Son bought a car. Sight unseen.

The son unit is currently in Air Force tech school out in Texas and wanted to buy something he could have for his move to Las Vegas in about 6 weeks.   So he purchased (sight unseen) a Lexus.   A 20 year old big engine sport sedan.  The 3UZ motored GS 430 in silver.

Unfortunately he didn't ask the right questions and it's much rougher than I'm entirely happy about.   It needs a VVT solenoid (hopefully it cured the poor running condition)and it has a bad oil leak (both front and rear of the motor).

And the bodywork is pretty tired.  Dings and dents all over.  Some rust in a couple of places.  Sigh.

Getting delivered Tuesday.

Hood.

Left rear corner.

Front bumper.  It looks like it wore a bra for years. 

Today netted a decent haul.  $200 for a much better hood and front bumper skin.

$260 got a set of Genesis Coupe wheels with two good tires.

If it's like the Honda VVT system then you can run some heavier oil, worked on my Element.

Is he getting stationed at Nellis AFB? We are close by.

genesis Coupe wheels look pretty good on it IMO.

Replaced the VVT solenoids today.  It seems to have other issues.  It doesn't want to take throttle and sputters if you try to rev it much.   TPS, CPS, low fuel pressure?  I hate not knowing what a car needs and I despise shotgunning parts at it.

Oh, and the oil leak seems very much to be a bad valve cover gasket.   I'll tackle that myself anyway.

kindof sounds like when my land cruiser had a bad coil

Any air leaks/holes on the intake elbow?

In reply to Slippery :

I'll look.  It feels like some sort of limp mode.  But whether that's due to unmetered air, a vacuum leak, low fuel pressure, evil spirits, or angry Sith Lords is what I have to figure out.

Why the wheel swap, were the originals bad in some way? 

Hope your kid learns something from the experience.  And we'll get to learn about issues these cars can develop when not maintained well so it's learning for everyone.

I was lucky enough to be loaned and enjoy one of these cars when they were brand new for a few weeks and it was glorious. Very fast and smooth. 

This one looks like it has seen better days, but I am sure you can bring it back to life. It was a very well built car. 

So the sputter... Is the abs or traction control light on?

I think we all have to go through a phase where our children do this to us . . .  Despite our best efforts to protect them from themselves.

In reply to QuasiMofo (John Brown) :

As a matter of fact, yes.  VSC light and VSC off lights are illuminated.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

The new wheels were cheap and a touch bigger.  They are staggered and give the car a better stance.   They are 10 years newer but everything is getting new tires so that part didn't really matter.

Well, certainly it has potential.  How many miles?  Is the interior as rough as the exterior?

Why not hook up a reader to the OBD port? 

Outside of that, my suggestion would be unplugging the MAF or whatever equivalent it has and see if that changes the running condition. 

If he is going to Vegas, that paint color is too subtle and understated anyway. It needs some metal flake and lace paint or something equally over the top.

In reply to AxeHealey :

Code reader says it has a bad VVT circuit.  Replaced the solenoids but it still reads bad.  No other codes.

interior is actually really good.  Much better than many older cars I see.