Jecprorace

I'm pretty new to the Lexus scene although I've been working on cars for years and work in a shop. I bought a 98 ES 300 a couple months ago and I'm very happy with it. I do want more power and rear wheel drive though. I found a 95 sc400 with 165k miles. I could get it for 1400$. It is rust free and the interior is pretty nice. When k looked at it I found a few problems. It needs a rack and pinion. The coolant overflow bottle had a ton of little bubbles. It needs tired and brakes. It makes a clunk when I hit the gas. I'm wondering if it's worth the money or should I just wait and get something nicer for a little more money. I thought I would ask here on the forum where some of you guys have more experience with these cars. The coolant has me a little suspicious. I'm wondering if it needs a head gasket. Thanks for your help

Organized Garage Status

Welcome to the forums! Decades worth of great information are available here! To answer your question, any luxo car that's below $5k in value will end up being a money pit. Although these cars are bullet proof if proper maintenance are performed accordingly, unless you want to build it up I would find something more well taken care of and maintained. Good luck!

eknine9

iTrader: (8)

Clunk when accelerating could be the differential bushings are shot.
Rack and pinion is relatively easy to replace, problems tend to arise if the bolts are seized.
Tires and brakes are basic, however you could consider upgrading the brakes to Supra TT or LS400 brakes which offer more stopping power than SC brakes.
The bubbles in the overflow tank could be a large issue, possibly Blown Head Gasket... or maybe they're just bubbles.

At that mileage there are several other issues that may or may not need to be cleared up
Front LCA ball joints,
Igniters are probably on their last legs
Shocks or struts could be going bad soon
Power steering pump may go bad soon, causing it to leak and destroy the alternator
Timing belt needs to be addressed

And a couple other things. Unless there is legitimate repair reports to go along with this car that at least show they've addressed some of these issues I'd walk away and wait for a better example to pop up for sale. The price may seem nice, but you'll end up spending more than the cost of one in good shape just to address the issues this car may have.

tfwnoturbo

Agreed, unless you have a couple thousand bucks to spare you're gonna be in a world of pain if you buy one of these mystery sc's. That's not saying that all sc's without service history have been neglected and brought up to barely-running condition, in fact mine had no history other than it's warranty work at the dealership but it still had all it's service up to date. Good luck.

SCFactory

iTrader: (2)

Sums it up, if you haven't had a lot of experience with these cars or know somebody who is a good mechanic and can do it for you these are not the easiest cars to jump into, but if you stick with it, it's rewarding. If the cars is running and driving do the coolant flush and go from their. Clunking can be carrier bearing in driveshaft, transmission mount, or DS donut.