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Welp. I've been here before.
In case you didn't know, my name is Mike and IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII have a problem.
I can't stop buying LS400s, but can you blame me? Lemme give you a little background right quick.
So I've been a Lexus owner for 5 years now, my first car was a 95 Gold LS400 with 159k miles that was IMMACULATE until one rainy and slick Superbowl Sunday, at just over 8 months of ownership, I swerved to avoid a dumba$$ cat and ended up flinging my beloved luxobarge into a fence line and some trees. It wasn't pretty and it really sucked being 16 and wrecking something you had worked so hard for. I took pride in my car as it wasn't the usual Mustang, BMW, Camaro, Camry, etc in the high school parking lot, it was a clean ol' luxury car that nobody else in town seemed to have but that was back in 2013/14.
I still drove it and all its ugly for a few months before I found another LS but this time it was a white 96 with 202k that was perfect visually but didn't have reverse, didn't think it was all too bad, "maybe it just needs fluid and a solenoid?" I thought but then before I knew it, the trans started slipping in all gears. So my nice clean white 96 that I bought to replace my gold 95 in the meantime had become more of a project than a second car, just great.
So now i'm 18 with a smashed up LS that runs great and then a beautiful one that had a junk transmission and I have everyone telling me "those Lexus' are junk, just sell them and stop wasting your money on those expensive cars, get yourself something reliable and good blahblahblah" but I didn't wanna listen to that noise, I had fallen in love with this brand and this over-engineered piece of machinery so I was determined to work on both of them and get em both up and running as they should be so over the next few years I pieced together front end parts for the 95 so it didn't look AS ugly and actually bought a whole parts car to fix the 96 and swap the transmission.
Tinting the gold LS made a huuuuuge difference.
During all this time I start thinking about selling the 96 for a 98-00 because that facelift design is such a timeless look but realistically they are way out of my price range, so I window shop for a few years while I tinker with my *****boxes and sift through pages and pages of craigslist ads until one day I see one that catches my eye.
Its a 1998 LS400 in jade imperial mica, tan seats of course but the paint looked amazing! They wanted $2000 for it which is how much people in my area sell 90-94s for so I took interest and asked about it. After a few days of talking I stopped getting responses and it turns out someone bought it and ended up rigging some stuff up on it to resell it again! So now someone else is trying to sell it for $1800 but i'm wondering why they're selling it so soon? It gets sold and I forget about it for a week or so, I get on facebook marketplace and I see a 98 green LS400 being parted out and don't think much of it so I ask about buying the wheels and before the guy could reply, I ask him if he'd sell the whole car. He doesn't know cause its his buddy's car but eventually he gets the ok to sell it whole and he wants $800, A STEAL! but whats the catch?
I go by to check the car out after work and its about 35 minutes away so when I get there its about 10PM, oh so dark which is what you want when buying a car right? Nahhhht. I pull up and see it peeking out of his garage and I instantly love it as soon as I spot those crystal clear headlights.
Turns out the guy is the 3rd owner since the person that I had originally talked to on CL was selling it so there's gotta be something terribly wrong with this for it to be bouncing around like this. He bought it the week before for $1700 and drove it for a day before all the electronics cut out with the windows down and sunroof open, no taillights or signals, plus the car wouldn't want to start again. Suddenly it makes sense that its probably more of a parts car than anything so I offer him $500 and he says "hell no, too low." I explain to him it could be more trouble than its worth if its something big and I'd feel comfortable just doing $500 on it, he still didn't budge on the price. Then I start to think that maybe this car isn't for me, which I never do, and consult my friend on if I should just walk away and keep my money, he agrees it seems like too much but something tells me I should buy it so I try starting it and it cranksandcranksandcranks then starts! The guy couldn't believe it but that was enough for me to continue the pursuit for this thing so I hit him again with 500 cash today and Ill DRIVE it home even in the questionable condition its in, he thinks about it for a few minutes and says he'll take it. I went into this thinking "if anything Ill buy the wheels off him for cheap" and came out with a whole car, awwwyeaaaa. I drove the car about 20 miles before the headlights (which were the only lights that worked for some reason) started dimming and eventually turned off along with the rest of the car leaving me coasting across the 3 lanes of highway traffic with no lights or power in the middle of the night with cars going past me, fun stuff. Turns out the alternator isn't charging the battery and the car "acts" as if its off so its a mess and we're coasting to a Shell station a good 20 miles from home but I can't leave it there because the windows are stuck all open and its a sketchy gas station sooooyeeaaanooo. I had brought an extra battery but it had a low charge but it was all I had to get back close enough to home to run and grab another battery to get it in my driveway.
The next day I couldn't wait to mess with it so I drove it to work to further check it out and someone suggested I check out the main fuses under the hood so I looked at it in the daylight and realized the main ALT fuse looked burnt and had something wedged in it. Turns out, its a flathead screwdriver bit that someone stabbed in there to arc the connection!
It ended up melting the fuse housing so it wouldn't make a connection anymore and within 15 minutes I ran to the parts store, bought a $4 fuse, put it in and this time I was greeted to a nice, bright cluster displaying 176k miles on the odometer, not bad.
I see now the car has a full tank of gas, a dead temp gauge (that ended up being a broken ECT sensor), automatic power windows all the way around and C O L D A/C. Took it for a drive right after and tested all the electronics and it all worked perfectly, all it needed was a radio as the previous owner pulled the aftermarket unit out. Over the next few days I messed with it and ended up putting a Pioneer headunit in and the speakers are still sounding good which is great, all it needs now is a sub. I gave it a good wash and wax and the paint looks amazing for the most part, I did find some spots where someone spray painted green to touch it up and its ugly so I'll save up and get those parts repainted correctly sometime in the future. The interior is super clean and the leather is still soft which is a treat since most LS' have crunchy split leather at this point in their lives, especially down here in Texas. Brakes squeak a bit but its next on the list to be fixed, along with some fresh bushings just to be safe.
So now I have this great 98 that I got for basically $504 bucks that has no problem, a 96 that needs some TLC to take care of the usual stuff like IACV, valve cover gaskets, bushings and mounts, etc before its ready for the road again, and my beloved 95 that I'll never get rid of is currently getting leaks taken care of and fresh front suspension parts put on this week so I can cruise in my favorite car again shortly. Needless to say I love my cars, I love LS400s and I should really stop buying them but its fun as hell to go from car to car and have them all be a comfortable ride.
So the moral of this whole longass story is if you have the chance to buy a cheap LS400, just do it cause why wouldn't you?
Beautiful color, and a definite SCORE on Price! All the best with her! I love the UCF10's but the updated face-lifted models are great as well. The Jade Mica really pops with the Gold badges. Keep it up, and never forget to have fun!
Nice score!
Sometimes it really worth looking past a few seemingly large but actually small flaws.
I've has a similar experience to this but with an old Holden (GM) vehicle many years ago. But I've also has the reverse happen, very recently. Still got that lemon of a Ford.
Anyway, nice to see that worked out well for you.
And yes, I've seen other cars that rely heavily on older electronics fail badly when the voltage drops much below 12V.
A dead battery / duff alternator / Jerry rigged wiring have NO place in a Pre-millennial Lexus! Well, they dont really have a place in any car, but in older cars with older electronics/computers, it becomes far more critical. I'm sure its to do with the working voltage threshold is a lot less forgiving on the old electronics / computers.
For example my 96 Motorbike (Yamaha YZF600) played up when the battery started to die. It would start, but would not run correctly (battery was 11.5V and would not charge to any higher).
New battery and bingo, all good again. Confused the hell out of me at the time.
i too have a problem buying Ls400s when i shouldnt. ive had a bunch of them over the years.
i was 17 when i started messing with them. my family told me the same thing, dont wasnt my time with old junky ls400s and get a real car etc.
im now 34, with a solid career working for lexus. these cars have had a HUGE impact on my life.
10 of them under my belt. currently a 95 and a 00. my 00 same color as the one you just bought. also random purchase that i wasn't planning to make but it just kinda happened lol
keep wasting your time with old junky Ls400s. im glad i did.
I have everyone telling me "those Lexus' are junk, just sell them and stop wasting your money on those expensive cars, get yourself something reliable and good blahblahblah"
Look. Anyone telling you that is a hater. Ignore them. They obviously don't know anything about Toyota/Lexus and their opinions are worthless. You are right in ignoring them.
Mikey I think everyone on this forum shares your love affair for these cars, they have a way of becoming extensions of one's self. For me to part with my '95 LS would be like losing a family member
'95 LS 265k
'98 LS 320k
Both still looking good and going strong with no let up in sight, good luck.
My goodness! That green is such a beautiful color. Sure hope to see more pics of the car soon. And you bought the car for $500, where I am from we call that a come up . It's not a problem if you win and you definitely won.
11-20-18, 12:59 PM
Accidentally bought ANOTHER LS400
