Bmore26

Afternoon Everyone,

Ive owend this car for the last 10 years and recently ALL SORTS of issues are coming up. Now this doesn't happen all the time just intermittently to my GS. The battery, alternator and serpentine belt have all been changed within the last 2 years and am still having these issues below.

All of the sudden:

The power steering stops
The NAV screen goes blank
The check 4WD light comes on
BRAKE light on dash comes on

Ive checked forums and all point to alternator or serpentine belt and or battery. ALL ARE NEW.

Is it the ECU?

Please help!!!!

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

When all those things you listed go out, what happens to the car? Does it completely shut off? Does it shut off then start right back up on its own or does it stay off until you jump start the car?

If I were to guess, it sounds to me like you have a poor connection and corrosion somewhere in the wires. I would check the battery terminals, you can start by removing the nut on top that removes the wires from the terminal itself. Then you can remove both terminals, grab sand paper or a wire brush and clean under the terminal, clamp, and battery post. I had a similar issue where the battery had a slow leak and ate away my terminal and I had the same symptoms you're having.

Next you can follow both wires and see where they attach to and remove and clean those terminals aswell.

Bmore26

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

When you say you cleaned the terminals, did you psychically remove the 13mm nut off the top post and sand down that terminal? To ensure the mating surface between the terminal and post are sold. I would also replace the terminal post they are very cheap, I think I purchased terminal post for a toyota yaris, they are the same but for some reason the yaris was price cheaper.

The alternator what brand did you use oem or aftermarket? If you used aftermarket denso brand is good.

Bmore26

OK, so I belive I tracked down the problem. I put a voltage meter on the terminal posts and the battery has only 6v available. I jump started the car and the volts went back up to 12 on the batter only to drop down once I disconnected the cables. At this point it seems like the alternator but what is odd to me is that this problem with the nav screen going out completely a few weeks back and then happen again yesterday after about 10 minutes in the car worries me. Do alternators just die outright or do they slowly die? Seems odd this has happened before and worked fine afterwards now its flat out dead. Very weird to me.

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

If you replaced with a non oem or denso brand alternator then yes you can see drops in the battery. You may also have a parasitic draw, have you tried unpluging the battery after you drive it and test the voltage on the battery itself.

I am suspecting its your alternator maybe non oem, or installed improperly. You can also drive to any auto parts store that has free alternator computer tester to see the voltage of the alternator. You can also have them charge and test the battery. But youre getting close to figuring it out