Rust

[odoardo]

hi

Im a newbie with the usual newbie questions

im looking to buy an early ls 400 mkl or mkll , these cars are future classics B)

Ive been doing some homework and think I know what to look for eg suspension, aircon display, oil changes etc

all the mechanicals seem pretty bulletproof

what I cant find out though is where they rust

all cars of this age (12 - 16 years old) will have tinworm somewhere

could anyone tell me the LS hot spots

[lutonmatt]

rust on a lexus whats that :D

i have tested a few 400s and i have never seen a spot of rust and on my mk3 even the links and bits were normal cars rust there is no sign

if you look at a 400 and it has any rust walk away

matt

[steve2006]

Hi and welcome to LOC,

The only time I have seen rust on a LS400 is from unrepaired stonechip or accident damage. With more coats of paint on them than DIY stores have in stock they are well protected.

Same goes for the underside mine is 12 years old and as clean as a whistle.

So if you see one with rust walk away there will always be a better one around the corner!

Cheers,

Steve

[maneesh]

I agree. rust on a LS is a sign that something nasty has happened to the car. walk away!

[Alex JB]

I looked for rust on the 8 LS's that I considered when buying my 92 S1, never saw any on any of them.

went to look at P reg e-class... it was rust central.

[simontaylor]

I looked up my tail pipe recently, it is shiny clean inside.

OK, it is a Mk III, but still 11 years young, no rust anywhere else that I have found. I took some bolts off to fit a tow bar, they were like new.

[ian11]

Mines a 91 celsior and it was the amazing condition that got me hooked,i had the usual probs with aircon panel ( sorted from scrapper for £15 still attached to a uk radio so that sorted out that at the same time, CD changer that refused to work £50 from a breaker in cheshire and got a steering rack at the same time, £60 - lookes like its been recond recently and mine had a weep from an end seal) done the timing belt myself as there was no history with it and thinking forward slightly got some front suspension bits from the US on the advice of the MOT tech,Ive had it since april and although ive done a few bits and pieces to her,its cost less than I would expect to spend on the equivelent 16 yr old brit tat I usually managed to get stung with, still cant get over the ride for a car thats knocking on nearly sixteen years,so like the rest,if you find rust,take a hike no matter what the price, Ian

ps. anyone else with a celsior ?? who you insured with cos I jumped in with both feet due to the quick purchase and reckon mines a bit steep, £610 for a 51 year old with 7 yrs seems over the top,when my 97 UK imprezza was only £360. cheers. Ian.

[moriwaki]

There are 3 of us in our town with 4 identical mkIIIs ...and only one had a little rust under a window trim...thats the lot...and all are 9 or 10 years old ...one has 270 thousand on it with just a few bushes and the usual discs pads etc...they are truly amzing cars !. :)

[odoardo]

well its good to find the reason why I cant find out where they rust is because they dont

Im not used to walking away when I see rust its usually a haggling point :D

mel

ian11

your insurance does seem high could it be because the car is an import?

for a uk LS Im comming in around the price of your imprezza

[cleverdick]

Hi,

Do make sure you look underneath the car before buying. It's true that these cars are not known for rust, partly because they were likely to have been pampered and garaged early on (given their high initial cost and the type of homes they went to). However, there's always an exception (and my car seems to be the one). A previous owner lived by the sea, and that, combined with a certain amount of negligence, took its toll. The only rust my car has on its paintwork is a small patch on the rear wheel arch, but the suspension/chassis components generally are visibly corroded. A liberal dose of Waxoyl has now hopefully kept that under control. After having bought the car, I found to my horror that the main brake pipe was very rusty, despite it having been given an MoT a few weeks earlier! I appealed, a VOSA inspector examined it and declared that because (and only because) of this pipe that the MoT should not have been issued. I didn't get any money back to offset the cost of repair :-( but no doubt the tester will have been hauled over the coals! You live and learn......

[Steve]

Only rust i have ever known is stone chips.. especially above the front windscreen.

But it never grows into anything serious!

[Chris Skelton]

Another area to check.

Look inside the boot, underneath the spare tyre. The drain pipes that run from the roof can leak into the boot (as, I guess can the surrounds on the lid, though that's rare) and you can find the spare is sitting in water! The well is quite well painted

(WELL painted,....it's the way I tell 'em!! :D )

but could rust eventually I guess.

[fatpieman69]

Slightly but I pulled up behind my dads merc yesterday and noticed (from about 10m away, so pretty damn obvious) a rust blister, not bad if it was 10 years old and fantastic if it was 16 like some LS's but its a 2000 so only just 6 years old! Oh and Its been garaged from new and done 30k (yes 5k a year)! Luckily he has already px'd it for a new one and pick's it up in about a week.

PS, no I couldn't get him onto a lexus, I tried everything but muy mum is obviously a snob because she said no in the end! you just can't help some people can you?!

[frankie boy]

Mines a 91 celsior and it was the amazing condition that got me hooked,i had the usual probs with aircon panel ( sorted from scrapper for £15 still attached to a uk radio so that sorted out that at the same time, CD changer that refused to work £50 from a breaker in cheshire and got a steering rack at the same time, £60 - lookes like its been recond recently and mine had a weep from an end seal) done the timing belt myself as there was no history with it and thinking forward slightly got some front suspension bits from the US on the advice of the MOT tech,Ive had it since april and although ive done a few bits and pieces to her,its cost less than I would expect to spend on the equivelent 16 yr old brit tat I usually managed to get stung with, still cant get over the ride for a car thats knocking on nearly sixteen years,so like the rest,if you find rust,take a hike no matter what the price, Ian

ps. anyone else with a celsior ?? who you insured with cos I jumped in with both feet due to the quick purchase and reckon mines a bit steep, £610 for a 51 year old with 7 yrs seems over the top,when my 97 UK imprezza was only £360. cheers. Ian.

Might be worth checking with Privilege (see my post today)

Frank

[steve2006]

Mines a 91 celsior and it was the amazing condition that got me hooked,i had the usual probs with aircon panel ( sorted from scrapper for £15 still attached to a uk radio so that sorted out that at the same time, CD changer that refused to work £50 from a breaker in cheshire and got a steering rack at the same time, £60 - lookes like its been recond recently and mine had a weep from an end seal) done the timing belt myself as there was no history with it and thinking forward slightly got some front suspension bits from the US on the advice of the MOT tech,Ive had it since april and although ive done a few bits and pieces to her,its cost less than I would expect to spend on the equivelent 16 yr old brit tat I usually managed to get stung with, still cant get over the ride for a car thats knocking on nearly sixteen years,so like the rest,if you find rust,take a hike no matter what the price, Ian

ps. anyone else with a celsior ?? who you insured with cos I jumped in with both feet due to the quick purchase and reckon mines a bit steep, £610 for a 51 year old with 7 yrs seems over the top,when my 97 UK imprezza was only £360. cheers. Ian.

Hi Ian,

I had a few problems at first with my 94 Celsior when trying to get insurance as my insurers at the time (Esure) wouldn't touch me and the local brokers didn't do imports at all!

After a bit of searching I came across " Performance Direct " who specialise in imports and got fully comp with Highway for £348.00 ( aged 47 with 8 years NCD)

So it looks like you got hit with yours,

Cheers,

Steve

[ian11]

thanks steve ! I'll check out the web site and save for when its for renewal,thanks again. Ian.

[JayBeeBee]

Shock horror!!! I tested a '92 LS today and found a hole at the back by subframe mount!! must admit, the whole of the underside looked like it had spent it's entire life in a sal****er bath!

Must admit Ive tested a few and never seen any rust before. As already mentioned, compare that to late Mercs and suchlike. Ive has numerous '96 merc come in with advanced stages of corrosion!

[odoardo]

the rust I have found on the numerous mk1 and mk11 cars Ive looked at are in the following areas

1. under the side window chanels

this seems fairly common area

2. the bonnet internal

the flat section that the grille attatches to under the leading edge

most of the cars I looked at had blisters appearing so very common

3. front wheel arches

only saw 1 example, rust must have started as stone chip or accident dammage

it was terrible nearly as bad as a 5 year old jag

4. blisters from stone chips , accident dammage.

the car I saw with the bad wheel arch could have started this way.

I would say that only one of the cars that I saw could be described as rusty.

amazing for cars over 10 years old

cheers for the help guys

I am now a lexus owner

[Chris Skelton]

Mines a 91 celsior and it was the amazing condition that got me hooked,i had the usual probs with aircon panel ( sorted from scrapper for £15 still attached to a uk radio so that sorted out that at the same time, CD changer that refused to work £50 from a breaker in cheshire and got a steering rack at the same time, £60 - lookes like its been recond recently and mine had a weep from an end seal) done the timing belt myself as there was no history with it and thinking forward slightly got some front suspension bits from the US on the advice of the MOT tech,Ive had it since april and although ive done a few bits and pieces to her,its cost less than I would expect to spend on the equivelent 16 yr old brit tat I usually managed to get stung with, still cant get over the ride for a car thats knocking on nearly sixteen years,so like the rest,if you find rust,take a hike no matter what the price, Ian

ps. anyone else with a celsior ?? who you insured with cos I jumped in with both feet due to the quick purchase and reckon mines a bit steep, £610 for a 51 year old with 7 yrs seems over the top,when my 97 UK imprezza was only £360. cheers. Ian.

Well, tell them it's a Lexus LS and......(well, It IS!!) Try Saga.

[steve2006]

Mines a 91 celsior and it was the amazing condition that got me hooked,i had the usual probs with aircon panel ( sorted from scrapper for £15 still attached to a uk radio so that sorted out that at the same time, CD changer that refused to work £50 from a breaker in cheshire and got a steering rack at the same time, £60 - lookes like its been recond recently and mine had a weep from an end seal) done the timing belt myself as there was no history with it and thinking forward slightly got some front suspension bits from the US on the advice of the MOT tech,Ive had it since april and although ive done a few bits and pieces to her,its cost less than I would expect to spend on the equivelent 16 yr old brit tat I usually managed to get stung with, still cant get over the ride for a car thats knocking on nearly sixteen years,so like the rest,if you find rust,take a hike no matter what the price, Ian

ps. anyone else with a celsior ?? who you insured with cos I jumped in with both feet due to the quick purchase and reckon mines a bit steep, £610 for a 51 year old with 7 yrs seems over the top,when my 97 UK imprezza was only £360. cheers. Ian.

Well, tell them it's a Lexus LS and......(well, It IS!!) Try Saga.

Saga won't insure me I'm not old enough!!!!!!!!

[frankie boy]

Mines a 91 celsior and it was the amazing condition that got me hooked,i had the usual probs with aircon panel ( sorted from scrapper for £15 still attached to a uk radio so that sorted out that at the same time, CD changer that refused to work £50 from a breaker in cheshire and got a steering rack at the same time, £60 - lookes like its been recond recently and mine had a weep from an end seal) done the timing belt myself as there was no history with it and thinking forward slightly got some front suspension bits from the US on the advice of the MOT tech,Ive had it since april and although ive done a few bits and pieces to her,its cost less than I would expect to spend on the equivelent 16 yr old brit tat I usually managed to get stung with, still cant get over the ride for a car thats knocking on nearly sixteen years,so like the rest,if you find rust,take a hike no matter what the price, Ian

ps. anyone else with a celsior ?? who you insured with cos I jumped in with both feet due to the quick purchase and reckon mines a bit steep, £610 for a 51 year old with 7 yrs seems over the top,when my 97 UK imprezza was only £360. cheers. Ian.

Well, tell them it's a Lexus LS and......(well, It IS!!) Try Saga.

Saga won't insure me I'm not old enough!!!!!!!!

See my post in this forum (25 Oct) £285 fully comp !!!

[kernewek]

I got cover for £160 fully comp from RAC Direct, including roadside breakdown cover. Confused.com may have annoying ads but have their use, Insurancesupermarket.com are good too.

[JellyBean]

£160 Fully Comp? You are having a giraffe, surely.

[davepruce]

£160 Fully Comp? You are having a giraffe, surely.

When I first saw this post I agreed , then I tried it through confused.com, I got RAC cover for £206 and I live NW Kent! :D

RAC seems pretty good at the moment.