Land cruiser buying advice - not running (1 Viewer)

[alscott000]

I would check the fluids for signs of issues. Is the motor oil clean with no milky residue? Coolant looks clean (you can drain a small amount out if the petcock on the bottom of the radiator into a jar), transmission fluid looks/smells ok? If it's on flat ground, can you roll if a few feet in neutral and make sure it doesn't sound like broken metal? If I didn't see any other issues and I didn't mind parting it out if it came to that, I would take the risk personally. As others have said, it might be something easy. Then again, it could be that they hooked up the jumper cables backwards and fried something electronic. Can you tell what clicks when you turn the key? If it's the starter then you've either got bad contacts in the starter or a bad battery or starter cable connection. If it's a relay clicking then could be electronics. Ultimately don't pay more than you would for a car to part out, and you either part it out and do ok or get lucky and get a cheap car to drive.

When I was there checking it out, I put it neutral and let it roll a bit, nothing alarming. As for the fluids, I did check the coolant and it had in red coolant (which must be Toyota brand coolant, unless there are other red coolant brands?) and I checked the oil on the dipstick which was filled up and looked right.

Im pretty confident that the clicking sound heard is coming from the starter, because the sound is coming from the top of the engine.

Say they hooked up the jumper cables backwards, what exactly would that do/ break? Couldn't find any solid answers online. Also, just a reminder, everything electronically in the truck worked. Lights, windows, horn, you name it.

 

[Eyedaho]

When I was there checking it out, I put it neutral and let it roll a bit, nothing alarming. As for the fluids, I did check the coolant and it had in red coolant (which must be Toyota brand coolant, unless there are other red coolant brands?) and I checked the oil on the dipstick which was filled up and looked right.

Im pretty confident that the clicking sound heard is coming from the starter, because the sound is coming from the top of the engine.

Say they hooked up the jumper cables backwards, what exactly would that do/ break? Couldn't find any solid answers online. Also, just a reminder, everything electronically in the truck worked. Lights, windows, horn, you name it.

If it is the starter clicking, then the starter solenoid is engaging, but the starter motor isn't spinning. There's a big cable running straight from your battery positive terminal to the starter, which delivers the power that spins your starter motor and turns over your motor. There's a smaller wire going to your starter that sends voltage when you turn your key and the correct conditions are met and everything is working. This voltage is used to engage the starter solenoid, which is a switch to send the power from the big cable to the starter motor. So, if that solenoid is engaging, as evidenced by the starter making a pretty aggressive clicking noise, the likely failure is either not enough voltage going to the starter on that big cable, or the contacts on the starter solenoid being worn out/damaged so the "switch" isn't making good enough contact for current to flow to the starter motor to turn over the engine.

 

[ramangain]

Yet the OP claims the starter was changed not too recently? Along with the battery?

It sure seems like a bad contact at the battery terminals to me.

Give the guy a deposit, agree to have a PPI done, then have it towed "around the corner". Bring a known fresh battery, hook it up, crank down those battery terminals, and give the key a twist. With any luck, it may crank/start. Put in the original battery, get it towed back to the owner's place, then negotiate.

 

[hickuptruck]

I once hooked up my jumpers wrong on my LX. It set the cable on fire and I almost thought my LX was going to go up in flames with it. It also fried my battery.

New battery and been 2 years since.

 

[RND1]

Seems like there may be more to the story? How long has the seller owned the LX? It's not uncommon to find one owner vehicles of this vintage where they were only serviced at the Lexus dealer. Your mention of it having a Lexus battery makes me think the battery and starter were installed at Lexus in 2018? But, if that was the case and it still wouldn't start, how did the seller get it home? What did the dealer/mechanic tell him was wrong, etc? Lots of unanswered questions.

Now it's been sitting for 2 years so has he been trickle charging the battery? Has he drained the tank? I would start by putting the VIN into the Lexus site to see what service history you can find. If you want another set of eyes on it, I could potentially help depending on how far it is from me (pm me).

 

[alscott000]

Yet the OP claims the starter was changed not too recently? Along with the battery?

It sure seems like a bad contact at the battery terminals to me.

Give the guy a deposit, agree to have a PPI done, then have it towed "around the corner". Bring a known fresh battery, hook it up, crank down those battery terminals, and give the key a twist. With any luck, it may crank/start. Put in the original battery, get it towed back to the owner's place, then negotiate.

If I'm going through the trouble of getting this thing towed, I feel like I might as well have it towed to a local shop, right?

 

[alscott000]

I've gotten a lot of good responses on here, and I fully appreciate every single one of them. I feel confident that the issue may be easily resolved, though admittedly I'd probably leave it up to a shop to do the work.

Now, here the one question that hasn't been answered, and it is definitely a tough one....

What do we think it is worth?

With no visuals or anything I know it's hard to answer this question, but based on the description I've given you all, what do you think?

Just to recap, 2004 LX 470 in Gray. Near-perfect interior, needing a little TLC on the outside, seemingly well maintained mechanically, 100k miles on the dot, and let's just call it minor rust... and the obvious non starting problem. Alright, do your worst.

 

[MJK]

What do we think it is worth?

You tell us, as you are the only one one who has seen it.

For context, at $12k this has more miles but it runs, looks pretty good to me, and has no rust.

2003 Toyota Land Cruiser 4WD 5sp Automatic, Clean Title, By Owner -...

I'm selling my 2003 Toyota Land Cruiser 4WD 4.7 V8, 5 speed automatic, 8 seats. It's the fully...

tampa.craigslist.org

 

[alscott000]

You tell us, as you are the only one one who has seen it.

For context, at $12k this has more miles but it runs, looks pretty good to me, and has no rust.

2003 Toyota Land Cruiser 4WD 5sp Automatic, Clean Title, By Owner -...

I'm selling my 2003 Toyota Land Cruiser 4WD 4.7 V8, 5 speed automatic, 8 seats. It's the fully...

tampa.craigslist.org

I may have to be the one to let you all know. I'm planning on making an offer tomorrow. The only reason I am looking for some direction on this is because there is no real comparison for me to make to another vehicle of a similar condition/situation. I'm not sure how to just pull a number out of the air. I also want to get it for the lowest price possible (obviously) without totally offending the guy selling it, even if he seems very motivated to get it out of there. I'm kinda of leaning towards offering him a couple thousand?

 

[MJK]

Let me make sure I have this right:

We don't know with any certainty what happened in 2018, or what currently wrong with the truck. We haven't seen photos, don't have a VIN, and aren't going to bother pulling the service history that Lexus offers the public for free. We don't know codes, or if a battery fixes it. We don't know what the seller wants for it, and we don't want to take @RND1 up on his kind offer. We might tow it somewhere to get fixed, but we don't need any of that info in a PPI before making a decision.

Because we are confident it is worth a ton in the local market, the fix is easy, and we want to make an offer 75% or more below market by tomorrow without offending the seller. All we need now is a number?

A couple thousand sounds perfect.

 

[alscott000]

Let me make sure I have this right:

We don't know with any certainty what happened in 2018, or what currently wrong with the truck. We haven't seen photos, don't have a VIN, aren't going to bother pulling the service history that Lexus offers the public for free. We don't know codes, or if a battery fixes it. We don't know what the seller wants for it, and we don't want to take @RND1 up on his kind offer. We might tow it somewhere to get fixed, but we don't need any of that info in a PPI before making a decision.

Because we are confident it is worth a ton in the local market, the fix is easy, and we want to make an offer 75% or more below market by tomorrow without offending the seller. All we need now is a number?

A couple thousand sounds perfect.

Glad we're on the same page

 

[MJK]

Hey, different strokes for different folks. Good luck.

 

[alscott000]

I'll let you all know how it goes, stay tuned.

 

[manh3]

I’d offer 3500 based on everything I’ve read. Does the ahc still work, what are the fluid level readings?

 

[ramangain]

Hey, different strokes for different folks. Good luck.

Yep, another mudder looking for free help from the community so he can make a buck. Karma exists.

 

[jerryb]

it's no wonder people just plain quit

 

[Eyedaho]

Oh man, I may have been roped in. Is Ali buying a 100 series now?

 

[alscott000]

Purchased the truck early this morning for $3k flat.

The guy I bought it from was kind enough to let me use his AAA account to get it towed, so that was free. I found a shop a couple towns over that, when I called them beforehand, were more than willing to take a look at the truck so I had it delivered there.

That was a little over 3 hours ago now, and I just got off the phone with them and was told that it is running and running well.

Who here guessed the fusible links? Well, whoever it was, they were correct. Between that, a new battery and some fresh gas I am now the proud owner of a working 100 series. I'm also having them change the oil, the trans fluid and (probably) throw on some new tires. By the way, it has 100,509 miles not 209, so a tiny bit higher than I stated.

Hopefully I will have a chance tomorrow to pick the truck up, but if not then definitely Saturday it'll be home with me. I'm not sure what the total cost will be for the work I'm having done, plus I think I'm going to be paying a little extra for having them take a look at it so soon, but if anyone is still interested I can post the total bill here. And if anyone is VERY interested in my purchase, I'll post some pics of her (after I clean all the branches off) and be sure to make them detailed.

Also, just to be clear, I am 100% keeping this LX. I am not flipping it for a profit or anything. I am appreciative of everyone's posts here, and all I ask of you now is to wish me luck.

 

[Bisho]

Congrats. Deal of the Year, I'm guessing.

 

[sogafarm]

Congratulations, I love hearing about these good deals and cheap fixes. You got a steal of a cruiser. Enjoy it, you did your homework and it paid off. Now post up some pics.