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Hello all,
I just jumped into the SC430 pool! 2002 with 88000+ miles. Excellent ride! Glad I made the change from a 1999 Miata with 128000+miles. My wife pointed it out in a motorcycle dealership parking lot. It had been sitting a awhile. When I initially stopped to look it had a dead battery. Not even a weak buzz. I looked 4 times before taking the plunge. I am glad I did. I am the 5th owner. The last owner only owned it for 1.5 years. I hope that is not a red flag! I noticed there are missing LCD digits in the A/C controller. The nav screen is badly crazed and faded. Does not tilt either.
Radio door does not close.
Everything else seems to work as advertised.
Silver color,
Ercu(?) interior color.
Factory radio but replaced speakers.
Cruise control works great at 80mph.
Has anyone personally replaced the LCD screen on the A/C controller? Please share your experience level in these types of things and difficulty as to the job. I have some experience with assembly and soldering and watched a video but still on the fence if I should do this myself.
Hoping for many years of worry free driving ahead.
I will frequent this site often looking for answers on my few minor problems.
Happy driving!
Hi Doug,
Welcome to our little forum and to a great car. You have a short list of problems for a very reliable car. ALL those you mentioned have been fixed by our members in a DIY method. I’m certain all have threads to read, some include videos or photos.
One of the first things you need to do is read the “sticky” threads at the top of the index for known issues on the SC430. Pay close attention to the sticky on searching. The search tool is your friend for finding threads where your list has already been addressed and fixed. But, if you have problems, don’t hesitate to ask as our members are friendly and have substantial experience. If nothing else, we can get you pointed in the right direction.
To start, I’ll point you to drivers.lexus.com, using the VIN from you car, you can find the full service history on it. While it’s limited to Lexus dealers nationwide, owners can, and sometimes do, enter data from DIY jobs or independent shop repairs too. It’s important to look for the timing belt job. It’s something that should have been done some time ago. You can also look carefully in the engine bay for a timing belt repair/replacement decal. It looks like this but could be placed anywhere ....
Hello all,
I just jumped into the SC430 pool! 2002 with 88000+ miles. Excellent ride! Glad I made the change from a 1999 Miata with 128000+miles. My wife pointed it out in a motorcycle dealership parking lot. It had been sitting a awhile. When I initially stopped to look it had a dead battery. Not even a weak buzz. I looked 4 times before taking the plunge. I am glad I did. I am the 5th owner. The last owner only owned it for 1.5 years. I hope that is not a red flag! I noticed there are missing LCD digits in the A/C controller. The nav screen is badly crazed and faded. Does not tilt either.
Radio door does not close.
Everything else seems to work as advertised.
Silver color,
Ercu(?) interior color.
Factory radio but replaced speakers.
Cruise control works great at 80mph.
Has anyone personally replaced the LCD screen on the A/C controller? Please share your experience level in these types of things and difficulty as to the job. I have some experience with assembly and soldering and watched a video but still on the fence if I should do this myself.
Hoping for many years of worry free driving ahead.
I will frequent this site often looking for answers on my few minor problems.
Happy driving!
there are threads on all of your issues, some with repair procedures and cheap fixes if you can use a socket, screwdriver and motivation.
look in the stickies for the how to search.
Hello there. How does a poor man afford a top of the line Lexus convertible? Wait until they are 14 years old and then buy one, that's how! We bought a 2005 a couple of days ago here in Austin Texas. Me and the wife share the car, I get to clean it, and she gets to drive it. It has 143,000 miles on it. The dealer I bought it from installed a new timing chain, water pump, and radiator, and fixed every little thing I could find wrong with it. He even put it on a lift, so I could check for any leaks or accident damage from underneath the car. The alternator was changed out at the Lexus dealer a couple of years ago, I checked the vin history. The only thing wrong with the car, which I found out today, is that when you go to spray the head lights, the passengers side sprays at the headlight, and the drivers side sprays at the ground. I guess someone mounted it upside down. I need to do a search and find out how to flip it so it sprays at the headlight. Hopefully it doesn't involve taking half the car apart. Everything else works perfect, and the car runs like a champ. As you can see, the car is silver, with an Ivory interior. It appears to have all the factory options. Do they even make these cars without all the options? All the ones I looked at, seem to have everything. We paid $10K out the door, that means tax title and license where included. The wife loves the car, and she finally got a car that can give my 25th Anniversary Trans-Am a run for it's money in the looks department.
Excellent! Welcome to Club Lexus. Check out the threads at the top of the forum labeled “Sticky” threads... they are loaded with info regarding the non-obvious trouble spots. Many of our members provide great info on fixes and they certainly have a great deal of knowledge and experience. Once again, Welcome to the SC430 forum at CL.
Welcome to the Club. You will love the car as we all do. With little maintenance your SC should last another 100K miles easily. BTW, the SC has timing belt, not chain. I do hope the dealer changed the water pump when they did the belt.
Welcome to the Club. You will love the car as we all do. With little maintenance your SC should last another 100K miles easily. BTW, the SC has timing belt, not chain. I do hope the dealer changed the water pump when they did the belt.
Sorry, I meant to say belt, not chain, and yes, he did do the water pump too.
Hello there. How does a poor man afford a top of the line Lexus convertible? Wait until they are 14 years old and then buy one, that's how! We bought a 2005 a couple of days ago here in Austin Texas. Me and the wife share the car, I get to clean it, and she gets to drive it. It has 143,000 miles on it. The dealer I bought it from installed a new timing chain, water pump, and radiator, and fixed every little thing I could find wrong with it. He even put it on a lift, so I could check for any leaks or accident damage from underneath the car. The alternator was changed out at the Lexus dealer a couple of years ago, I checked the vin history. The only thing wrong with the car, which I found out today, is that when you go to spray the head lights, the passengers side sprays at the headlight, and the drivers side sprays at the ground. I guess someone mounted it upside down. I need to do a search and find out how to flip it so it sprays at the headlight. Hopefully it doesn't involve taking half the car apart. Everything else works perfect, and the car runs like a champ. As you can see, the car is silver, with an Ivory interior. It appears to have all the factory options. Do they even make these cars without all the options?
All the ones I looked at, seem to have everything. We paid $10K out the door, that means tax title and license where included. The wife loves the car, and she finally got a car that can give my 25th Anniversary Trans-Am a run for it's money in the looks department.
04-02-19, 10:46 AM
New to me SC430
