Potential issue with 200 looking to buy

[mcgaskins]

I booked a flight to go look at and buy/drive home a 200 on Friday, and I just pulled the service history and found something that's a pretty big red flag. It was taken in for service, and then traded in 5 days later from what I can tell cross referencing various reports. At the last service, the below message was noted by the technician which looks to be a massively expensive repair bill ($5,886). There was also a pre purchase inspection run on the vehicle which noted "damage from a rodent under engine cover", and a couple of times in the service history similar rodent damage was noted. It also had the instrument cluster replaced twice due to it being distorted which I find very odd. Apparently the instrument cluster issue also caused the vehicle to fail emissions, but it passed after it was replaced.

I obviously haven't seen it in person yet, but it looks clean and is a very appealing price. I do not want to buy a money pit however, and I have no idea how common and/or serious the below issue is since I haven't read anything about something similar on the forum. My fear is that if there is a major rodent issue, I could be chasing all kinds of strange issues for years! The whole point to own a Land Cruiser IMO is to not have to worry much about reliability and downtime in the shop, so this uncovered research is giving me major pause.

DIAGNOSIS ~|~CUSTOMER STATES THE A/C WILL ON BLOW ON DEFROST SETTING. CHECK AND ADVISE. ~|~ ~|~82825 TECHNICIAN VERIFIED CUSTOMER CONCERN. INSPECTED VEHICLE. FOUND AIR OUTLET DAMPER SERVO MOTOR ( DRIVERS SIDE ) FAILED. TECHNICIAN RECOMMENDED REPLACING A/C RADIATOR/AIR BOX ( SERVO NOT SERVICEABLE ) AND A/C AMPLIFIER WITH NEW. APPROX $5886. CUSTOMER

 

[txtortoise]

Guessing it's an 08 at $30K+, which is a lot of money for something that has that many uncommon flags.

 

[Markuson]

Those do sound very unusual. A "distorted" instrument cluster? What does that mean? Melted? TWICE? Very odd.

What the year, mileage & price? That information could be telling.

 

[CLHickman]

If your Spidey senses are tingling and there is clearly concerns I'd recommend passing for now. Get more information before flying. You can always cancel the flight and turn it into airline credit. Also, no info on cost and year. If this is a '15 for $15K, fly now! If it's in '08 for $30K....maybe keep looking.

 

[mcgaskins]

It's an 09 with 83k miles, and it has an ARB bumper, nice lights and Slee sliders. We agreed to $28.8k which is a pretty great price on the surface, but if it has a bunch of hidden repairs I'd be better off spending more on one that doesn't need any work.

After looking at a few 200s from 2008s to 2016s, I was shooting for an older one at a great price because the hardware difference between this one (presuming it was mechanically sound of course) and a 2016 wasn't worth the additional $40k+ cost especially since it's next to impossible to find a built 2016.

 

[blatant]

There are many rodent accounts across the forums on mud. They love to feast on every wire and build a kingdom in very short time.

I would not buy that. It's not worth the dice roll. There is clearly an issue and it was clearly documented, not to mention the already existing emissions ghost you alluded to. IMO you are buying a gremlin and will never really sleep comfortably with this one.

Also keep in mind that when / if you sell, it'll most likely be here if not traded. I do not think you should gamble on this and you don't strike me as having stars in your eyes from past postings. That's a big red flag, substantially less has caused me to move along.

 

[mcgaskins]

^ Yep I totally agree. I too have passed for lesser concerns, and even though these are more rare than your common Camry they aren't impossible to find clean and nice. Since reliability is typically a forte of the LC (like my 100 - rock solid no matter the terrain), I don't think it's worth the roll of the dice on this one like you said. It's too bad - I thought I was getting a great deal, but I'm glad to uncover this now instead of a week from now when it was in my garage

 

[teambell]

^ Yep I totally agree. I too have passed for lesser concerns, and even though these are more rare than your common Camry they aren't impossible to find clean and nice. Since reliability is typically a forte of the LC (like my 100 - rock solid no matter the terrain), I don't think it's worth the roll of the dice on this one like you said. It's too bad - I thought I was getting a great deal, but I'm glad to uncover this now instead of a week from now when it was in my garage

More deals are coming! So glad you found this info both prior to travel and purchase!

 

[FJC]

Not 100% in the market but still looking around and was wondering why that one was not moving while the asking price kept plummeting. Good to do research, the Toyota site pointed out many issues on ones I passed on when I bought my last vehicle. This is good to know now, one more price drop and I would have been researching it, now not so much. From the cover, I was just thinking the color (no offense to red), the mod's and the possibly heavy wheeling might have been the issue for it staying on the market.

 

[tplane2]

I purchased a 2005 Duramax 4x4 site unseen from a friend in TX. The truck was a manual which he dropped the trans out of for clutch work (I knew about the trans) which left a hole in the floorboard. It sat this way for about 6 months without anyone checking on it.

I had the truck towed back home and upon delivery find two dead rats, sitting on the front bench seat with what I would call the nastiest interior I've ever seen in a vehicle. Absolute disaster. The truck should have been totaled solely due to the interior. The site and smell were enough to make me want to take it to the junk yard.

After completely gutting the interior I found:
Basically all wires chewed through: Climate Control, Airbag, Door panel wires, Horn, rear defrost, trailer brake, etc etc
The Front seats chewed through. They made a "tunnel" along the bottom of the seats
The plastic door panels chewed through
3 of the 5 seatbelts chewed through.
Underhood I found: Glowplug controller wiring chewed through, "nests" of items (to include confiscated wires) in nooks and crannies (fire hazard), serpentine belt partially chewed.
And in the glove box they hoarded about 5 pounds of pellet feed from the horse barn for a lifetime supply of food.

Absolutely blew my mind.

With all that being said, rodents and pests will get everywhere inside a vehicle. Behind the dash would be my biggest concern. What you can see is just the tip of the iceberg. I'd definitely pass on this thing.

 

[mcgaskins]

Not 100% in the market but still looking around and was wondering why that one was not moving while the asking price kept plummeting. Good to do research, the Toyota site pointed out many issues on ones I passed on when I bought my last vehicle. This is good to know now, one more price drop and I would have been researching it, now not so much. From the cover, I was just thinking the color (no offense to red), the mod's and the possibly heavy wheeling might have been the issue for it staying on the market.

It's funny you say that because the color was the reason I wasn't interested sooner. Almost every car I've owned is silver, and red/maroon just isn't my thing. I actually looked into getting it wrapped if I bought it, but after looking at it daily online I figured I would get used to it.

I purchased a 2005 Duramax 4x4 site unseen from a friend in TX. The truck was a manual which he dropped the trans out of for clutch work (I knew about the trans) which left a hole in the floorboard. It sat this way for about 6 months without anyone checking on it.

I had the truck towed back home and upon delivery find two dead rats, sitting on the front bench seat with what I would call the nastiest interior I've ever seen in a vehicle. Absolute disaster. The truck should have been totaled solely due to the interior. The site and smell were enough to make me want to take it to the junk yard.

After completely gutting the interior I found:
Basically all wires chewed through: Climate Control, Airbag, Door panel wires, Horn, rear defrost, trailer brake, etc etc
The Front seats chewed through. They made a "tunnel" along the bottom of the seats
The plastic door panels chewed through
3 of the 5 seatbelts chewed through.
Underhood I found: Glowplug controller wiring chewed through, "nests" of items (to include confiscated wires) in nooks and crannies (fire hazard), serpentine belt partially chewed.
And in the glove box they hoarded about 5 pounds of pellet feed from the horse barn for a lifetime supply of food.

Absolutely blew my mind.

With all that being said.... yeah I'd pass.

Wow that is a nightmare! Thanks for the extra boost to walk away.

 

[mcgaskins]

Well it looks like someone bought it over the weekend because it's gone from the dealer's website! Hope it works out for them and there aren't too many issues.