So, my wife and I recently went from a 2001 GS300 to a 2007 GS350 AWD. Within the first week or two of owning it, the alternator went out. Normally I would do the work on the car myself, but after seeing what all it took to replace the alternator on this car, I decided I'd just take it in to a friend that runs the dealership shop at the Toyota we bought it from.

Now, occasionally, probably one in every 5 starts, when I start the car, the battery light will come on as well as a message saying to Check Headlight.

Brought it back in and they said it was the headlight, so we replaced a headlight. That hasn't fixed the issue so my wife brought it back in this morning and they don't have any idea, except that the alternator may now be a high enough wattage. This doesn't really make sense to me considering the erratic nature of the lights popping. Seems like if that was the case, the car would sense the same wattage every time and pop the light every time.

When this first happened, I looked around on the internet and found somewhere that someone was saying it had to do with the adjustment motor getting stuck? But I can't seem to find that anywhere now . If anyone can help with this, that would be awesome. Replacing the alternator with a 750$ Lexus version does not sound like a good idea, especially considering it's only a 'possible' fix. Thanks guys!

 

Been to the shop a couple more times with zero luck diagnosing >

 

maybe a short some where?

 

Take it to the dealer and pay an hour worth of diagnostics

 

Having the same issue as you. What wound up
being the fix??