Questions on buying LS400

[phatfantom68]

Hey guys, my name's Arvin (aka Vin, Vinnie, etc.), and I had a few questions about buying a 1991 Lexus LS400. First off, I'm no newb to Toyotas. My family has owned several Toyota's and I currently drive a 1991 Toyota Camry. My uncle also owns a 1990 LS400, so I've spent a fair amount of time in and around a 1st gen LS400. With that said, I am considering buying my own LS400. I've located a 1991 LS400 with 90k miles in pretty good shape. The only problem is that it doesn't run, and it's about 1200 miles away. According to the owner, the car has fuel delivery problems since the engine will start up but then dies almost instantly. My guess and his guess is that it's something with the FPR or fuel pump. Now here's the deal... the owner wants $1500 for it, but I think I could probably talk him down to $1300. It would cost me about $700 to trailer it to Michigan. Now for the questions: 1) Do you guys think it's worth it to buy the car and trailer it to MI for a total cost of around $2000? 2) Other than the fuel pressure regulator or fuel pump, what do you guys think could be the problem? I know its hard to diagnose this when I don't have the car here for myself to describe the problem, but just give me some possibilities, and how much you would estimate it would cost to fix. 3) I know Lexus parts go for a pretty penny, so do you think that if I cannot get the car running, I could part it out and make my money back? Thanks in advance for all the help. EDIT- WTF? None of my returns show up. Well... there goes the paragraph and list structure.

 

[Lextreme II]

I think its a great deal. I would go with some tools (socket 8, 10, 12 mm) with a fuel on hand and along with a FPR. I would also bring few other diagnostic tools to find or fix the problem before driving home. Secondly, you can get the car and take it to a local mechanic and repair what ever it is the problem. Its most likely less than $700 for the repair.

If you need FPR and or Fuel pump. I have a set of each and u can have it.

 

[phatfantom68]

Alright, I'll see what I can do. A huge issue is that I'm in school, so I don't have much time to go down, get the car checked up and repaired all in one weekend. I am going to talk to the owner and see if he can hold the car a bit longer until the next long weekend I can make it out.

 

[Lextreme II]

This weekend is a long weekend....LOL... I would go there this Friday and drive home on Sunday.... bring a friend with you or you can post questions in here will you are fixing it. Perhaps we should have some type of LIVE Real Time Video.

 

[Peewee]

Bridge +B and FP in the diagnostics box.
This bypassed the FPR and gives the fuel pump +12v when ever the key is on.

There are a few other things that can go wrong (with a car starting and stalling), but fuel/fuelpump/fuelpumprelay are the main things.