MJK

Hi All,

I am a long time GS430 owner who gave it up a few years ago to a family member.

Fast forward to now, and I am looking to potentially add something moderately priced, comfortable and reliable to rack up a lot of 'away from home' miles with over the next 2-4 years. The plan would then be to get it to a good baseline (timing belt, brakes, plugs, hoses, suspension, fluids & tires) and then hope to put another 100k on it with normal maintenance only. It would not be uncommon for me to drive multiple states away for months at a time, and leave it at an airport for a week or two there while I am back in AZ. So, reliability is important. I guess this is sort of middle aged man's 'college car' in terms of practical use? Anyways, a 04-06 LS430 or a 2010-2012 LS460 with 60-120k is on my short list.

I found what appears to be a very nice 100k mile 2004 LS430 with modern lux for $9500 out the door. The Lexus website shows regular dealer maintenance and the vehicle appears to have been garaged and cared for with quality parts. This sounds perfect, save the fact that a few months ago and a couple thousand miles ago the car overheated with a cracked radiator top plate and was towed to the local Lexus dealer. I don't know how much it overheated. Radiator, hoses and thermostat were replaced, but the car was traded shortly there after. From there, it appears to have gone to auction where it was picked up by a Mom & Pop local dealer who now has it for sale.

I normally would not even consider buying something like this (either from a used dealer, or that had overheated). However, the car otherwise seems compelling and I had exactly the same thing happen at about 100k on my 4.3L GS. After replacing the radiator, thermostat, hoses and water pump (they did not do this on the LS), it was dead reliable for another 60k and remains so today.

I'm new to this generation LS. What do you guys think? I appreciate any words of wisdom you all have to share.

Striker223

Start it, let it sit running for an hour and see if coolant is in the oil or any misfire shows up, if it's clean then it should be fine. The engines are all alum so not as vulnerable as a iron/alum type engine

430SLOwner

You may wish to consider asking the service manager (have the VIN so service manager can easily find out who) if you may speak with the service adviser who wrote it up and the mechanic who worked on it for feedback on the overheating issue and whether they would be willing to buy and own it after it overheated. And, perhaps ask the used car manager why the car was sent to auction instead of kept and sold retail. (The local Lexus store near me sends trade-ins with issues to auction and retails trade-ins itself when inspections show no issues, or minor issues it can easily resolve before offering for sale....) You may also wish to find out if the car was part of the transmission and/or fuel pump recalls. (Lexus LS 430 Sedans Recalled By Harry Stoffer Automotive News WASHINGTON Thirteen thousand owners of 2004 Lexus LS 430 sedans are entitled to new transmissions, according to Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. Toyota said a part in the planetary gear assembly can break during acceleration and disable the parking gear. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the defect creates a risk of rollaway crashes. That was one of two newly announced recalls for the top-of-the-line Lexus sedan, NHTSA records show. Lexus dealers also will replace fuel pumps in about 14,000 2004-model LS 430s. Alcohol in some fuels ? such as an ethanol additive ? can cause a pump impeller to deform and contact the pump body. This leads to pump failure, the company says.)
Also follow Striker223's advice. (He is an ace wrench,)

weldthedif

Maybe do a compression test on it before buying, and if it's passed that and still running its probably fine.

Striker223

They may not allow that is the only issue, some people get really iffy when you even just take the engine cover off

Johnhav430

I don't know what the rules are because the LS430 is the first time I bought used that cost > $2,000. Learned a lot--and my car was purchased from a new car dealer, not a used car dealer nor private party. They churn and burn with no regard to what they are actually doing--it's the number and below a certain level they are going to wholesale it off. Mine was $2000 less than what they first advertised, yet, when I first offered, they would not accept what I ultimately paid. And, nobody here bought my car, I am sure multiple people came across it (9/16 2006 2 owner FLA car with 81k). Again, I got lucky they were willing to do the front brakes with OE, and do the front driver door actuator, after I drove off and paid. But that shouldn't have happened, that was my bad. And it would be nearly impossible to know the driver door is not locking on a single test drive.

jmo for me it is not wise to go into something knowing there was a major event, because we already have no idea about the minor ones. But if it's me and say I'm looking at a 2013 S63 AMG and they want $35k for it. I "will" need the vehicle for 1-2 days, AND it will be going to a MB specialist who is going to be inserting cameras into panels, measuring the exterior with a paint depth meter, removing stuff, etc. If the seller says no? Then no dice. Sell your item to someone else who doesn't care about what you're hiding and what's lurking within!

kos

iTrader: (1)

OP where at in Arizona are you? I had LEKSFIXIT in Tempe do a PPI on my LS430, and they did an excellent job. Their specialty is Lexus, maybe the seller would be okay with having the car go there for an inspection first?

Johnhav430

The irony of the scenario in the car business? You could buy a LS430 from dealer a, and drive it to dealer b, and dealer b will do a free multipoint and tell you that they are recommending $6700 worth of work. One could say well then how come dealer a is selling the vehicle at full retail and never mentioned that there is $6700 of work recommended? The question to me is whether or not a multipoint is valid. I don't think so, it's a revenue generator. So the key would be that the co. doing a PPI, has the person paying for it, their best interest in mind. The opposite of such would be buying a house from the realtor whose name is on the sign. They have the seller's interest in mind. That would be pretty stupid for them to collect both sides of the transaction.

Striker223

When I first bought my car I took it for some settings adjustments and they claimed my car needed like 7k worth of work, I told them they missed a few things and pointed it out for them and they were shocked. Also shocked when it came back for an alignment and everything was fixed, asked where I took it and I said I did it.

After that my service writer is very direct and no BS with me unlike any other breaks dealer I've dealt with, very nice actually and pleasant to deal with on all levels. He even marked everything as repaired in the system for me with addendums of the parts used. The general service and staff was so good If I don't feel like doing something I will take it there when lazy.

The inspection is decent but they will miss stuff since they will not tug one everything by hand and carefully remove every panel, it's mainly a tactic to get you to buy a new car on an old one like these.

Margate330

True this...
The chain I worked at did "free multi-point inspection" on every service they did- even for a customer with an engine steam clean or a tune up coupon it didn't matter.
They were all gimmicks to get the car up on the air with wheels off to "recommend" a grocery list of "needed" services.
Recommended and needed are two different things depending who is benifiting. lol

bradland

Exactly why the Autozones (etc.) and the like will plugin and read DTCs FREE of charge. "We just happen to have that failed sensor in stock sir"

Gronemus

I suspect that the owner decided to sell it mainly because it was past due for it's timing belt service. [Or was that already in the service history?]

If the car was pristine and I was interested in it I would try to get a hold of the previous owner to get his version of what had happened. I think it might be a little over valued right now but then again the market price in AZ is certainly higher than what it is here. Let us know what you end up doing...

Bocatrip

I will admit I have not read the other posts for this thread. . We all know how any kind of overheating can have lasting affects on any engine, especially an older engine. My personal preference with a car that was so mass produced is to move on. Why take a chance? Unless the car was gifted to you. Too many other choices out there.

MJK

Thanks for all your help guys.

I'm in Tucson, and use Dan's Toy Shop for any service I don't want to do. This is the car in question and if I were to make an offer, it would include a PPI there done at my expense to include a compression test. I'd then do whatever is on their list and mine. It has had a claimed timing belt, but frankly I would plan on re-doing it anyways so I don't really care.

What I don't know is what if any long term implications there would be of this overheating. Maybe something melted and got sucked into the coolant passages of the engine, or who knows what else? I have trust issues with these type of dealers, but happen to like the spec on this car. It isn't perfect, but if it were being sold privately I would be be interested. LS430s do seem high priced around here, relative to LS460 offerings anyways. Examples: 2005 LS430 Private Party 2010 LS460 Private Party

I'd rather overpay for the right car than get the wrong one, and have time to be patient with this. That may be the best plan.