troubles

hi guys i am new tot he forum and desperately need some advice regarding my 96 gs300.
Basically this morning i went to go to work and my power steering was very heavy as in not working,but it then started to work also on full lock i am getting the following warning lights coming on
battery
oil
rear light failure
oil light
abs
when sitting at lights for a minute or so the warning lights come on again and the power steering becomes heavy. When driving though it is absolutely fine
my question is could this be my serpentine belt or an issue with the power steering pump
i get no squealing from the belt on full lock
any help/ pointers would be really appreciated

thanks in advance

Titten

Did you check the level? Was the system worked on recently? Did anyone add fluid recently? Check the serpentine belt for integrity and tension. And if your filter reservoir is dirty, you need to clean that, too. GL.

Titten

And check all other fluids, as well, just to make sure.

troubles

after this happened for the first time i checked the power steering fluid this needed topping up as the level was at the lowest point on the indicator, however it's still happening.
i am off to work shortly so i will see what happens and report back

troubles

update
got in the car this morning
started fine but all the warning lights stayed on, got half a mile up the road and my lights started to dim!!!
now about to dig out the multimeter and check alternator output etc
any further ideas???

Titten

Sounds like bad alternator.

troubles

tested the alternator yesterday and it's only putting out 9.8 volts at idle. So new alternator it is!!!

PIONEER

iTrader: (2)

sound like you are on the right track. Since you will be doing the alternator, might be a good idea to knock out the serpentine belt while you are at it since you'll take it off.

troubles

right the car is now fixed and back on the road
however it was a comedy of errors getting it fixed
firstly i ordered a replacement alternator from a guy breaking a gs on ebay
this turned up only for me to discover that i had been sent a modified alternator from a land rover, the casing was the same but the top mounting bracket had been attacked with an angle grinder so it would fit!!!
after re testing my alternator it turned out mine was absolutely fine, the fault turned out to be the dreaded harmonic balancer!!!
So i ordered a new one, this turned up and i proceeded to remove it this is where the real fun began
i put my breaker bar with a 22m socket onto the nut and turnned the engine over to crack off the nut but forgot i was using a 1/2" to 3/8th reducer and snapped it !!!!
ordered a new 1/2 " socket which took a week to turn up.
i also had the foresight to order a crankshaft pulley extractor to remove the pulley, however when it came to winding one of the bolts into the old pulley to clear the threads it sheared off leaving about 1/4" of thread sticking out!!!! (so much for hardened bolts!!!)
this then meant i had to order 2 threaded couplers to attach to the thread and wind a new bolt into the coupler to remove the pulley.
so after much swearing and cursing on my drive after waiting for a week for parts to turn up, it actually only took 40 minutes to fix and put it all back together!!!
what a nightmare job!!!!