how happy I am to have found one for my newly purchased SC400, I thought I'd introduce myself quickly and tell you a little about my new car.

I've been around DSMs since I was 16, having owned and worked on dozens. I am now 22, run my own DSM ECU repair business while attending the University of Illinois at Champaign (go Illini!) and just purchased a new SC400 from Ebay last night. I stumbled across this car and thought it was a good deal, jumped on this forum and saw what a great car they are and was sold.

I decided to Buy it Now for $1200 despite the fact that, according to the description, the car stalled after it ran. I'm making plans to pick it up in the next few days and thought it'd be good to start learning as much as I can about it.

I was wondering if you guys could help a newbie SC owner out and tell me what you think of this car - the deal I got on it and what might be the problem with it based on what you guys can read from the description.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6300

Thanks in advance to everyone who replies.

-Val

 

thats a great deal.

see if the car has any codes, and go from there. do a search for codes paper clip, a few threads should come up.

welcome!

 

Wow, not even 5 min and already a reply! Thanks for the advice Aliga, your reassurance in my purchase is comforting. I'm really excited to go pick up this car, fix it and start driving it!

 

Well "Big Papa" welcome to the club

As for why it stalls in that manner I couldn't say. I would suggest you read www.intellexual.net and get familiar with everything it contains. Once you take possession of the car have your mechanic look at it, or take it to a Lexus dealer and have them go over the car. In any event coming up on a 400 for $1200 seems like a good deal. I'm sure you can get the car running again without spending an arm and a leg. The most important thing is you found this forum so you have all the knowledge you'll need at hand. Once you take possession of the car and have it looked over post your findings

-Mike

 

Thanks Mike for the link to the FAQ site, intellexual.net - but for some reason I can't get that link to work, is the site working, or is it just my computer?

I will definetly post whatever I find out about the car as soon as I can spend some time with her and get under her... uhm, err, hood. lol

Thanks again for the quick reply!

-Val

 

Intellexual.net is down... donno why.

 

Needs a lot of work. Good deal, if worst comes to worst u could part it out and make your money back. Welcome to the community, hope to see your car transform on here.

 

Definitely a good deal. Just a little TLC and you should have a great car on your hands.

There's enough info here to get you started with any direction you plan to take with the car.

Good luck!

 

That's a great deal! In the past I bought a SC400 with lower miles than that for $900 because it wasn't running right. All it needed was a tune up! The caps and rotors were toast and the spark plug wires had resistance readings in the stratosphere. $200 later it was purring like a kitten and ripping up the asphalt! Good luck with it.

 

Nice find,

You are lucky you saw it before I did or I would have snapped that up!!

Good Luck and let us know how it turns out,

Jonny

 

Rich is having issue with his host and says they can't even give him an ETA on it.

~Alan

 

14 hours of driving and 900 miles later, I finally picked up my SC400 from Kansas City, MO. I just got back a few minutes ago (around midnight) after having left this morning at 8am. I'm extremely tired, but first thing tomorrow morning I'll post what I find out about the car and whats wrong with it.

Thanks for all of the input advice so far!

-Val

 

I got a chance to get at it this morning and heres what I found:

The car cranks but doesn't start. I've tried bypassing the fuel ecu by jumping +B and FP together on the engine diagnostic port, and still the same problem. I retrieved the diagnostic code, and got one code (code 12 - no rpm signal). I've also noticed that some of the instrument cluster lights and needles (Tach mainly) are not lit. Can the instrument cluster not functioning properly affect the RPM signal to the ECU?

Has anyone has similar problems or can offer any inisight? Thanks,
Val

 

naah the instrument cluster lights are just burned out.
It's a very common problem w/ the SC's. Contact a O.L.T or L.L.S. and he'll hook you up w/ practically any color of the rainbow for your cluster customization at an awesome price.

 

So what's the latest?? U get her started yet?

Jonny