I'd been saving up for a cheap Japanese v8 sedan for the better part of this year, i had my eyes set on several q45's and a few German sedans as well.
I recently, ( by recently i mean the 14th) purchased a 94 LS400 for 1,100 and it has all the common 1,000 dollar neglected LS400 issues that i'll list below

~ no power steering.
previous owner said the high pressure line was cracked, the issue is not intermittent and i see no smoke when the car is started.
when cranking the wheel you can sometimes hear a snapping sound, i believe the is the rack and pinion
Special thanks to CL user Suneet for his Power Steering Bible thread.

~ ECU
as of now the LS400 will go into "limp mode" when the throttle is pressed too hard, the check engine light comes on for 5 or 6 seconds and then fades when this happens and the engine loses power
I'm assuming this is an ecu issue with the digging i've done
I've heard horror stories of leaking capacitors yet i have no knowledge of soldering nor do i know anyone (yet) that does. and thanks to LScowboyLS and Yamae's thread on ecu repair and maintenance i know the capacitors and capacitor brands required for the LS400 (low ESR)
Qty. 2 of 10μF - 50v
Qty. 2 of 15μF - 35v
Qty. 1 of 47μF - 63v
Qty. 2 of 100μF - 10v
Qty. 1 of 220μF - 16v

~ Transmission
the 4 speed automatic in this car feels loose, i assume its the gearbox mount but i've only had the car for 3 days now so my judgement is extremely limited
i drove this car for 3 hours on the freeway home when i bought it and for a small time it was stuck in 2nd gear and the reverse light on the dash turned on while i was driving, i felt a lot of resistance on my wheels so i assumed the brakes were rubbing. i stopped somewhere as soon as it happened, turned the car off and when i started it again it was fine. These symptoms worry me more than anything else wrong with the car, mainly because i still do not know what caused it or how to prevent it from happening again


~ Engine
overall it runs fine, i noticed a high idle this morning when i cold started the car.
the car rocks in idle, i don't know much about cars but i know V style engines have a tendency to rock over time without care and maintenance
The cats run very hot after driving it for a little bit, leading me to believe the car is running rich
timing belt was replaced at 105,000 and currently the car has 216,000 miles on it so that'll be something i need to do soon


Overall the car is close to death. However, i've fallen in love with the poor-performing land yacht and I'm obsessed with spending the time and money to repair and maintain this car until it is a well-performing land yacht.
I'm always looking for more information about the LS400, more importantly how to fix the problems my LS400 has.
Please feel free to put in your 2 cents on solving issues i've listed, or tell me i bought a basket-case and i need to give up on it. either way i'm going to do what i can on my own and post roughly every 2 weeks to every month with progress reports and pictures of the car until i'm satisfied with it.

any low-budget/high-quality fixes are welcomed since this car is a money pit and my wages are small as of now.

 

Oh man. $1100? I bought 2 for that! Welcome to the club! I'm balling on a budget as well, so it looks like we'll probably end up doing a lot of the same fixes! Seems like you've done your research on it.

if you haven't looked yet, Row52 is a great resource for salvage yards, and Copart is the place to try to buy a salvage car on auction. If you're not against salvaging or rebuilding parts, like that PS pump, you'll have that yacht sailing the concrete jungle in no time!

 

 

you're in the right place. start at the FAQ.
we covered a lot of your issues in various threads throughout already.
ECU caps are a huge problem and usually solves lots of drivability issues off the bat.

I like using car-part.com to find pieces.

 

 

Sometimes, the reverse and drive lights being on at the same time, along with other cluster lights, can be due to broken wires in the trunk wiring harness, if I'm remembering correctly.

This may not fix the transmission shifting issue, but check out the harness under the left arm of the trunk to see if any wires are exposed, severed, or touching.

Resource:
http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/lighting/bulbout.html

 

That's sounding like ECU. It cost me like $8 to get the caps for 2. If you're handy with a soldering iron.

 

If your transmission is making noise, chances are the filter is clogged and needing replacement. Buy 3 qts of Toyota T4 transmission fluid, remove the pan and buy a filter kit with gasket. It should help the noise immediately and help fix the shifting issues.

 

 

I think the best thing you could do for yourself is to buy a scanner. I bought a scanner that works on both air bag systems and antilock brakes. It's an autel 619. I bought it used for right around $100. I fixed a BMW 325 that had blown air bags. I had to replace three seat restraint squibs, and a battery squib and the drivers air bag. After I was done replacing parts, the scanner cleared all the codes. It's also worked on my brakes too. In addition, it gives a lot of real time data. For $100, it will be right up there with your best tool buy.

 

A 94 will be OBD1, meaning you don't need a scanner to read the trouble codes. All you need is a jumper (wire or paper clip will work) and then read the series of blinks from the check light to determine the code then research that to find what's wrong.

Here's a good example on an SC400. He jumps the diagnostics port under the hood, but there's one under the dash as well.



Good luck with your project! The LS400 will be a great car to learn on

 

yeah, no problem. Chances are, if you have the RTV goo around your pan, its what they use at the factory to seal the pan, so filter's probably never been changed.