So I've finally found a great sc300 locally that I'm interested in buying. It's a 97 model, paint is good, interior is great, engine looks immaculate - yet of course, as usual something is off. When I test drove it this morning it ran as smooth as could be, and then a small miss gradually reared its ugly face the more I drove. I immediately parked it and plugged my personal scan tool up to it and got a 'P0306' code. Which of course is just 'Misfire on cylinder 6'.

Now I personally believe this is just a matter of the car needing a tune up, and worst case scenario it may potentially need a new cat. So my question is, since I'm new to the Lexus scene, has anyone seen a problem like this? Is this fairly common among SC's? Is there anything I should be aware of before I sink my money into purchasing this, and then even more money on getting it tuned up?

Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated!


[Car is a 97 Sc300 with 140k, never been wrecked.]

 

Or even if someone could point me towards a sc300 used buyers guide, I've been looking but I can't seem to find anything.

 

Did the engine look detailed? Could have got water in the plug wells. Happened to me. Check the cap and rotor too.

 

Yeah the engine looked like it had just come off the assembly line, so that's a good assumption. I'll definitely do that.

 

Is this a private sale or a dealership? Since you have a scan tool, i'm assuming you know how to work on vehicles.
If it's a dealership, estimate the worst case scenario of that code and work that into the negotiationg process. "I will buy this vehicle right now if you fix this issue"
If it's a private sale, have him knock some money off the price to fix the issue yourself.

 

It's a dealership and I've already got the price down from a listed '6900' which is laughable, to 4300. I might try to get a little more taken off for my troubles of repairing this, but I'm not going to push my luck when I've got such a great deal on such a desirable car.

I believe worst case scenario it's a cat or some sort of compression issue, I think more than likely it's either in need of new plugs and wires or it could be something simple like water in the plug well like the above poster suggested. I've never worked on these particular motors, how god awful will it be to get to the plugs?

 

since its a dealership im pretty sure of my diagnois. its the same i did. cleaned the engine and then the next day it ran rough and threw code p0304, cyl 4 misfire. opened it up and all plug valleys had standing water. after removing the water it ran perfect.
plug 6 is the closet to the firewall, easy to get to, the others not so much.

 

That would be fantastic if it were something that simple, I'll definitely swing by the dealership and see if they are willing to check on that for me. Thanks alot Boostin4, I'll keep the details coming if this issue isn't resolved.