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I was an incredibly happy owner of the 2002 LS430. Well, I was untill last wednesday. A year long adventure with the very first Lexus. Unfortunately I had to give up. Everything started falling apart. Rear suspension, engine problems, steering issues, all at once. I decided it would not be worth spending any more money on it as she was getting old and problems began piling up.
With tears I was picking up my next car, little Nissan hatchback. Going from a luxury 4,3 V8 to a little 1.5 engine felt terrible. But I had no choice. On the way back home after I bought the car check engine light came up. So I thought - could it get any worse?!
Back to the garage - P0171. Lean mixture. Superb.
The next day I went to the mechanics couple of miles away, hoping that the guy would have the O2 sensor as I know he keeps a lot of used parts for all sorts of vehicles. I thought I had no luck, cos he didn`t actually have one. But that was the first time I saw the LS400. 4 litre V8. Fell in love right away. It was sitting by the side of the garage, dirty and unwanted. Immediately I asked him what`s going on with this car and why is it sitting there. He said he parked it there three yrs ago and just abandoned it cos he was fed up with the fuel consumtion. So the very next question I asked him if it was for sale. He said yes and gave me the key. With all the excitement I filled it with fresh fuel started the engine up (worked perfectly after all these years sitting - was quite surprised) had a quick look here and there and started negotiating. So here I am with the mighty LS400. I am aware of the fact that this was probably the most ridiculous idea of buying the car like that right after I gave up on the car cos I didnt want to spend hundreds fixing it up.. But honestly I could not resist.
Since the car was sitting for so long I expected quite a long list of stuff that can go wrong. Although the car is 25 yrs old it has only covered 76k miles. All the suspension is pretty badly rusted, most of it needs replaced, but the bodywork seems to be in a good condition.
Steering pump had no oil for some reason, so I filled it up. Power steering went back to normal however it started to make a horrible noise which would probably be expected since it took a little while to fill the entire system with oil. It has quieten down after few minutes but I will probably take the pump off the car and get it inspected since there was no visible leaks.
Also gearbox oil sump is leaking so will have to get that resealed. I never actually worked on an automatic gearboxes before, but it seemed pretty odd that it was leaking from all around the edge of a sump..
Overall the car is in a fairly good condition giving its age and I am more than excited to start working on it.
I would really appreciate any advice from you guys on what to keep an eye on or where to look for any common faults.
Congratulations! There are sticky threads at the top of the forum that will help you, and a section for the 1990-1994 model years. I’d try to drive it a good bit since it has set for so long. Maybe put some Seafoam or equivalent in the tank when you fill it up. With a little cleaning and tinkering it will be awesome. Welcome to the forum!
04-12-19, 03:20 PM
Barn Find! Got myself a `94 LS400 mk1
