Racerhoze

My brothers LS400 (1st gen about 160K) has started up with this new problem. Whenever you brake the headlights dim, not hard braking, even if you push just enough to get the brake lights to come on, they dim. And with the A/C on the fan will slow way down while braking... then speed right back up. Does this sound like an alternator problem? He just replaced his battery with one he bought at Costco. I ran a search and found nothing like this... the dimming is not rpm sensitive. Any help would be appreciated!

LeXuSrAcIn

Theres a problem with the ground and the battery terminals. I know this because I had the same problem with my SC and OLT told me the solution. What I did is just take apart the battery terminals and clean them out. Ever since then its been working fine. Clean the battery terminals, they are corroded.

vraa

iTrader: (2)

To clean the batteries, you just have to poor cocacola over the terminals right?

Racerhoze

How quickly can a battery become corroded?... I doubt this battery is more than 2 months old... could the ground connection just be loose? Or can they corrode that fast?

ychachad

Don't rule out the alternator. I think it is going..........

LeXuSrAcIn

The battery is more than likely fine. Its just the terminals connecting the car to the battery that are more than likely corroded. Take them apart and check them out.

LeXuSrAcIn

I dont know about that, but the Lexus owners manual states you should use baking soda. It gives good results.

Racerhoze

I'll be sure to clean the terminals, but what order should I disconnect the battery?... I'm kind of a nOOb and don't wanna shock the crap out of myself.

Racerhoze

Now that I look at the battery, the terminals look completely clean, he actually had the positive terminal replaced when he got the battery replaced, it looks like Costco sprayed something all around the battery area though, some sort of cleaner, looks really crappy though, what should I check? Could costco have connected something improperly?