Green 1998 with 275km

All I know it what the ad says. What does Yodaone think? Could be an easy fix?

 

Hard pass unless you're very skilled with a wrench. I'd rather do a timing belt job than replace an LS starter...
Who knows what other problems may be lurking once the starter is replaced and you get it running.

 

Yes, depends on your skill in evaluating and then fixing things. But ...

A starter that won't crank the engine could be a number of very simple things upstream of the starter. Fuse, starter relay, NSS. If you know (or can learn) what those are in the starter circuit, you may be able to diagnose before buying. You might want to agree on things beforehand just so the guy does not change his mind and decide to keep it once you start the car with a paperclip jumpering the starter relay.

Definitely agree on not buying a car that does not run. Who knows what else is wrong once you finally get the starter to work?

 

For the right price....

Remove the passenger side cam cover to check if timing belt broken.

Also see if crank turns easily.

$500 tops if not running.

 

Well I'm not very skilled with a wrench but I got nothing but time. And one of those 5 speed transmissions is enticing. Thanks for the input bradland and oldie.


Yoda, he says it cranks and starts and that the rust is only minor bubbling... He says he will take $900 which isn't that far off $500 USD. But maybe I can negotiate a little more. So if it cranks and starts... possibly it is not a starter issue but and ECU issue? That would be ideal no? Ottawa isnt that far away from me. If I can talk him down bit more because like oldskewel said there is bound to be other issues.

 

Any "rust bubbling" is never minor. If it's bubbling that means it's rotted underneath. If it's a $500 crasher then it really doesn't matter. But if you plan on taking care of the car that's something to really think about cuz if it shows rust already, there's plenty more that's just waiting to pop out.
You don't have to ask me how I know.
It looks like he has it just stashed behind the other cars so if you offer him $500 he might take it just to clear some room. It doesn't look too bad in the pics and it comes with extra set of wheels and tires.

 

Thanks for the input sir shark. I live in Canada so I dunno if there are any without rust on them. Extra wheels are always nice. Well... After brief discussion with the seller he says he thinks its a relay issue because the car starts but will shut off after a couple minutes. So its not drive-able in its current condition and I don't want to flatbed anything from Ottawa. Going to look over the forums for similar situations.

 

There is no "" about a 1UZ with a starter issue. No at all.

 

Its the smile of pain (edit: of a guy) who enjoys pain. lol. but I'm looking over things and of course I think the first thing I found is the answer. The car is going into inhibit mode... Looking at an older Yamae post.

 

 

Made me lol.

This Old Girl

Is way nicer but its out in BC. That is what I want Ideally right there TBH.... I guess its not that far of a drive... only 4 days not stopping for sleep.

 

Sounds like the car has some mystery electrical issues that are no fun. And if its rust bubbles around the rear wheel arches, that is super common on these cars. My 98 has some rust bubbling but the undercarriage is ridiculously clean, undercarriage rust and rot doesn't take even the rattiest examples of these cars off the road.
If the starting issue is the starter, it is seriously not that difficult at all. The 98-00 are much easier than the earlier year cars because the entire intake manifold comes out as 1 big hunk of aluminum. Disconnect the 8 coil packs, move the wiring harness out of the way, undo I think 8 bolts for the intake and all the vacuum hoses and lift it out of the way. No removing injectors or other nonsense. I've done a timing belt/water pump job on both my 97 and 98 LS, and I've done the starter on my 98 The starter was way easier than either timing belt job 10/10 would do it again to save ~$600.
All that said, there are clean examples of these cars that have no running issues all over the place, I wouldn't deal with a sort-of-running example that needs troubleshooting and definitely needs maintenance

 

I totally disagree with that remark. As I've mentioned before "I have one". It should be off the road, but I only drive 2 miles a day. My undercarriage is so rotted when I tried loosening a bolt for the sway bar bushing, (because the bracket rotted in half) the bolt snapped and a bit of the frame came out with half the bracket. So now I have 1 1/2 brackets holding the sway bar in. Eh, oh well. Also went to change (but didn't) the strut rod and lateral arm bushings and cringed when I seen how much rot. I'm surprised the whole frame hasn't just disintegrated yet. Not to mention the holes in my floorboards. None of that even began to show 3 years ago when I bought it.
Watch out for that rust.

 

The seller claims it to be immaculate even on the underside. He won't come down from $900.... There is another one for sale, same year and color with more KM and less options (I believe) listed for $3,500. If he was within 10km of my house I would have bought it already for sure, $900 is nothing, it comes with extra wheels and tires. Wheels and tires for the LS are at least $500 in canada. If I wanted to buy the Shiny OEM wheels on it i'm sure I couldn't get them for $900.

 

It looks very nice inside and out. $900 is a steal. Absolute worst case you'd still get your money back out of it.