1990 Lexus LS400 review from North America

Alternator went out at 180,000 miles, I installed a new Autozone alternator with faulty voltage regulator and it blew numerous ECU's and that was the end of this LS400.

Needed new rotors when I purchased it.

Front air shocks went bad, replaced with ones in good condition for $250.

I purchased this car in the Spring of 2003 with 168,000 miles on it. I Purchased this car on Ebay and never saw it until I picked it up. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the sellers description of it, but I only paid $2500 for it. It looked as if it had not been well taken care of, I could see it had been in a minor front end collision, resulting in a bent bumper support. It also was a mess inside and out. I spent about a week and cleaned it up and replaced the front air shocks.

The car ran great even with previous neglect. I had driven it about 20,000 when I noticed while driving around town my lights started to dim so I replaced the alternator with one that was purchased from AutoZone and installed it and that was the last time my car ever ran. The next day I drove it to work and when I got on the highway and started accelerating and as soon as the engine hit around 3500rpms all instrumentation and lighting would go very bright and the check engine light came on and then went back off as soon as the engine slowed down some. So on the way home I started to get back on the highway again and when I accelerated past 3500rpms it would do the same thing only this time my airbag light came on and a little smoke rose from under the center console. So I made it home and as I pulled into the driveway without being revved at all lighting got very bright once again only even more so than before then all of a sudden the wipers started going on their own and in a split second everything shut off and the car stalled. Under the hood there were about 4 large 30 amp fuses blown as well as the 120 amp alternator fuse so I replaced those...nothing, it would crank, but not start. So I took the altenator back up to AutoZone and they tried to test it, but it spiked and shut off the machine. After arguing with them for about a week they finally submitted a claim. They had me tow the car to the Lexus dealer to be diagnosed. Turns out that the Engine computer, air ride computer, as well as the airbag computer were all bad. Various other accesories would not turn on such as the radio and the climate control. The total bill from Lexus Totaled almost $12000. AutoZone called to inform me that they were going to total it out.

That's my first LS400 experience not a great one, but a faulty alternator from AutoZone wasn't the cars fault. In the end I recieved $5000 plus towing and diagnosis for the car and am now a happy owner of a 1998 LS400 that has 150,000 miles on it 40,000 of those miles are from me, it has been one great trouble free car.

All in all my 1990 LS400 was a great car

loaded with everything you could purchase on it back in 1990 it still had a smooth quiet ride after almost 14 years and all weather seals were still good. My bad experience had nothing to do with the car, just a poorly built replacement part after all this was only it's second alternator.