I got a clean carfax on a 93 sc300 5-speed. Just noticed last night that the space/gap, when doors are closed, between the passenger door and right front quarter panel is slightly bigger the the space between the drivers front door and front left quarter panel. I may not be explaining this quite well but when I look at the drivers side of the car there is a thin space between door and front panel when I look at the passenger side I see a slightly larger space. Are they not supposed to be equal on both sides? Does this mean that the car has had some major body work? Any suggestions to do with dealer? Thanks and sorry for the pretty lame question.

 

Hinges do wear out, as well as panel attachments. Then again, he could have just had it fixed. If it was clean, then there was no major damage.

 

Sounds like your ride might be a little bent. I'd have a Lexus dealer check it out. Carfax is primarily there just to check for clean titles. Sometimes accidents do slip through the crack.

 

Most accidents seem to slip through the cracks. Carfax is good for showing salvaged titles, failed smog inspections, changes of ownership, registration type (commercial, private) and auction sales. I looked at a '94 GS300 last year and the title came up spotless. The car was being sold by the original owner and when I asked him about the condition, he told me the car had original paint, etc. I dragged my *** all the way up to Sherman Oaks to check the car out and my brother noticed the BRAND NEW headlights and the new radiator immediately. My brother asked the seller and the guy said his wife had rear-ended someone to the tune of $2800 in front-end body work. This, however,was nowhere to be found on the carfax report. I would definitely have the car checked out by a dealer given what you have described.

 

carfax is just for weeding out the ones with 9 owners, or ones from harsh winter areas, or auctions in their past - then the "good" ones need to be carefully checked out - carfax is just step one -

 

I am going to show the dealer, they said to bring it by. The doors line up all good, all smooth clean lines but for the slightly and I mean slightly difference in gap on the passenger side. We shall see but thanks again for all looking out.

 

how much did you pick it up for? last time i looked in the paper here (in hi), a black 93 or 94 sc300 5 speed was going for about 13-14k.

door hinge problem seem to be fairly common...in the sticky for compiling sc300/sc400 faq, it's been identified as a problem on these cars. fortunately, i haven't encountered this yet...but then again, mine isn't a 93. but note that even with new hinges the gap may be fixed, but when you swing the door open, it comes very, very close to the body. some people reported that theirs have taken off their paint on their car.

if you want to modify it, just save up for a turbo and the other common problems with this car (check the sticky faq)... though i can't recommend shop down here to do the work.

 

Take it to the dealer and ask. CarFax reports most likely will NOT show if a car has been through a major accident and fixed if it didn't total the car out (Salvage/Rebuilt title). I know this because I ran a carfax report on the Lexus I just purchased to see what would turn up knowing that the car had been in an accident where it ran down the side of a guardrail. I have all of the pictures from the accident and knew where it got fixed. The point is that the car could've been in an accident and if you don't know how bad (cosmetic only, mechanical, frame damage, etc) then you could be in for some trouble. Good luck.

 

Most accidents seem to slip through the cracks. Carfax only show up when the accident is reported...

Any car can be in a major accident then fixed up to sell with a clean Carfax report as long as there wasn't an accident report.

 

Thanks a lot for all the info. I am taking in the car next week to show them my concern. The hinge seems alright because the passenger door opens with no problem. If there was work done it was a pretty good job, can't tell besides the space. I will check in on it. And thanks for all the input.

 

The original hinge has the same color paint as the car. also the 6 bolts that attached the door to the vehicle. Look at the three bolts on the body side of the hinge and the other three bolts on the door side. If the hinge or the bolts are different color. The hinge has been replaced. If they're still the same color, it still the original.
Lexus SC hinge can't handle the weight of the door long. After a while the bearing give way and you have a defective door hinge. Check carefully before you talk to the dealer and maybe make them replace for you free of charge. Cheapest we found so far ~$250-$330 per hinge plus labor cost to replace the hinge.
Fix it before you have to spend more money.

Both of my SC have this problems, the white one driver side aleady rubbed the fender to the point of a BIG chunk of paint has chip off the fender. All other hinges are bad but not to the point of chipping paint yet.

 

A good way to tell if the car has had major work on the front end ( at least in California ) is to see if the factory emissions stickers are under the hood, these can not be peeled off and moved and can only be replaced by a district service manager a significant hassle, time and cost to the dealer. ( I have never heard of a dealer actually replacing the stickers) Any good whack on the front will probably result in the hood being replaced. If the damage is not enough to destroy the hood, it's probably not enough to cause frame damage.

Rick

 

I don't put any faith into carfax. When I bought my 93 sc300 5speed, the seller showed me a clean report. I took it to Sewell Lexus in Dallas and the guy noticed the drivers door closed very slightly wrong. I also noticed just a slight bit more wind noise on that side vs the pass. side. I took it to my paint and body guy, he could see some spots on the rear right quarter panel that had been repainted (have to be a paint guy to notice though). So I know my car had some accident that didn't show up. It's doesn't really bother me though b/c everythings straight and I got a really good price on the car.

Tim
-shoutin at ya from Saudi Arabia (temporarily)

 

not necessarily (may not apply to all years or cars)...the bolts on the hinges that attach to the body on my car are not painted... and i got my car new.