Tjincbfl

Hi there, new member here looking for some advice. Not an owner yet but have been considering an LS400 for a while and came across what might be an option and thought I'd post it up here to see what people think before I make a decision.

I have been searching through the forum to try to find more info or similar posts, but nothing came up so if you're just better at searching, just point me to the thread I missed, I won't be offended.

The seller listed it as a '99, but I don't think that's the case. Based on the interior and some searching, i'd say it's a 95-97, (second gen, series III) but am not sure how to narrow it down further.
I'll add some pictures and let the experts chime in.

But my question is the classic...What's it worth?
Currently not running. It cranks but doesn't start. Seller said they got it running "yesterday" after getting it jumped by AAA.(I didn't see it run) They let it run for a while (hour?) thinking it would charge the battery, but I think they may have run it out of gas. Added gas. Tried to jump it and it would crank but not start. Everything on the dash powers up No check engine light is on. Car has I think 135k+ miles on it. It's been sitting for about a year.

Undercarriage looks good without rust. Tires are shot. Interior looks really good. Obviously needs cleaned up but I think it has potential. (if I can get it running)
I'm fairly handy under the hood but most of my experience is on 60's vintage stuff( (carburetors, mechanical fuel pumps, points, room under the hood to work, etc.. you know, none of which this car has.) But I can follow Youtube videos and don't mind a few scraped knuckles or grease under my nails.

The seller is 50+ miles away and needs to have it removed from the property, so I can't really work on it in place. They work for AAA and I think can get it towed to me reasonably, so it's kind of "buy it or don't". No option to keep trying stuff. If I get it, then we can go into details on how to get it started but I'll start a new thread for that. This is just me trying to decide to buy it or not and for how much. .

I'd rather not deal with buying it and trying to part it out since I'm not overly familiar with these cars, so I'll either get it running and drive it, or turn around and sell it as a complete car.

My thoughts are as follows, let me know what you think.
$500-- No brainer. Buy it.
$500-$1000 -- Solid consideration. If it can get driving, it's a great deal. If not, can probably get money back from someone wanting it for the engine and/or parts. Still have some cash to throw some parts/work at it.
$1000-$1500 -- Starting to think I should pass, still less than some non-op cars i've seen for sale, but I'm not dead set on this car.

I did check all the fluids. Oil looked good, no signs of water. Coolant looked OK. Trans fluid..?? I don't actually remember.

Only have the Valet key. No master.

Tjincbfl

Here are a couple other images.

Gerf

That car has been sitting for a long time, I wouldn't touch it for any price. Look on the drivers door(inside) for the production date...I'm guessin it's 95. I sold a 96 in way better shape for $800 CDN a couple of years ago after I did the t-belt w/pump seals etc, it had some rust around the rear wheel wells though.
I made this video for the for sale ad. I had to trim it to upload it.

It won't upload right now as an attachment...

CLLEXUSS

It all depends on your personal situation. Do you have a place to put it and work on it. It's a risk unless you can hear it run. I visited a place yesterday and was looking at a 99 LS400 this guy bought, it had 83K miles but body not great, it was flooded out in the last floods we had here so someone just wanted out so he sold it cheap, so he is in the process of swapping out the ecu right now. He bought it for 500 dollars. He has the knowledge and the place to work on it and plenty of time so he'll do okay for sure. I don't think I'd want to pay over 1K with so many unknowns personally. But everyone's' different and has different needs. To someone else it might worth over 2K because they want certain things on it, just never know.

400fanboy

You're correct about the year range. I think it's a 97 coach edition from the texture of the seat inserts, the wood trim and the rims.

Mystery car, listed as the wrong model year, sitting for if they're saying a year (which could be 3 years for all we know, that's a lot of grime on it), won't start, no CEL, they "ran it for an hour the other day", "no you can't try and fix it, I just want it gone", etc. Lot of red flags here.

Interior isn't that great, I'm going to disagree with you there. Even if the rest looks good (and it does), the driver seat rip is a pretty big negative (to me).

If you want a fun project, I think your price range is good if your desire is to have the experience this car delievers. And your expectations appear to be aligned with what the reality of restoring this car would be. Just to cement that a little further - I think the car needs thousands of dollars of work to get it back to a drivable and safe condition. A new set of tires a tune up some fresh oil and fluids already puts us around $1000. Plus however much it costs to fix the no-start. Plus however much it costs to tow the car if you can't get it running in the yard, which it sounds like you're out of options. Plus whatever problems it also has - the other wear points and things are a mystery. How are the spark plugs? How are the shocks? Ball joints? Tie rods? Motor mounts? Etc etc.

I mention all of this so that, if you do embark on trying to restore the car, you know what it could potentially take. It might just be a fried ECU, which is a $200 fix and that's all the car really needs. But, it also could require quite a lot. And usually it's the latter.

How many miles on the car? It should tell you with just the key inserted, it doesn't need to start. What does the seller have to say about the maintenance history? If there is no maintenance history "it hasn't needed anything", then I'm going to assume everything is all original and there will things which need to be addressed. A collection of things that could be are seen in this thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...de-2024-a.html

Tjincbfl

To be fair, when I did look at it, I did have the option to spend some time working on it or checking it out. Unfortunately it started raining that day and a short notice window to meet them left me there with only limited tools. And it's an hour and a half away and I don't have reliable transportation to actually get to it to work on it. (Had borrowed a car to go look at it.)

Car has about 135,000 miles or so. I forget exactly, but in that ballpark.

No maintenance history. From what I understand, she bought it from the friend/relative/coworker (or whatever) and I'm not sure they drove it. Could be that it had issues from the start

She works for AAA and I think can get it towed/delivered to me, so that might work in my favor.

OK, so I get the potential for it needing a ton of work. If I can't get it running, is it worth $1000 to someone that is familiar with them? Basically wondering if I bought it for about that, tinkered with it, testing the things i can, replacing/fixing minor stuff, still can't get it to run, is there a chance of getting my money back out of it selling it? (not buying tires till I get it started).

Or do I skip the project and spend the money on a running/driving car? That just seems to be in the 5-8K range, which is a bit out of my budget to drop all at once.

Ive seen a number of LS400s listed that don't run for more, but obviously anyone can ASK whatever they want. Was just looking for a dose of reality from people with experience with them.

I do appreciate the input/perspective and did read over that link. Lots of good advice/info there. Thanks.

paulo57509

Hard pass.

400fanboy

If I may offer financial\life advice:

I was thinking of this maybe a pet project for the summer. But if you're in the situation where you're borrowing cars to be able to even go 50 miles to see it and this is the "budget option because I can't afford a running car", I REALLY don't think it's a good idea. It's a fully rigged ocean going flagship luxury sedan. Even if you do your own work, it's not a Corolla, parts are expensive. And even if you do then get it working, you've got a 4.0l v8 and a 4 speed auto, the fuel costs are going to be pretty high too. These things do not mix with $5000 being a bridge too far.

Best of luck on your car search, I think it would be best found in Corolla\Camry's or Mazdas or Civics. There would be a lot less risk in doing what you're trying to do with those cars. And even then, still pretty risky.

Losiracer2

The key for the immobilizer (97' was first year) is probably going to cost you about 3-500 with programming. I would pass on it, looks like it needs a ton of work. Probably a new fuel system too (pump and strainer if the gas is bad) Timing belt also since you have no record of it, so that'll be another 600-1000 depending on who does it. Tires look pretty old and worn out possibly dry rotted and flat spotted from sitting.

There's a lot that goes into reviving a parked car that's been sitting for a long time. Especially in a humid damp environment like Florida which might throw some curveballs.

These can be picked up running and driving for about 2500-3000 in AZ. I got my 97' for that in 2015 with 250k on it. And that's a lot less headache than trying to fix a broken one for 1000.

TominPT

Hard pass from me too, based on the previous comments. In no way will this work out as a good investment should go for the "restore and resell" angle. If you were to buy and fix for yourself, do yourself a favor and find one in way better condition and pay market rate for it.

BNastee

I enjoy the challenge of getting an LS like this running for as little money as possible. But I wouldn't need it as my daily, so completely different situation.