1993 Lexus Sc300 Divorce

[dchapp2001]

Folks,

In 1997 I bought my 1993 Lexus SC300. It had around 95,000 miles on it and I didn't expect it to run forever. But it seems it almost did. I put around 175,000 miles on the car myself. I did replace the front and rear engine seals. But that about it, and it never did smoke are use oil. Man, I love that car......page 2.

One day the car cranked but did not fire. After much research I thought I discovered the problem and set out to fix it myself. I am somewhat mechanical inclined, but certainly not a professional. I changed out a switch on the fuel system (forgot the actual part name) and used a feeler guage to set everything back to proper on the "fuel system". Bingo...it fired and I drove it around 3 or 4 miles, went home, parked, and it has not fired since. I rechecked all the settings several times, but could never get it to fire again, and found the plug were all carbon'd up. So, I started looking for other issues and found that it was not getting fuel from the fuel rail to the plugs. So, thinking something was clogged up, I began taking the fuel rail off to get to the problem. Unfortunately, that is where the repair story ends. I am a software consultant and travel 100%. Having a family, and a traveling job takes all my time. The car is great, and I love it, but I just don't have time to tinker. So, here's my question.....how much could I expect to receive for the car if I sold it "as is"? Body is great. Interior not so great. And engine...well you know that situation by now. It's a classic and I toyed with the thought of buying a new engine, turbos, replacing the auto transmission with a manual transmission, and replacing the interior. If I was wealthy I would probably do that, but you can add those dollars up and see that I would be talking about serious money to do it right.

So, I digress....but I am really going to miss that car. When it quit running I went out and bought a boxter. That boxter holds the road like no other. But that SC300 would run circles around it. Geez, I feel like I'm going through a divorce. :(

Thoughts?

I'll post pictures as a follow up.

Dan

[Dannymcenrow]

Unfortunatly not that much.

I see them go at $2500-$3000 but I advice you to just repair that car.

Because they don't make cars like this anymore

My sister bought her 1994 sc400 in 1997 And drove it for 9 years and sold it to me 4 years ago.

Now she's got a 1999 rx300 at 113k and the tranny already died.

But my car is still running very and I mean very well like it's brand new but it has 145k on it.

And I drive a little agressive I drive it like a BMW or an AUdi but it still runs great I mean absolutely great the engine doesn't make any weird noise and the transmission still shifts very smooth.

And it doesn't leak any oil either it's like the only 1994 car that doesn't leak any oil.

Amazing.

But newer cars aren't so great they won't last as long so you better just fix your sc.

Somebody told me that the engine in japanese cars are too hard to rebuild so I'll get rid of mine when the engine starts to burn oil or something like that.

[LEXIRX330]

Dan-

I am sure that it is hard to part was with a car like that. Like you I do not have time to tinker with my cars either...but even if I did have the time I don't think that I would enjoy it.

If you don't plan to do everything yourself then you are talking some big $$$...but another option that you could consider doing is find someone who works on cars that has a reliable shop and start getting some prices on getting your engine work done and then go from there if it looks like you will just throw good money after bad then dump it. Either way with any car that age you will have some problems...things just wear out after awhile...

Best of Luck!

[boostin240]

You know you can swap in a Japanese twin turbo 300 hp engine with low mileage usually around 40,000 miles into the car. Its a direct drop with minor modifications and you will not only be able to drive the car for another 300,000 miles or so but you will also gain an extra amount of horsepower and you will have a car thats nicer and faster then most new luxury cars. Check out supra forums.com and club lexus for more info on that. I personally own a SC300 with 206,000 miles on it and love, its my daily driver. I also have a 1995 Nissan 240SX that is my weekend "toy" and I am almost done swapping the twin turbo engine from the Japanese SC300 aka the Soarer into it.

[boostin240]

Unfortunatly not that much.

I see them go at $2500-$3000 but I advice you to just repair that car.

Because they don't make cars like this anymore

My sister bought her 1994 sc400 in 1997 And drove it for 9 years and sold it to me 4 years ago.

Now she's got a 1999 rx300 at 113k and the tranny already died.

But my car is still running very and I mean very well like it's brand new but it has 145k on it.

And I drive a little agressive I drive it like a BMW or an AUdi but it still runs great I mean absolutely great the engine doesn't make any weird noise and the transmission still shifts very smooth.

And it doesn't leak any oil either it's like the only 1994 car that doesn't leak any oil.

Amazing.

But newer cars aren't so great they won't last as long so you better just fix your sc.

Somebody told me that the engine in japanese cars are too hard to rebuild so I'll get rid of mine when the engine starts to burn oil or something like that.

Who told you such lies? Japanese engines are the same as any other engine. They are no more expensive or harder to rebuild then any other engine out there. As a matter of fact they are probably easier and cheaper to rebuild then most engines compared to BMW, Mercedes etc. and they are usually far more reliable.

[Dannymcenrow]

I don't know but The guy I know who works at a garage said that they don't rebuild Japanese engines because the parts are hard to reach or something like that.

But he didn't say the Lexus engine he said japanese cars Like the Subaru Legacy and cars like that when their engine dies you can't rebuild them.

But the thing is nobody knows about the 1 UZ FE engine.

I like to keep this car for a long time but don't know if I'll be able too because I know that with American cars when the engine gets old you can rebuild them and like put a new crankshaft re sleeve them change the pistons,pistons rings ,gaskets and stuff like that and more.

But I don;t know if it can be done with these engines because nobody ever actually worked on these.

My engine is still good as new but the thing is I think my driving is a little bit to much to make it last a lot longer.

I drive in pwr mode and sometimes gear changes at like 4 or 5 k Rpms because I drive a little sporty but till now I have 0 issues with this car and hope to keep it that way.