Neil E

Looking at AT and ebay, I would be inclined to save a little more and wait for a decent face-lift model at a reasonable price with a good service history, even if the mileage is a little high. If you don't know much about cars, do take someone knowledgeable with you or get a professional appraisal or register interest with a trusted specialist who deals in SC430 models. I would say £8k is too much for a 2004 unless it is immaculate and maintained to a very high standard. £4k for the 2002 silver car sounds about right if it has a good service history and is in good condition but if suspension, exhaust and other parts prone to wear haven't yet been replaced then these would need to be factored in. Even a face-lift model might need some work but the features and improvements made to the later model are worth having if the difference in price is not too great.

Best colour combination but before purchasing the car in Rake I would ask the dealer if all of the previous MOT advisories have been attended to correctly. I suspect the car hasn't been well maintained for a number of years. It also has an outstanding recall - probably for the passenger air bag that Lexus will do free of charge. The exhaust will probably need to be replaced as it is rusty and the wheels need to be checked as there is mention of a satisfactory weld repair on one of them. If the wheels in the picture are okay and replaced the welded wheel then they might look quite good refurbed in silver with centre caps fitted. I very much doubt it's worth £6k. If servicing has been neglected as much as it appears from the previous MOT reports then budget another £3k to restore things to order. £9k is firmly in face-lift 2006+ territory.

I can confirm that even when it's not secured properly my spare wheel doesn't interfere with the boot cover. Have you got it in the car with the outer face of the space-saver pointing to the rear and is it fully down in the cut out for it? There is a securing bracket that can be obtained to hold it in place or the floor mat can be cut and reshaped to hold it firm too. Bob did a good tutorial on it. Link below + bracket + the real cover image. I can't say I've noticed a great deal of glare from the dash in the setting sun. Perhaps someone has used some 'back to black' or polish on it that could be cleaned off. If it's a permanent sheen and very annoying I have seen a flock finish style dash mat product that can be applied to the top of the dash. I'm sure that would cure the glare but not sure if it's available for the rhd model.. If cut to shape neatly and fixed lightly with double sided tape that might be a solution without harming the original dash fabric. https://forum.lexusownersclub.com/threads/fitting-a-spare-wheel-to-my-sc430.2081/

Welcome, sounds like you're happy with the car. Hopefully someone in the Leeds area may have a recommendation or two. The good guys I use are a long way from Yorkshire. In my experience some dealerships aren't too bad for general servicing, it might be worth checking costs before ruling them out.

Definitely Marmite. Coming from the Soarer community we weren't impressed with it as a successor but some really love the lines of the car. It took me a long time to warm to the 3GS it lacks the Lexus signature in its design but I eventually got over it and bought the GS430 though the interior finish is not as good as a 2 GS430 or an SC for that matter. I would describe the 3 GS as a sleek but plain saloon, an ideal sleeper that could have been much better. As a sleeper, It could have been given the 2UR instead of the detuned 1UR too. A project for another day maybe?

I suppose so Phil ....about £24k so far 🤣 and I haven't forgotten, I'll been down whenever it's allowed. Thomas, I've only seen left hand drive special edition Pebble Beach model SC430s in the US. They are easily identified by a little silver emblem by the auto shift lever.

No worries, that's what clubs and forums are for. You're paying it forward with your informative You Tube vids as opposed to my poor efforts in that vein.....notes on how Not to treat your SC430. The infamous Bluewater meet and gate-crashing the MR2 owners club meet last year. All good fun but poorly edited. It was only for fellow SC430 owners really but the build thread has been viewed far more times than I ever imagined it would be. Probably due an update, perhaps I should engage you to do it professionally when I next fly to the Highlands. Now that you have fixed the audio maybe you could have a go at my Nav screen project that needs finishing.. Pure madness. Real time OBD read out via bluetooth using Scantool and DashCommand.

Yes still seems expensive. No one on here would but some will spend silly amounts on cars to get them just how they want them. 🤣

Agreed and if the new owner can sell it today for a similar price it really was worth it. If not then it wasn't. At £18k it must be a recent record for an SC. It's definitely not worth it but if anyone wants to pay £18k for mine please get in touch. 🤣

Seems too high to me but others sold for prices around £15K with higher mileage and it's rare to see one in this colour combination.

Hi Thomas, glad you got it sorted. 👍

A 3UZ isn't a 2UR but the genuine V8 growl can be released with a little help.🙂

Can't match the looks or performance but it's possible to get some fairly similar tunnel music from your SC for a lot less than £100k. I'm curious to know how much noise suppression the soft-top provides. The hard top is very good in this regard.

Well if you do head in that direction, I've just started experimenting with bluetooth OBDlink MX+ and It seems pretty good so far. You may know more than I. It only reads the PIDs but the user can set upper and lower level warning points on a display or gauge. Works with Android, IOS and Windows and creates data log files for any of the parameters chosen to be logged. Logging data from many PIDs did seem to slow it down in real time display mode but worth a look if you need the info. I guess you will be headed for a rolling road session for a proper tune at some stage.

Would prefer a hard top but I wouldn't say 'No.'

Love it, I do like a gauge or two, very smart Rob. Have you considered tapping into the OBD2 port for more info?

I agree with everything Colin says/asks but can you also identify which wire when 'wiggled' causes it to connect? Is it the blue and white wire perhaps? I think that will be the head unit to amp remote turn on.

I used Poly bushes on a Soarer a long time ago and they were great for a year but then needed to be replaced so I didn't ever go back to them. Interested in what your results are like many years later. Figs Engineering are very good. 👍

Are they poly bushes Toby?

Colin you're never wrong, I almost ran outside to check my original number plate.🤣

I think the best bet would be to get the same model from a facelift car, assuming it's the same. Have you opened it up to look at the connections on the PCB? If it is a cracked /dry solder joint or something similar it might be worth a repair. It must be something like that for it to work intermittently. https://svtservices.co.uk/lexus-mark-levinson-power-amp-repair-service/ There is a thread on here or clublexus that goes into the problem of the connections on these amps with a close up pic of a broken connector where it joins the board but I can't find it. I suspect that if all of the pins are okay then this could be the fault.

Yes that does sound like the known issue with the early amplifier. I've found one ML amp but it's not the same part number. We need to find the thread that deals with this issue to find out if it can be fixed easily.

Hi Colin you may have extended the production run a little.😉

I'm not the best person to ask as my car is so unlike a proper SC these days, it's a test of memory. My 2006 didn't play DVDs from the standard head unit or the nav unit but I think the very late 2009-10 head units could play DVD and had a USB connection.....apparently, I've never seen one. There were a few tweaks but the best I can offer to confirm what they were is this pdf. I couldn't find a list or a video but it does say that the head unit plays CD/DVD and it's still trying to seduce you with the idea that it was designed in collaboration with the Mark Levinson engineers blah blah.... Fair play it does sound very good stock but they could only do the best possible with the cheap speakers provided. http://www.motorologist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010-Lexus-SC-brochure.pdf

Well it's good that you know where the problem is. It's likely to be a broken/loose connector or pin on the amp. If it is, then it might be possible to fix / solder it. There's a company in Edinburgh that have fixed amps in the past but I'm not sure if they are still doing it. I think there are a few threads on here (maybe the LS forum) and a few on clublexus that cover this type of fault. I will look for the amps I have later to see if any might help you out.