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My name is John Busca Jr. and I am a new member to Club Lexus Forum living in Medford NJ. I have a 2003 Midnight Pine Pearl (Dark Green) Lexus SC430 with beige leather and birds eye maple trim. It does have the Mark Levinson Audio although it sounds as if I may need to replace some of the small speakers in the door. It appears loaded but I am not sure what options were available for this model. There have been no modifications to the car, and it looks original to me.
This vehicle was my father's car and has a lot of miles on it (214K). Unfortunately, it was in pretty rough shape (interior and exterior) when I picked it up but have nursed it back to health to the point that it will be my daily driver (primarily due to the fact that it gets better gas mileage than my truck which I will use during the winter). I am still learning about some of the controls/features but luckily I have the user manual. Took a little while to figure out that the cover in the trunk had to be locked in place before the roof would retract into the trunk (LOL). Given the mileage, I'm not looking to put much more money than I have already (~$1,500 for some bodywork, new brakes and a professional detailing) but I do intend to fully enjoy it as it is a very fun car, especially with the top down in the summer. Not sure how many more miles I can expect to get with proper care and maintenance from this point forward but we will find out. Let me know if there is any critical maintenance item that I should be aware of with this model vehicle so that I can extend its life. I am still amazed that everything appears to work just fine. Kudo's to Lexus quality.
I had to pick up a passenger side headlight washer from a local Lexus dealer as it was missing. Turns out the headlight washer broke off with half of it still inserted so still having some difficulty getting it out (likely from a past accident as it is clear the engine hood has be painted). I never realized that the car is considered fairly rare until I I pulled into a Lexus dealership. Some of the younger Lexus staff had not seen this model car and they were intrigued by it. Unfortunately, I also have learned that it is difficult finding replacement parts. I was also hoping to find floor mats similar to Weather Tec (very thin vinyl mats) that I could use during the winter that were custom made for the SC 430 to protect the OEM carpeted mats but have not had any luck. If anyone has any suggestions/leads, please reply to this thread.
I have attached some pictures of the vehicle below which were taken earlier in the year. I have put a cover on it for the winter. Will need to buy a battery tender as I had to jump start the car already. Let me know if you have any suggestions and if I can plug into the cigarette lighter or need to connect directly to the battery.
This posts in this forum proved invaluable to me so thank you for sharing.
Welcome to the forum and congrats on acquiring the car.
These cars are designed to last a long time. Unless the car was abused in the past, you should be able to easily pass 400k if you treat it properly. Our cars (mine is a 2002) are at the point now where wear and age probably have equal influence on what will fail next. If the part is plastic or rubber, age (& environmental exposure) may take the bigger toil.
Welcome to Club Lexus. If you are inclined to do the work yourself you can order the OEM parts you need from Japan even with shipping they are way cheaper than going to a dealer. Look into Megazip.net for you parts.
Caflashbob - Thank you for the lead on the floor mats!
GmanSC and st3rnly - I appreciate you pointing out the items I should be aware of such as the Timing Belt (TB), Water Pump (WP) and Power Steering (PS) for leaks). I had heard that if the TB goes it could ruin the engine.
Harold57 - Wow, If I could get anywhere close to 400K on this car it would be awesome. Plus it will make my wife happy after I put some money into this car with over 214K miles. I heard that the engine in these vehicles were legendary which is how I convinced her that it was worth it. I am sure she is going to love this car over time, especially if it lasts for awhile.
DJWLDW - Thanks for the lead on the parts available at substantial savings through Megazip.net!
J.
The sticky above is a a good source of information for the SC. I know it's lots of reading but it's worth to read. Also, the search engine is also big help when you want to know a specific problems or issues.
J. Busca - New Member Intro
