1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

Hmmmmmm,,,,,, Sounds like these cars can go either way.

I still havent gave up hope yet.

My car is at my mechanics right now and I am hoping for a good outcome.

The scary thing is all of the electrical computers and sensors which in my case are close to twenty years old.

I DO NOT want to sell this car so I am hoping for the best.

Especially after seeing what some of you guys are doing to them, look great!!!!

Thanks for your input guys!!!!

willhickey

iTrader: (1)

you didnt even say what its doing.......... and to the guy with the bad tranny and power steering leak how many miles do you have? mine was 251k ........... rubber's not meant to last forever aka leaks

sbs9

Best-built, most-bulletproof cars I've ever been around. Second place isn't even close. And I've had several Honda and Toyota products among many others.

Owned my first one from ~0 mi to ~115k and the only failure was a window regulator.

Any (ab)used car can be a disaster regardless of how well built it was from the factory.

BLK13X

Here's my shake down on these cars. I've owned 3 of them so far, a 93 twin turbo DD, 97 single turbo ex-DD and 91 V8 DD.

93 Twin Turbo. Purchased with 77k, sold with 200k: Electrical issue due to dodgy alarm install, blown rear turbo, idler bearing seized needing the drivebelt replaced and blinkidash which was fixed. Sold with what seemed to be a transmission solenoid issue.
97 Single Turbo - Purchased with 53k, still have as a project: Broke the battery terminals and just today may have blown the diff after being an idiot.
91 V8 - Purchased with 146k, still have it as a daily: Aircon needs regassing due to not replacing an O-ring on one of the hoses, reverse lights don't light up all the time (could be reverse relay on gearbox, not sure yet) and seems a little off on idle (possibly ISC valve).

These are the only problems I have encountered with these cars. Considering they are nearly 20 years old they've held up quite well.

czar07

mmm ive had mine for a year..problems..what problems?

**touches wood**

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

My car was great for about 6 months and now ive run into a very stressful problem.

The car stalled out on me while driving.

Than was giving me trouble starting sometimes but would work for the most part.

Car was throwing a code 41 "tps" and than a code 12 "rpm".

I replaced the "tps" and cleared the codes and the problem persisted.

Codes do not come back but symptoms persists.

Lexus dealer spent 3 hours and had no answers for me.

Now I have figured out that the problem is directly related to the temperature.

Car is not overheating but when it gets going "after15-20 minutes" something cuts out.

Let the car cool down and starts right up.

I poured water on the engine and the car started right up.

So my mechanics next step is to spray co2 "ice cold air" on different sensors and electronics and see which one is malfunctioning.

At first i thought it was an "ecu" problem but I dont think so anymore.

Any thoughts?

The problem is killing me.

Brendon

iTrader: (1)

The only two issues I've had since I bought my car are a check engine light that's been coming on and off every 6 months over my cats, and my A/C compressor which died this summer. I suppose I could blame those on the car, but I think it has more to due with the fact that both units are 14 years old. Only other electrical issue I've had is the pos nak sound system. The tape deck died on me so I can't listen from my iPod anymore, and the bass is blown so I get this thumping sound if I turn the volume up too high. I can see why Nakamichi went bankrupt.

Still, all things considered, the cost of maintaining our cars is still far cheaper than making payments on a new (or newer) car. My friend with his 08' Infiniti G37 pays $510 per month ($6120 per year). Plus his insurance and excise tax is about double the cost of mine. You can also factor in that I bought my car privately, so no dealer fee, and the upfront tax on my car was about $600, while he paid something like $2000.

I will say 1 thing, parts are a helluvalot more expensive than they were on my old Corolla, but even if it costs me $1000 per year to maintain my car, its still FAR cheaper to own. At 128k miles, my old 1UZ still runs strong.

1JZPWRD

iTrader: (59)

I have always said, if you take care of it, it will take good care of you!

megamax

iTrader: (9)

185,000 but the exterior is mint not a spec of rust.(and the undercarrage isn't bad either). i have some maintence record signatures going back to 2000. but it looks like a well maintained car(minus the ripped drivers leather seat,and dirty carpet).

my ls400 had 312,000 miles and the tranny still ran. so it's a crap shoot. i think the powersteering setup is very problematic though(wtf were they thinking)

scENFORCER

I had a terrible experience with my previous SC. It was a '95 SC4. Door handle, master-cylinder, amp and other electrical gremlins made the car a disaster to keep.
I've had my '99 now for just over a year and my alternator has gone, and my antenna just stopped working.. (oh and trunk shocks were replaced on both of them as well).
I dunno, I always said they were reliable, but..

BLK13X

Only when driving? Does it happen when you try to start the engine once it's up around operating temperature as well? My V8 would barely keep it's idle until I had swapped out a faulty fuel pump ECU. Hasn't missed a beat since.

Mine has started to do that occasionally. I've just swapped out the terminals and it has seemed to rectify the problem a little bit, haven't mucked around with the TPS though. I'll probably fit a new earth strap first to see if that'll help as well (it did on my old Soarer).

LEXXIUM

iTrader: (1)

120k still on original timing belt (it will be replaced during the fall season) and no problems so far, I just keep up on the maintenance, I've owned toyotas in the past and few currently in a family never had any electrical issues. I think you should keep it and take care of it, you would have to do that on any car you'd buy anyway, but without a payment

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

Thanks guys.

And yes my car does does fail at starting up once it has reached temperature.

What do you mean switch the terminals? I am new to this.

Also the engine seems to be getting fuel during the bad starts and stalls. Lexus dealer and my mechanic said so.

Since the car wouldnt start for over an hour (tried many times) and than started right up and ran like a dream as soon as I poured water on the engine to cool it down i dont see it being a fuel ecu or even the main ecu like I once thought.

I am leaning towards it being a sensor cutting out once getting hot or a relay of some sort.

Anyways my mechanic is very good and he told me to be patient and he should be able to figure it out.

Thanks again for the input guys.

Oh and it seems like alot of people here have had problems with their sc's,,,,,,we have to remember alot of the people here (myself included) found this site while trying to figure out the difficult problems we were having.

There are many sc owners that havent visited this forum because there cars are running perfectly fine. (probably the majority)

Thanks!!!

BrandonLs

i have a few friends with a sc300/400 and they both love their cars and havent had any problems with the cars

Brendon

iTrader: (1)

No offense to anyone, but seriously what do you expect to get when you buy a car that's nearly 20 years old? You have no idea where or what this car has gone through. You don't know if the previous owner decided to cheap out by driving 20,000 miles without changing the oil. And for those of you who swear by carfax, I can tell you with complete honesty those things are about as useless as trying to wage a war against terrorism.

Case in point, the first winter I owned my car I was driving across state to visit my friend during our winter break. It was around Jan 08, about 2 weeks after I bought my car. Up to that point, I had never driven a car that could reach triple digit speeds so easily, nor had I ever driven RWD. I decided to punch it up to 110 and see how fast I could get to my friend's college. While passing someone, I ended up switching lanes too fast, and I'm pretty sure I also hit a patch of ice. Needless to say, I sent my car into a 360 off the road and came to a slamming halt into a guard rail at around 30-40 MPH. I can only thank Toyota they build these cars like tanks. The only damage really was the bumper, driver's headlight, and the front crash bar. Amazingly, it hit at such an angle that the airbags didn't go off. I shut the car off immediately and got out to check the damage. For the first 30 seconds, the car wouldn't start. I assume the ECU was doing a diagnosis, because after 30 seconds, it let me start again, although it drove like the engine was restricting my speed for the first few miles. The car was good enough to drive away so no 911 call or towing (i.e. no documentation on the accident), but insurance wouldn't cover the damage since I didn't have collision coverage. I paid for the repairs out of pocket. Do a carfax report on my car and you'll never see any of this.

So just remember that when you buy a car "as is", that means AS IS. 20 years is a long time, and you have no idea how many people drove it, what they did with it, etc.