LexSC400328

some things that seeem to go wrong with every SC every made..lol are dimming guage needles, blacked out climate control LCD screen, fuel injector ticking, altenators.. basically, depending on the miles, you will want to check for a timing belt job..just to see if its been done..when i bought my 93 SC400 for 4,500..it had a timing belt done 50k miles ago so i think im all set...but just make sure it runs SMOOOOTH...let it idle and accelerate slowlyyyy! cause mine just blew a head gasket and it runs rough as hell and the mech. says it was gone when i bought it... check the tires...they tell a story...if theres any un-even wear on them you can decide what type of front end problems it might have...check for rot of any kind under the car, under the rug in the trunk, and under the hood beside the engine...check the climate control unit to make sure its functional...(big or small problems if it isnt) listen for exhaust leaks, otherwise its just the basic stuff to watch out for...such as fluids and what not. check the oil to see if there is any coolant mixed in with it..(hopefully not!) these cars are absolutely beautiful machines...they treat you well if you treat them well. as old as they are, they still turn heads as if it were an 08' model. the 4.0 and 3.0 are perfect engines, both fuel efficient and beastly. let me know which one you pick out! Derek

yeah it sounds closer however he says if he;s taking the thing apart i might as well 1) replace both head gaskets 2) polish and clean up both heads 3) replace the timing belt it sounds about right..i would basically have a brand new engine at that point which would be awesome...NOT cheap however = / guess we'll see what he says..i just dropped it off tonight to be worked on all monday and tuesday so ill keep you guys posted

I feel for you buddy, but honestly it would be easier on your pocketbook if you found a parts car with a motor in good condition, brought the new motor/trans to a reliable private mechanic and have the motor swapped out. Even just fixing the engine in that SC4 would still make it more reliable/cheaper than any other vehicle you would trade it for. Find yourself a private mechanic used to dealing with the motors in the Toyota Tundras and he could easily deal with the motor in your car. Surely dont go through lexus for parts, search them out through outside dealers. If you cant find them at a good price i will get them for you at cost. The only reason i would do that is because you obviously love your car, i want to be able to help you get back behind that wheel. In the end if you can fix your car, you'll keep another SC4 from hitting the graveyard, and that is worth every last bit of the trouble its gonna take to get it running again. -Julian hey bro thank you so much...but however today i have better news. my grandfather calls a private mechanic used to dealing with toyota motors...and the estimate is now down to 1,500.00 :D i can almost afford that right now even though it will compltely clear out my bank account i feel it is worth it because there is no other car like an SC400 around here. no other car would replace my SC4 in looks, reliability, or sound for that matter. so i believe im going to save up for about another week or so..then hand my baby over to this garage and make her good as new again. however this now comes with a catch, because when the garage found out i wasnt going through them, they said "ok fine but you owe us umm lets see...ah here we go $600.00 for the time and labor we spent looking for this problem" but whatever, i think i will be okay. so im absolutely doing everything in my power to keep another SC400 alive. :)

well hey thanks guys for reading my situation...(i wish i lived in Texas) its bothering me so much now that i think more about it...i put so much time into this car, i put a 500 dollar quality exuast system on there, tinted the windows, bought HID's, reconditioned the whole interior, :( and it does bother me a lot knowing what a DAMN good motor this thing has in it that is now essentially useless...but about replacing one..im not sure if its possible i just know what the mechanic told me and he said its a 20 hour job with a very expensive part..so right now im jsut lookin around on autotrader just lookin for sometihn cheap and reliable and economical to hold me off before i go to college in about 9 months... once i find sometihng i like somehwat that i can afford...the garage said to let them know and they will put some stop leak in my car to buy me enough time to trade it in (which my deeeeeeeply religious grandfather completely disagrees with and says god will know im being dishonest if i do this) but however i have no choice..i deliver pizza for a living and i need a car so who knows... <_<

hi everyone...today i have received horrible news...my SC400 will be passing away soon. the first day i registered the car, my MOM took it out for a joy ride before i could look at everything and she drove it for over an hour with no coolant in it! :( i get a phone call saying my engine is smoking and i INSISTED she turn it off immidiately...i guess immidiately wasnt quick enough...for the radiaor had a big hole in it, the radiator hoses had new cracks, and now he worst news of all...the head gasket is demolished. for over 2 months the car ran beautiful...i fell in love with it..it became my pride and joy. i washed this car every day and cared for it like it was a human being. im only 17 and you would think i would be beating the hell out of it to show off to my friends but i was the complete opposite...i respected this car for how incredible of a machine it was and drove it slow and took care of it. just recently the motor started stumbling and i posted a topic about it where it had MAF codes coming up...it turns out i fixed the codes with a new sensor...but the stumbling continued.. as of today, the mechanics had sad looks on their faces when i showed up and they say " son, the head gasket is completely fried" repair cost est. $3,000.00..estimated life span...no idea...they say the gasket was ruined from some sort of "overheating" as soon as he said that i knew what happened...(my mom's doings) he said it had just gotten progressively worse and now its near the breaking point...so my options are as follows 1) drive it until it passes away...(very soon) 2) find something i like and have him put stop leak in it to buy me time to trade it in. i will never forget my pride and joy, first sports car, first lexus...i cant stand to let it go but i am left with no choice. 1993 Lexus SC400 --/--/93' - 11/5/08' :cries: :cries: :cries: :cries: :cries:

man...im not sure but to me it sounds like the fuel has no problem GETTING to your engine, but the issue of a spark! is whats the problem...therefore i would suggest that maybe you check the whole ignition system..for example plugs, rotors, caps, wires (could be fried) or maybe the starter? it definetly sounds like an electrical problem to me man. let me know

well i would be willing to pay you for it...over the counter at autozone its supposed to be 63$...so for the sensor does that sound fair? not the housing just the sensor "which i hope is perfectly functional" let me know..

hello everyone i have been battling my car and trying not to stall out for the past 2 weeks cause of a mass airflow sensor that i need...however, not ONE AUTO REPAIR SHOP in my entire city had the ability to get the part...they scan nation wide looking for it and nothing comes up...lexus wants 1300$ for the job which i am NOT paying for because im 17 and i dont have 1300 to spend on my car right before i go to college...its barely driveable..its getting 8 mpg w/ the bad sensor, and i cant take it anymore so if ANYONE can give me the phone number or has a parts car i will be HAPPY to buy it off you or call the junk yard in which there is a MAF. thanks

so how about this...if i disconnect my MAF the car runs beautiful...once i plug it back in it runs terrible again..i think this is a clear cut case of MAF being completely shot lol

so today i got my Ebay MAF in the mail and i put it on as quick as i could and i started it up and my car ran like absolute poooooooop..(worse than my current one) i love my luck..so i sent the guy an email demanding a refund and he hasnt responded yet...= /

well i tried your test...and here are the results. i started the car and it runs good for like 30 seconds before it starts stumbling...so i open the hood and start to TAP the MAF...tapping seemed to have no effect on the engine stumbling since it didnt stop or get any worse...so partly based on my anger at my MAF for failing i began to PUNCH it with a very hard pound about 10-15 times and still no reaction...i dont really know if this is a good or a bad sign haha..but yeah apparently express mail isnt EXPRESS enough

let me first say i took out a 20 dollar bill and told the guy to take it as a tip and he wouldnt do it...so atleast i tried but i will see what i can do in the future for business there... anyways...when i first got home from the dealership, i bought some MAF cleaner and took apart the intake. i thouroughly sprayed the sensor and put the stock air box back in and took out my K&N filter system. when i started it back up, it was PERFECT...idled FINE, accelerated nice and smoooth..no stumbling...then as i pulled back into my driveway, the TRAC OFF and CEL both pop on and the stumbling starts again just as bad as before...so my guess is that the sensor was on its way out the last week, and finally died the other day causing the lights to pop on..and my cleaning temporarily revived it for 20 minutes but its just as bad as before (it actually stalled this morning) so i bought a MAF on ebay for 115$ used supposedly in "very good working order" i ordered it priority mail so it should be here soon enough...i had to use my moms camry to deliver pizza tonight cause my beloved SC is just too sick right now to handle 5 hours of delivering... :cries: i cant wait to get my sensor IN and working fine...howevvvvvvver! my mechanic is skeptical about this...he is scared that something else that is wrong may have caused the MAF to fail as well..any ideas what that could be about? i guess the only way to tell is to wait for my sensor to get here and put it in there and see what she does... by the way thank you very much for all your input i appreciate it VERY MUCH

dont apologize for the long post i thoroughly enjoy feedback...ok so to start..i actually was standing at the window while they did my spark plugs and wires so they did do the work...the tune up however did not fix it...then the fuel line was ruled out by a second opinion saying it could not possibly be the fuel kink because i KNOW i never bottomed out recently...now as of today the TRAC and check engine light both came on..(which i was actually happy about since now it can be traced) so i take it to autozone and they say they cant scan it because it needs a lexus scanner..so i take it to lexus and they want to charge me 110 dollars to SCAN IT!!! lucky enough for me a mechanic took it in for free and said that price is outrageous for a 17 year old kid to pay and plus he could tell it was hardly driveable...anyways it turns out its a MASS AIR FLOW SENSOR! so i had every right to tell those people to screw and it turns out they had no idea what they were talking about! so in my own driveway i got some MAF cleaner and sprayed it down and put it all back together and engine stumbling nearly STOPPED..but the check engine lights still wont go away i figure i have no choice but to purchase a new sensor from ebay so i just bought one 5 minutes ago and i can finally rest in peace about this!

thanks everyone i just wanted to express my severe anger at these people who see a 17 year old kid with a lexus coming and they ask how badly they can hose me..anyways i called them up and told them to cancel the order on a fuel line because i was all done with them..i dont believe them that it is a fuel line simply because it was fine one day and bad the next and i know i never bottomed out over anything...i will let you guys know what ends up being the culprit

so following up on my engine sputtering and cutting out and losing power dramaically...the mechanics originally suggested that a simple tune up was needed...so i got the tune up (180 $) then i hop in the car and the engine is still dieing and cutting out worse this time though..so i bring it back and they say oh ok it must be an EGR valve...so they hold off on fixing it over the weekend and make me drive it for the next 2 days as it is struggling not to stall...so i bring it back on monday and they test the EGR's and what do you know?! they are working finee! so they lift the car up and they notice that "oh look, a kinked fuel line!" the line coming from the tank to the filter has a bad kink in it and they say its cutting back 80% of the fuel that should be there. so they estimate 110 for the fuel line and a good 3-4 hours labor to install it and now they tell me i need the entire line from the tank to the fuel injectors re-done as well. :angry: :angry: the guy said "i hope you brought your wallet" when i walked in the door to see what they found....

hahaha so basically you just showered the entire engine with WD-40 and it made it good as new? hahah my sc400 has the flu right now too iv been told it needs an EGR valve so its running disgustingly awful right now...ill just shower some WD in there and see whats up.

haha yeah that would be one of the obvious solutions...however i have used 93 octane since i got it...but now to give you an update i got new plugs and wires and the engine is stumbling and cutting out VERY BADLY now...and so now they suggest to me that it is the EGR valve..and i cant wait to see how much thats gonna be on top of a tune up :( :( :(

the SC400 looks amazing...i have one myself and i love love love this car to death..too bad you couldnt put the 300's tranny in the 400... <_<

well the engine has 154,000 miles on it...and the air filter i just bought a new K&N filter so thats all set...the battery and altenator or both relativally new...there are no check engine lights on however...so i have it sitting at the shop right now and a mechanic said after he drove it that he suggests basic wires and plugs. so im fine with that since im sure it needed them after a LONG time of not having any maintenace done what so ever. ill let you know when i get it back if the motor is still cutting out or not which i certainly hope its not.

hey everyone here is a quick history of my SC400. i bought it 2 months ago and drive it everyday delivering pizza since then. no problems until recently during the HARSH cold of new england, sometimes in the morning the car will take a good 5 seconds of cranking to turn over...and when it does it does so VERY SLOWLY and its obviously stressing...next, as of today when i drive it from 0-20 mph the engine has a hard time revving up and it cuts out..every couple seconds the motor will seem to hit a bump and thud and not rev up. The History before me. the car sat for 3 years straight in a patch of dirt and grass in someones backyard (such a waste!) i bought it and threw in a tank of premium gas and here i am today. my boss at work suggests that after riding with me and feeling the cut out, that it is a spark plug wire that is dead or dieing and not delivering a full spark..he says a simple plug and wire tune up should do the trick...he also suggests replacing the fuel filter and have the fuel injectors pressure washed to stop the ticking. please give me some input thanks ;)

yeah that is nothing out of the ordinary...mine stays right around 2k from about 50 -60 mph before increasing that much.

yeah every gear shifts flawlessly P, R,N,D,2,L all work perfectly fine..its just every now and then when its cold it like disengages kinda harshly...but its been doing well since then so im not too worried anymore...but what do you make of the brake scenario?

that link doesnt work i dont know what went wrong with it...but for now im morely concerned with the brakes cause i think my transmission is going to be fine i was just dreaming again of a manual tranny...but yeah if any1 has experienced brake issues such as mine let me know

well it definitely depends on other things besides miles...it depends on how the overall body looks, rust/ rot under the trunk rug! it depends on how the motor functions, the CEL obviously means there is a problem with something and just disconnecting the battery isnt going to get rid of the problem so before you buy it i would definitely find out what the CEL is for. otherwise i would give it a go!

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