hastingsj

Hello friends my name is John and i just bought a 05' es330 never been on a forum before so bare with me. Hope you guys can help ease my worries. two days ago my battery light came on i was planning on checking the battery on my day off tomorrow but on the commute home my radio sound shut off i figured it was the radio station i changed the station and same thing no sound. i shut the radio off ,turned the a/c off..Then i noticed a few more lights on my cluster were on along with the battery light ( brake , ABS, airbag ) were also on then my car gauges all flickered off then came on again meanwhile no power seemed to be lost in engine performance, a few minutes later the entire dash board went off as if i turned the car off. i pushed the break to slow down for traffic and the car sputtered as i was coming to a stop. but continued to run . I Pulled into a parking lot and as i came to a stop the car died. I checked the connection to the battery it was tight. i tried to start the car it wouldn't turn over, just clicked like a low battery. i took the battery down had it charged , put it back in started right up and i proceeded to get home . well a mile down the road the whole dash went out again and at a signal it started running worse and as i pushed the gas to go i sputtered ( like a kid learning to drive a manual transmission) and i putted into a gas station . My best guess without having to spend a boatload of money figures it's the alternator. my question would be Does this sound like a bigger issue than just an alternator ???

808mcv20l

jump it and hook up a multimeter to it, a good alternator should read high 13-14v.

if you are getting less then it's time for a new alternator, also you want to note that Car batteries are not meant to be "deep cycled" unless of course you buy a deep cycle battery. the battery's life and performance decreases if you let it drop below 11v and may fail to charge.

sounds like a bad alternator to me, but to know for sure test it with a multimeter first.

hastingsj

I will do that thank you.

PFB

Bring it to Autozone. They'll check your battery, and charging system for free.

And FYI, a defective battery can often mimic a defective alternator. This can send you on a wild goose chase. That's why I'm suggesting to take it to Autozone for free testing and diagnosis.

pauloil

I'm reading this thinking "WHAT IS THE VOLTAGE" A dying or dead battery won't hold a charge and may not show the full charging voltage either. I agree: test the battery first.

Corkman

I just bought a 05 es330 about three weeks ago. I joined this forum and love all the information. My question is wouldn't it be the alternator as the car should stay running even if you unhooked the battery if the alternator is working properly?

PFB

A word of caution.

You should NEVER disconnect a car battery while the engine is running.

If you do, you stand a good chance of damaging an expensive electronic component, or the Alternator itself. It's also a meaningless test.

Phil

LugNut96

This happened to my wife when she drove my 2006 ES once. I replaced the alternator, as the symptoms indicated was prudent, but the same issue poped up again a few weeks later. I found a place to pull over and stop, turned the cart off, restarted and did not have any further issues for a few months. Then this issue raised it's ugly head a third time and the same remedy worked. Unfortunately, like an idiot, I did not get the original alternator checked so I have no idea if this issue is related to the alternator or the charging system as the new alternator checked out fine. Keep an eye on the charging system indicator light (red battery on the bottom of the tach ) when you start the car. If the light stays on past the lamp check the charging system is not charging the battery and you are running off of the battery only. Try the procedure detailed above and the issue should go away and allow you to get to where you were going. I took my ES to the local Lexus dealer and they couldn't find a problem. I then took it to an independent Lexus/Toyota "specialist" and he drew a blank as well. If any one has found out what is causing this issue please post! I am VERY interested to know what the heck the root cause of this intermittent problem is!

speedkar9

Had the same issues with the dash lights flickering on my brother's GS300. Loose battery combined with a loose terminal caused the battery to short out against the hood.

Check the tightness of the battery terminals and clean any corrosion with baking soda and water.

KLF

This is good advice. Without the battery to send feedback to the voltage regulator, the alternator will go into full charging mode unrestricted, which will cause the voltage to spike, possibly frying some of the sensitive electronics (engine computers, audio system, HVAC, etc).