Hi All! (1 Viewer)

[Scoobaru]

I am so glad that I found this site! I recently purchased (Nov 2017) a 2004 LX470 and I couldn't be happier with my decision! Unfortunately it didn't start well for me due to my own carelessness and an extremely shady dealership up here in WA, I wont say any names (East Lake Auto Brokers). So 4 days after purchasing my new found love she blew a head gasket and simultaneously blowing the radiator do to over pressure.. 3 months after that ( due to trying to work something out with said dealership and a third party warranty company) I finally got my beauty back and couldn't be happier!

So I come to you as a new baby deer ready to learn and soak up as much information as possible. I am very into doing my own work though I have no formal training and rely on walkthroughs and youtube heavily lol. I have many future plans for the cruiser such as wheels and tires, bumpers, etc...

Myself and the family are really into light to medium trail riding that tend to lead to so fun hiking trails so that we can soak up all this beautiful nature here in the PAC NW. So I hope to get some fun trail recommendations for the summer because after that we will be moving due to me getting out of the military.

Thank you all for your time and I look forward to chatting and learning all the wonderful things about these wonderful machines.

 

[YardPig]

Hey, welcome to an addiction. Looks great, you will really enjoy it.

 

[Swamp Dweller]

“Welcome” seems like the wrong response coming from me, since this is my introductory post also, but.....welcome! I too am the proud new owner of an LX470 (mine is an 03), and I too fell prey to the shady used car salesman (although not as gut-wrenching as your ordeal Scoob...I hope) In my case I found what looked to be a homerun deal in a 15 year old rig with 118,000 miles on it, 2 owner/no accidents, with the timing belt and water pump done at 83,000 miles, for $11,500 delivered to my doorstep in SW Arkansas(!)....from Chicago. Obviously my first inquiry was with regards to rust, to which the salesman responded, “there is ZERO rust on this truck sir”.....from CHICAGO...lol, yeah right. I asked for pics to confirm, as I would be wiring $$ for a truck I would not be able to inspect firsthand and he obliged. He managed to find the right combination of angles and pixels from his apparently 2000 model LG flip phone to assuage my concerns and the purchase was made. I took delivery 2 days later and at 0500 was laying under it on a creeper with a flashlight and cursing the salesman’s name. The front skid looks like it was buried in the ground for 15 years then dug up and bolted to the truck. The rear cross member may have to be cut out and replaced. The actuators for the AHC look like they’ve been submerged as part of a deep sea diving wreck. Middle muffler has pinholes rusted through. Many of the “clips” or “mounting brackets” for the front and rear bumper covers are shot. I have a gallon of Rust Bullet etcher and a gallon of RB POR paint to fight the surface cancer of the major drivetrain components, and the plate, exhaust, and bumper issues will make upgrades to heavy duty stuff more justifiable to the wife For now, I’m gonna keep driving it and troubleshooting for bugs, seeing if it is the platform to build a bulletproof unit with 200,000+ miles left in it or not. In my quest, I am very appreciative and will be taking full advantage of the OCD-level of knowledge of these machines that this site offers. Just got my heater T’s in the mail yesterday lol. Looking forward to seeing our trucks “grow up” together Scoobaru!

 

[snowmatt1]

Welocome Scooby and Swampy. I’m relatively new too and just got my 06 LC 2 weeks ago, but my experiences as much better! I’ve already got tires on and a 2.5” OME lift on order. This board is fun and so much expert help it’s ridiculous. Glad to know you!

 

[Scoobaru]

Yeah man I can totally believe that now after my experience. The whole time I was looking at mine while still at the dealership I was just waiting for the punch line. Little did I know it would come 4 days later in the form of a massive cloud of smoke. Luckily this being a Texas rig for most of its life the rust is next to nonexistent. I just ordered my Ts and this weekend I’m going to do a massive fluid day, both diffs and anything else I can get my hands on. Good luck with your beast and I can’t wait to see pictures!

 

[yotadude520]

Welcome to the forum guys!!

 

[LxPdx82]

Hi! Welcome to the forum. Very nice looking rig! I am another recent LX owner (‘03) in the PNW and likewise am starting to love ours after some initial heartburn over immediate maintenance items. We ended up having to drop about $3k into it within the first month. Shouldn’t have trusted the dealer/my eyes and had a pre-purchase inspection done before committing, but that’s water under the bridge now. Interestingly enough during my search I actually looked online at a couple 100s being sold by the dealer you mentioned.

 

[Scoobaru]

Hi! Welcome to the forum. Very nice looking rig! I am another recent LX owner (‘03) in the PNW and likewise am starting to love ours after some initial heartburn over immediate maintenance items. We ended up having to drop about $3k into it within the first month. Shouldn’t have trusted the dealer/my eyes and had a pre-purchase inspection done before committing, but that’s water under the bridge now. Interestingly enough during my search I actually looked online at a couple 100s being sold by the dealer you mentioned.

Haha, yeah I would never recommend them to even my worst enemy, they are just extremely shady and a poor business to work with. funny enough now that its all said and done, about a month later I just decided to google them and read some reviews.... (it's bad, real bad) things that make my situation look like a walk in the park. But I am extremely excited I just hope I can get my wife onboard now the first impression has left a really bad taste in her mouth unfortunately.

 

[05JLX470]

Welcome from San Diego and nice choice of color on your LX. Let the mods begin......

 

[suprarx7nut]

Welcome! That white looks great. Looks like a clean vehicle overall, despite the motor ordeal.

 

[Scoobaru]

Welcome! That white looks great. Looks like a clean vehicle overall, despite the motor ordeal.

Yes I love the color and yes for the most part it is very clean though I don’t think it was quite loved enough by its previous owner/s due to a lot of little things and a purposely disabled temp gauge (very well could have been done by shady dealer). Overall though the mechanic that did my head gasket job said the rest of the motor look in tip top shape and said I should get at least another 200k miles with just good routine maintenance. Fingers crossed!

 

[suprarx7nut]

Thankfully it's hard to kill a Land Cruiser (and the fancy sibling LX470)!!

Disabled temp gauge does sound fishy though. Bummer some people are like that.

 

[Scoobaru]

Thankfully it's hard to kill a Land Cruiser (and the fancy sibling LX470)!!

Disabled temp gauge does sound fishy though. Bummer some people are like that.

Oh yeah definitely some shady stuff going on but I’m going to take care of that this weekend. Luckily I’ve been able to use a wireless OBD2 scanner to monitor the coolant temp but I’d rather have the gauge because it’s less of a pain in the rear.