New Member: Could Use Some Helpful Advice On A '90 Ls

[stook1]

Hello, I am a new member of the forum and spent the evening reading. A friend's father has offered to sell me his '90 LS. It is a silver cream-puff with about 70k on it. It has been religiously maintained at the dealer and an otherwise pampered, garaged, weekend car in beautiful condition. I am pretty sure he bought it used in '91 with very low miles. It's a nice car and I have been after him literally for years to sell the car to me. He doesnt get much use out of it, obviously, and has toyed with getting a new SC.

In any event, I am stuck. The car is great and I know it should last a while but it is also 17 years old. That is a pretty old car. I also own a super low miles '92 Olds (45k) and all the rubber moldings and components are wearing out on me. Its mechanically solid but very rough around the edges mostly from just age. I'll grant you, the original owner's maintenance was not great and it was not garaged for a bunch of years, but still... the years can be problematic.

Aside from the reassurance I need about buying an older vehicle, can anyone offer some feedback on fair pricing for the car? I don't yet have some of the key details - ie. air suspension, timing belt (probably not yet done), etc. In terms of pricing, I looked up the car on KBB and Edmunds. Edmunds says $3k, KBB says $6k. He is looking for about $5,500 but is probably somewhat negotiable. Having said that, he's also not actively trying to sell the car. Scanning through the forum, it seemed like people were paying this much a couple years back - perhaps with more miles. Just curious if this is high, average, reasonable, etc...

thanks so much for any help!

[nc211]

Stook1, that is a great deal! Don't worry about the age and rubber components. Yes, you'll have to probably replace a motor mount or two, and so forth, but trust me, trust all of us here, that when I say that LS400 is light-years ahead of that Buick you've got. You could park a brand new Buick, let it sit for 10 years, and it would look and drive like a 10 year old car. You do the same with a Lexus LS400, and it'll look like a 10 year old car "due to design changes", but drive like a 1 year old car. $5,500 bucks is a steal for that car, especially knowing it was well maintened and not abused. It's a steal, and if I were you, assuming you're correct that it is a creampuff, I'd buy it on the spot, because you ain't gonna find that again. A LOW mileage LS400, sitting in the owner's garage, for sale? With records from the dealership service department to boot? Fogetabutit'. Just doesn't happen very often. BUY THAT CAR, YOU WON'T BE DISSAPOINTED!!!

By the way, my 95, with 130k on the clock, driven every day, on rough roads, is still perfect in terms of the rubber seals. I did replace the weatherstipping around my front door, but honestly, kind of wish I didn't, because the car is soo air tight, that I've actually closed the door, only to realize in the morning that I didn't really close the door, and the interior light was on all night long. I have to slam the door when the windows are up to get it close. It's like a vault. Buy the car Stook, or tell us where it is, and I'm sure one of us will buy it!

And... 95's down here, which are a newer design, are selling in the $9,000 - $10,000 range with 125k miles.

[larryp]

I agree. You won't be sorry. Buy it quick!

[blake918]

In any event, I am stuck. The car is great and I know it should last a while but it is also 17 years old. That is a pretty old car.

That's a great mentality to have. If you do buy the car, haggle down (the price seems ok.) the lowest you can because their are things that brake on almost every first gen LS400 like the speedometer cluster, climate control lcd, power steering and alternator (it's a package deal because of their location.), possibly a costly timing belt job, and all of your suspension bushings/componets are fair game to need replacement. Some folks learn the heard way that actually buying the LS is only half the battle because they can put you in the poor house with the little nagging issues that come up here and there since the parts are so expensive. Good luck!

[stook1]

In any event, I am stuck. The car is great and I know it should last a while but it is also 17 years old. That is a pretty old car.

That's a great mentality to have. If you do buy the car, haggle down (the price seems ok.) the lowest you can because their are things that brake on almost every first gen LS400 like the speedometer cluster, climate control lcd, power steering and alternator (it's a package deal because of their location.), possibly a costly timing belt job, and all of your suspension bushings/componets are fair game to need replacement. Some folks learn the heard way that actually buying the LS is only half the battle because they can put you in the poor house with the little nagging issues that come up here and there since the parts are so expensive. Good luck!

Thanks for this response. That is actually quite useful. I am not a pro mechanic, but there is no rocket science to working on cars and I am certainly not afraid to turn the wrench. That being said, some of these items are surely dealer-only (or junk yard) parts. Can anyone give me a rough idea of parts cost for some these? I took the lead and glanced at Rockauto.com for prices on the non-dealer parts you mentioned - any particular reason to pay for dealer parts instead? Also, is it worth preemptively replacing the Power Steering pump to avoid trashing the Alternator? Did Lexus make any part improvements to prevent the Power Steering pumps from leaking?

Alternator - $150 reman

Power Steering Pump - $160 reman

Shocks - $95 for KYB GR2 each

Tie Rod Ends - $35 each

Ball Joints - $50 each

[RFeldes]

I must say the 90 is the most solid car that was built during that decade, for obvious reasons, one being the Toyota/Lexus push into the Luxury market. They knew they had to build a high quality automobile and spent an overly large sum in R&D to develop it to perfection in order to attack that segment. They also took a hit on the selling price in order to get a foothold. That being said, Blake makes a valid point as to the issues down the road, so to speak. Expect to invest another $3-5k to bring it up to snuff. Not a bad investment if you plan on keeping it. It is a tank and deserves the best of care. Still a great price for an auto that is not outdated and can stand up on it's own in pride of ownership. Great cars, no doubt about it. Like any auto of that vintage, maintenance becomes a serious issue. You must be ready to put in the extra bucks to keep it or you will surely be dissapointed. That car is very capable of going 300k plus miles. Are you ready to keep it that long? If yes, then a great, great Deal.

[stook1]

I must say the 90 is the most solid car that was built during that decade, for obvious reasons, one being the Toyota/Lexus push into the Luxury market. They knew they had to build a high quality automobile and spent an overly large sum in R&D to develop it to perfection in order to attack that segment. They also took a hit on the selling price in order to get a foothold. That being said, Blake makes a valid point as to the issues down the road, so to speak. Expect to invest another $3-5k to bring it up to snuff. Not a bad investment if you plan on keeping it. It is a tank and deserves the best of care. Still a great price for an auto that is not outdated and can stand up on it's own in pride of ownership. Great cars, no doubt about it. Like any auto of that vintage, maintenance becomes a serious issue. You must be ready to put in the extra bucks to keep it or you will surely be dissapointed. That car is very capable of going 300k plus miles. Are you ready to keep it that long? If yes, then a great, great Deal.

I see your point. Assuming I can get another 230k out of the car - that would be an unbelievable deal for 5k. In any event, just curious, how are you figuring 3-5k in refurb expense? That seems somewhat high unless you are including some of the more standard maintenance items (ie. timing belt).

Also, this is probably a dumb (ie. obvious) question but how do these cars do in crashes? This is going to be most a commuter car for me, but I am somewhat concerned about passenger safety without the airbag.

[boogieman]

Also, this is probably a dumb (ie. obvious) question but how do these cars do in crashes? This is going to be most a commuter car for me, but I am somewhat concerned about passenger safety without the airbag.

I took a direct drivers' side impact from a full sized truck doing 35-40MPH this past Feb. 9th. Although injured (3 Fractured vertabra, 1 crushed vertabra), then head-on into a tree at 40MPH. The car was totaled. I'm slowly recovering. The airbags not withstanding, I'm so convinced the car helped save my life, I bought a '95 as a replacement.

[RFeldes]

The $3-5k does take into consideration the 90k service.

[stook1]

The $3-5k does take into consideration the 90k service.

I think the 90k services takes into consideration the timing belt. Anything else significant? Since this is a non-interference engine there isn't any need to replace the belt at 90k. Why waste the money when people are getting 150k+ out of the original? The water pump is a different story, perhaps. Is this an aluminum block? Just trying to understand how much to fear a slight overheat should the water pump die.

[falciott]

The $3-5k does take into consideration the 90k service.

I think the 90k services takes into consideration the timing belt. Anything else significant? Since this is a non-interference engine there isn't any need to replace the belt at 90k. Why waste the money when people are getting 150k+ out of the original? The water pump is a different story, perhaps. Is this an aluminum block? Just trying to understand how much to fear a slight overheat should the water pump die.

Hey stook, I bought a 90 LS a couple of years ago with 38K original miles on it for $7K, the car now has around 56K miles or so, and all i've done as far as repairs is changing brakes and rotors, I changed the wires and spark plugs but in reality i didn;t really need to do that. So I didn;t exactly put in much money in repairs, but I did change every fluid possible. Also I wouldn;t necessarily change the T belt yet, but I would have it inspected for cracks. One important part of maintenance I did, was replacing the regular green coolant it had , with Toyota long life coolant, this, I am sure will increase the life of gaskets and seals in the cooling system and water pump, unless they're already shot. Minor flaws that the 1990 model year had, such as AC lcd blacked out, non working cd changer, were replaced with parts I got on ebay for very little money. I have added a bunch of techno goodies such as reverse sensors, bluetooth system, homelink, but between repairs and all these things I didn;t spend more then a $1K. So I seriously doubt you'll be spending $3K to $5K to bring it up to par, especially since you said the car has been very well cared for. I would definetly go for it, especially since that price is really reasonable, I would ask him if hes a bit negotiable on it, without pushing your luck and breaking the camels' back, it does sound like a good deal, just compare it with anything else out there for the same amount of money. Good luck!