SC430fun

I am new to this forum - I have been interested in an SC430 for a few years, and it looks like I may finally pick one up. I found a used 2006 with 116k miles on it, for just under $10k. Its a rebuilt title and was in an accident, but nothing else, no theft, flood, etc.

I have inspected the car, and the frame looks straight, and the suspension bushings and ball joints including the coil overs look great as well. I know these cars are pretty legendary, but I am hearing of certain issues popping up with them. I know how to work on my cars, so I can handle just about whatever needs to be done, but I need this car to be a daily driver while I slowly fix certain things up.

The car was given a cheap paint job, and has slightly foggy headlights (I can clean em easily), and I was not able to tell yet if the headlight washers are intact (it has the covers on).

The interior is great, and it looks and feels like a pretty new car. When I looked up the VIN on Lexus.com, it has the history going back to 2005. It was owned by someone who was a little paranoid, and they took it in over every little bump and creak that they heard, sometimes up to 3-4 times in less than 7k miles. There was a creaking noise when the car went over bumps, but this and a few other issues were before the accident.

The dealer mentioned that it was in an accident, but was fixed in 2008 at 25k miles, and was driven since until relatively recent - so the repair was done a while back and a good 80k plus miles were put on it since.

I noticed a few things repeating..

-- Battery kept dying, and was constantly being brought into dealer to check - happened before and after the accident. Then when I looked at it yesterday and today, the battery was weak.

-- There were a few instances where the motor would not even turn over and it had to be towed in (before accident).

-- An issue with the AC, and a servo having to be fixed (before the accident)

-- The dealer mentioned that they were not sure if the suspension took a hit in the accident, but then an entry shortly after shows that the car was aligned successfully. If the suspension was damaged, I dont think it would have aligned properly. The components sure looked good. I found the right exhaust tip to be banged up on the bottom, and cant even see it unless you look under. Rest of the exhaust looks perfect. - I am thinking a catback with a decent muffler would make the car sound pretty sinister!

I am a little spooked with these issues showing up. Obviously the previous owner was a little paranoid and did not hold back from trying to use their warranty for everything.

Currently, the car frame, core support in front of radiator, engine bay, and suspension look good. Suspension has good ball joints I noticed as mentioned. The front bumper was repainted with small cracks, and a few cracks in the grill (hard to see). Its a cheap paint job, but as long as the car mechanically is sound, Ill fix all the little issues left over from the body work and paint it blue. If there was any frame damage then they did a good job repairing it, but they cheaped out by using a 2002 hood, and 2004 right fender according to Lexus dealer. The front bumper cover was "patched up" and painted, but there are aftermarket front bumpers for this car on Craigslist, and I can pick one up and get it on this car. The middle bracket for the bumper cover was slightly bent by hand to match up to the slightly crooked bumper (almost not visible though you can make it out in the pics of the front), but thats the only visible stuff left over from this accident other than the cheap *** paint. The other brackets are fine and holding together solid.

The engine is clean, no leaks, fluids look pretty good - there is some pretty fresh looking red Toyota coolant in there.

-- The seller just put in a new radiator

-- The AC is not working, and I told him that the AC and battery need to be fixed before I buy anything.

-- The rear wheels were missing the lock nuts, and the fronts had them. I think they lost the lock nuts, so Ill have them take care of that as well.

-- The top, and everything else so far works as it should, and the car drives and handles straight and very nice. I thought the car would be a little faster, before driving one for the first time. But then again I am probably a little too used to my Lincoln which is significantly more powerful and faster.

They are offering a 3 month warranty, but I would get it greatly extended by a company called Warrantech, and would have the engine and trans and other major **** covered.

Is there anything else I should be checking or expecting with this car? I did not buy it yet but I am thinking about it.

Sorry, I know this post is all over the place and probably not easy to read

http://www.eddiesdealsonwheels.com/v...geles-ca.shtml

SC430fun

I also forgot to ask - when you jump on the gas from a stand still, the motor revs slowly at first, and then picks up shortly after and moves quickly to red line. I expected this engine to be rev happy from idle on up.

I looked at a 0-60 vid on youtube, and it seemed like it was doing the same thing, but the speedo jumped from 0-20 although it was probably from wheel spin.

As far as what I mentioned about the engine revving, does that sound right?

Can these cars spin the rear tires a whole bunch if you kick off the VSC?

If I bought the car, how soon should I change the timing belt, water pump, related accessories and coolant?

Would this car benefit from a trans cooler? I am a little paranoid after zapping the trans in my 99 Accord with only 47k miles on it! My Lincoln with more than 400hp was able to go 150k on the trans when I used an addon cooler.

On the post above where I mentioned the different issues this SC430 had (reported when taken in for service), did that seem excessive for a car of this caliber with so few miles? The reporting based on VIN on Lexus.com started at only 12 miles, and stopped at 58k miles. Its obvious the car was serviced, so I am assuming it was taken somewhere other than the dealer for this work. The serpentine belt even looks new, and so do the hoses.

I dont mind making this a project car that I can straighten out the remaining issues on, as long as it can remain my daily driver for now and be reliable enough for the car to start and take me where I need to go each time I need to use it.

SC430fun

pics are at this link.. Its a beautiful car, and I really like the stock rims it comes with

http://www.eddiesdealsonwheels.com/v...geles-ca.shtml

I jacked the car up pretty good and checked under today and it all looked good. I will check again and use a lift if I can. If it looks good, should I be ok with this car?

Ill take care of the timing belt within 2-3 weeks at most if I do get the car. I was going to get another Lincoln Mark VIII (I love the 32v Cobra engine), but I am trying to get something different. I just didnt want to spend too much, but the price of this SC430 compared to many others I see online seems pretty good.

The warranty company this place had recommended (for extended warranty) turned out to be total crap, and they have a lot of complaints against them. So I would probably need to look for a separate company on my own but its really more piece of mind. If I am taking care of the cars needs, then I probably should not have any issues.

The radiator is fresh in this car, and they are taking care of the AC. I dont like the red Toyota coolant, so I will probably flush it out and use the regular green.

116k for a used Lexus isnt too bad is it? I am seeing a lot of them with 150k miles and more on them and going for $12k to $17k

DiggerJim

That's good news as you'd see problems coming up if it had a problem with frame damage, etc. Since the dealer was still servicing it until 58K you're probably ok from that accident. Question is whether it had another one - the bumper & fender repairs you noted where they used different parts and bodged things together a bit is a flag - at 25K I don't know that anyone's insurance would let it get fixed with inappropriate parts. Maybe it had another accident that the dealer didn't know about? Did you check CarFax to see if they have any others listed?

Not atypical. The car will drain power while it's not driving - some folks report they can't leave it for a week without it needing a jumpstart. There's a lot of parasitic drain from the various electronics. Just driving it regularly takes care of this.

It happens. I wouldn't worry about that.

That's probably right. A lot of the original buyers are pretty picky and if you've got a warranty and Lexus is paying, no sense in not using it.

That doesn't sound like an insured repair - and at 25K it should have been. That's what makes me wonder if it wasn't in another unreported accident. I don't think the 25K accident resulted in the salvage title if the dealer kept servicing it under the Lexus warranty. Something seems to have happened between 58K (last dealer service) and the 116K now that caused enough damage that it was declared salvage. You'll want to dig into that some more.

The SC is a concours cruiser not a hooligan flogger so it's going to be less aggressive off the line than you might expect a big V8 RWD car might be. It's also fairly heavy due to the convertible structure requiring additional frame stiffening, etc.

Check on this. Not sure how successful you'll be with that - a lot of those warranty companies won;'t cover a salvage title vehicle.

Now would be good. I wouldn't trust it to have had those changed at 90K as they should have. That'll cost you something in the neighborhood of about $400 if you do it yourself.

The tranny is pretty solid on these cars. I wouldn't waste the time/$ on an addon cooler. I don't recall many reports of transmission fails on these.

That seems a lot like a nanny-owner. My LS had one of those - the car couldn't cough without a trip to the dealer. This is a luxury car and a lot of luxury car owners have zero tolerance for anything less than perfection.

The big thing I'd dig deeper into is the possibility of another accident. Find out who declared it salvage and why. For 10K it's not a ton of money for a good daily driver candidate especially since you're good with doing work on it as a project car. If the frame is straight it sounds like the mechanicals are good and it'd be something I'd take on. You do want to hook up with some salvage yards so you can maybe get the right bumper (and fender too maybe).

StillLine

mademedoit, I'm not sure what's wrong with your transmission, but neither myself or anyone I know of has experienced the drama of which you write. Regarding the power button, my perception is that it sharpens the throttle response and allows the tranny to hang onto gears longer and downshift more aggressively in certain performance driving scenarios.

To the OP, in response to your question about acceleration from a stop, here's a video of my 2006 launching on a relatively high traction surface of coarse asphalt. 👍


StillLine

StillLine

Thank you, and nope re: lsd, stock 2006 SC430.

Bon

Before buying it I'd have it aligned at a shop that provides before and after printouts to see if it can be properly aligned. If everything's green after the alignment then you know the frame is likely straight enough. Even if you have to pay to get it done it's worth it!

As for the lock nuts - get rid of them. They're a pain in the a$$ and will be your worst enemy if they break after some gorilla torques the snot out of them and you have a flat somewhere on the highway. Been there done that.

Otherwise I think you've been given great advice from the others here.

Harold57

SC430fun, welcome to the forum.

Sound advice above, however, there does seem to be a lot of items wrong with the vehicle and a number of items that were cheaped out or rigged (or possibly abused), I'd be a little leery of the vehicle without a very thorough checkout. If these vehicles are maintained well, there's no reason why you shouldn't get well over 200k miles of service out of them and probably a factor or so above that. But like anything, if they are abused, all bets are off.

Best of luck and keep us apprised on the saga.

SC430fun

Thank you guys! I ended up putting almost half the money down and making payments on the remaining amount. The car is not perfect and will need certain things to be done to make it perfect, but the engine and trans run very nice, some of the body work was cheap, and I have to fix some of the lights, including license plate lights, led third brake light. Also the drivers side HID bulb is going out. After being on for 10 mins it cuts off, so you have to turn off the lights and turn them back on to get it on again.

I also noticed, no horn and that bothers me, I have to fix that one asap!!

All in all, its an excellent project that I can work on, and is solid enough to drive daily as well

SC430fun

I am having an issue with the dealer.

He sent me a text today telling me that they finance company needs better evidence of income than my pay stubs, even though I made a pretty good down payment and will definitely be able to pay for this car, most likely ahead of time.

I am going to try getting him a breakdown of my pay on a spreadsheet, along with confirmation from company that I have been working there. The seller said that "he hopes that it works." What does that mean?? I already signed the contract, handed him the cash, and have had it since 9pm on 7/1. I started the process of researching and picking up the parts to take care of various things I would like immediately fixed.

Can this guy after signing the contract, be able to pull the car even though I already paid? This sounds kind of crazy! The guy would not answer me when I asked him what he meant, when he said that "he hopes it works."

Bgw70

First, always read the contract, did you do that? Does it say something like, must be able to secure financing?
Not a lawyer here but always read the contract...
He may be able to take the car back, but I doubt he wants to do that!
Nexttime, save your money and pay cash! Never finance a car!

I wish you the best!

Harold57

Sounds kind of fishy. I can't imagine a dealer allowing you to take possession of a vehicle if they hadn't already gotten the financing approved.

Best of luck and I hope the deal goes through for you.

JohnnyCake

Do the buttons on the steering wheel that change the radio station, etc., work perfectly? If not, your horn problem is the spiral cable (sometimes called clock spring cable).

mandyfig

Hate to rain on your parade but something's not kosher.

I wish you luck.

If it is not meant to be, let it go.

bb430

iTrader: (1)

I used to work in a dealership and I can tell you that it's very common to let the customer take possession of the vehicle BEFORE the approval of finance since they wanted to make sure customers don't change their minds(regret) after the purchase.
If the finance didn't go through they will ask for the car back and refund your down payment, but they will try to get the deal approved best they can. One caution, make sure your interest rate stay the same as well as the term and payments stays as your initial agreement. Lots of time they would change these and tell you this is what the bank has approved of and that's what it is.
I hope you have put down at least 30% or more down payment and if so, your chance is better. If not, they might ask you to put more down payment and restructure the loan and if it were ok for you to do that then you really have to make sure your rate stay the same and your payment is lower with the same term or shorter. Don't let them add anything you don't want to buy like Tire Assure, Gap Insurance or any other extra that you don't want or need. Best of luck.