New guy with a serious charging issue
07-14-14, 06:51 PM
#1
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: SC
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
New guy with a serious charging issue
My son got a '99 ES300 a few months back and after a couple weeks, the remanufactured alt. died and the battery appears to have a bad cell.
A little background, he got the car from a friend and there were never any problems with it since he drove it around all the time.
So I got an Advance reman. Alt and it lasted exactly 30 days. Swapped it for another and it was DOA from the store. Of course, no more in stock, so I picked up another from O'Rielly's Auto Parts. It lasted a few days, but in the meantime, I replaced all the battery cables and checked all the fusible links, fuses, etc.
I've done voltage checks with a multimeter, can't seem to pinpoint why it's not charging. Only thing I can think of is the cheap voltage regulators that come with the remanufactured alternators keep going out. A replacement VR costs more than the entire alternator!
I'm at my wits end with this one. And I have seen all kinds of threads with similar problems all over the net, but none were ever resolved.
Anyone know what the voltage signals are supposed to be on the plug for the alternator?
FYI: It has an aftermarket radio, just no amps.
A little background, he got the car from a friend and there were never any problems with it since he drove it around all the time.
So I got an Advance reman. Alt and it lasted exactly 30 days. Swapped it for another and it was DOA from the store. Of course, no more in stock, so I picked up another from O'Rielly's Auto Parts. It lasted a few days, but in the meantime, I replaced all the battery cables and checked all the fusible links, fuses, etc.
I've done voltage checks with a multimeter, can't seem to pinpoint why it's not charging. Only thing I can think of is the cheap voltage regulators that come with the remanufactured alternators keep going out. A replacement VR costs more than the entire alternator!
I'm at my wits end with this one. And I have seen all kinds of threads with similar problems all over the net, but none were ever resolved.
Anyone know what the voltage signals are supposed to be on the plug for the alternator?
FYI: It has an aftermarket radio, just no amps.
07-14-14, 07:09 PM
#3
Lead Lap
Attached to my post is a Lexus 1994 Charging Specification document for the 5S–FE and 1MZ-FE engines.
- I get that your son's car is a 1999, but I'd be really suprised if there were alot of differences and there often helpful hints in these documents on how to figure stuff out.
- I get that your son's car is a 1999, but I'd be really suprised if there were alot of differences and there often helpful hints in these documents on how to figure stuff out.
07-15-14, 07:33 AM
#4
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: SC
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Took a few readings this morning after charging the battery last night. With Key OFF, I'm getting a strange voltage reading off the wires that plug into the voltage regulator.
On the white wire I'm getting the constant battery voltage. That looks normal according to all my schematics I'm looking at. (Including those from ES300NZ. Thanks for the info!)
center wire is a Brown/Red wire and I'm getting 0 Volts. This is normal
But on the Yellow wire that runs through the dash cluster for the idiot light and the diode, I'm getting 8.6V, and this runs back to the ignition switch. But before the diode and light, it T's off to the Integration Relay, according to the Chilton's manual I bought.
At this point, I have no idea what the Integration relay does, and looking it up online, it's not one of those "hey, lets replace it and see if this fixes our problem" parts since it is about $250 from the dealership. But I will unplug it and see if my stray voltage to my alternator goes away.
But here's what I am getting:
Key OFF
Yellow - 8.6V
Brn-Red - 0V
white - 12.47V same as battery voltage
Key ON
Yellow-11.3
Brn-red -11.5
White 11.82
With the running lights on with the key on the battery voltage had dropped to 11.88, so my yellow showed my slight voltage drop due the the diode doing its thing and dropping the voltage, this being the exciter wire to keep the alternator output slightly higher than the battery voltage.
My goal here is to verify that I have a proper charge circuit and that I am not just alternator swapping and damaging new alternators. I can get larger alternators all day long, But until I verify that the circuit is not the culprit, I cannot just throw another alternator at it and burn it out too.
On the white wire I'm getting the constant battery voltage. That looks normal according to all my schematics I'm looking at. (Including those from ES300NZ. Thanks for the info!)
center wire is a Brown/Red wire and I'm getting 0 Volts. This is normal
But on the Yellow wire that runs through the dash cluster for the idiot light and the diode, I'm getting 8.6V, and this runs back to the ignition switch. But before the diode and light, it T's off to the Integration Relay, according to the Chilton's manual I bought.
At this point, I have no idea what the Integration relay does, and looking it up online, it's not one of those "hey, lets replace it and see if this fixes our problem" parts since it is about $250 from the dealership. But I will unplug it and see if my stray voltage to my alternator goes away.
But here's what I am getting:
Key OFF
Yellow - 8.6V
Brn-Red - 0V
white - 12.47V same as battery voltage
Key ON
Yellow-11.3
Brn-red -11.5
White 11.82
With the running lights on with the key on the battery voltage had dropped to 11.88, so my yellow showed my slight voltage drop due the the diode doing its thing and dropping the voltage, this being the exciter wire to keep the alternator output slightly higher than the battery voltage.
My goal here is to verify that I have a proper charge circuit and that I am not just alternator swapping and damaging new alternators. I can get larger alternators all day long, But until I verify that the circuit is not the culprit, I cannot just throw another alternator at it and burn it out too.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post