I have a 2000 model ES300 with 202,000 that has been a great car for the 13 years I've had it. Last Friday, I was running some errands after work and out of the blue, the ABS and TRAC OFF lights both came on. The ABS was solid and TRAC OFF was flashing. At first nothing seemed out of sorts other than the lights being on. Then the car started shifting erratically and the radio randomly popped (like briefly muted) and the warning lights on the dash seemed to be flickering a bit. My first thought was maybe there was alternator or battery issues so I started turning off everything - radio, a/c, etc. I switched the headlights(which weren't even on) from auto to off and all of the warning lights went off. The car still wasn't shifting correctly, so I went straight home and parked it. I didn't try it again until Sunday. Everything was fine. No lights were on and it shifted correctly. I drove it to work Monday and Tuesday with no issue. Tuesday evening, I drove it about 40 miles running errands My last stop was a mile from the house. When I got back in the car and started it, the warning lights came on again before I could even pull out of the parking lot. The headlights began to flash on and off. I turned everything off (lights, radio, etc) and tried to make it home. The car was shifting erratically again, jerking and all of the electronics went haywire. The gauges were going nuts, head lights and dash lights flashing on and off before everything went dark. The engine died and wouldn't restart. There was no electrical power at all - I had to pop the cover and use the override button to get it back out of park after trying to restart it. There was no power to dash lights, interior lights, trunk release, etc. It was totally dead. I opened the hood and checked the battery connections. They were fine. The battery itself was replaced last October or November. After sitting for a while, the power miraculously came back. When I tried to crank it, it went pitch black again.I sat for a while longer until the lights came back on again. I walked to my house and drove back on my other vehicle with tools and jumper cables with me. I felt confident it didn't need a jump but I hooked the cables up anyway before trying to start it again. It fired right up on the first try and I drove it the few blocks to the house without an issue and no warning lights on. I've cranked it up in the drive and there are no warning lights on and it starts right up every time. Is there a main relay somewhere that power for everything in the car would go through? I've looked at the list of relays in the manual and none seem to fit the bill. It doesn't make sense to me that the battery or alternator could cause all of the issues I experienced and then totally recover in a flash. Any thoughts or ideas?

 

Failing battery or alternator or both can cause all the issues you describe get both tested. Also the most obvious one, bad connection of the battery terminals. Don't assume just because they look clean the connection is good.

 

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+1 on all that.

You can take the battery to a shop and have it tested. Put it on a charger before hand and take it in charged. They can load test it; an internal short can cause what you are describing. This happens.

at 202k miles and 17 years, if the alternator has not failed, it's due to soon. A rectifier diode is more likely than a VR board given what you describe. It will cause very anomolous symptoms. Have you heard radio whine (ac ripple voltage)?

or it all could be a ground. Start with battery, alternator, and checking grounds.

 

Sounds like bad connections at battery. Clean and tighten down clamps.

 

This. I just solved your exact same symptoms on two ES's (a '99 and an '00) by cleaning the battery terminals. A brass cup brush on a drill works wonders.

The positive terminal is more suspect: if you test resistance from the battery post to either of the two positive (stacked) terminals, you may see very high resistance from a corroded terminal. The one going to the fuse box read in the megaohms for mine. After cleaning, cover the post and terminal assemblies with dielectric grease to protect them and you should be good.

 

I had the same problem. The alternator and battery were found to be ok. A mechanic suggested that the negative battery cable did not look right. We wanted to run a test over the weekend. He charged the battery and left the car alone for 2 days. he said if that was not the fix then the batter should have been dead. Somehow he measured power draw when the car was off and that he said was the modules firing up. If the car is off but the battery connection is bad (connecting and then disconnecting) it will make the modules restart and then the time out. This happens when the car is off.
The lights and dash warning stuff was because the battery was DEAD from all this module activity.
He changed the neg battery cable and all of my issues when away.

 

Ok, the problem has bee fixed. I brought the car to a small private shop willing to work before Christmas, and they could lift up the car. One mechanic guy discovered the broken connecting arm on the RR. See pictures enclosed. We called Lexus to see if they had the part available, but they would just sell the complete switch unit, with a few days waiting time.
So the shop guys built to size a couple of bearings that now would do the job. The origin part was some kind of light alloy, while the new one is steel.
The car seems to be as normal.
Please enjoy also a picture of Luisa, the beautiful cat living at the shop.




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After replacing my master cylinder and bleeding, the electric system died. I charged the battery, but it still was dead. At first I'd get some electricity lighting the domelight from the charger, but then it was fully dead. Battery is charged. tightened the connections. Some cars have a single fuse inline from the battery but I don't see one here. The fuse-blocks don't seem to have any master-fuse. Did you ever find out what was going wrong with your car?

 

Hello,

Here is a Fuse Diagram for your 2000 ES300, which shows the Main 100A ALT Fusible Link, which appears to be what you were referring to, though I am not exactly sure how replacing the Master Cylinder could trip the 100A Fuse.

Hope this helps and best of luck!