Okay so here’s how I saw everything.
On June 21, I drove to work (5miles) and back with no issuers what so ever. Later that night though, I was going to a friends houses and car starts like normal. I drive not more than two city blocks when the “check charging systems” light notification comes on with the battery light.
Concerned, I turned around and tried to make it home. As i was on my way around the block, all my cluster lights started to turn on. Every check light and notification were being shown before the whole cluster lost power. The car was still driving (although rough at this point) and I was so close to my driveway when the whole car just died. No power whatsoever. I tried starting again but no crank. The starter doesn’t even try. Hazards don’t even turn on.
I used a continuity tester (multimeter) and when the battery is plugged in, no power. But just testing the battery disconnected, power.
I did try to get a jump from my dad but the leads got hot and sparks came and there was smell of electrical issues. Jump didnt help.
I fear a short somewhere but I honestly don’t know.
I was thinking the alternator but the battery should still work if it was that. I was a YouTube video where the kid replaced his “fusible link” but upon investigation this morning (June 22) that fuse is fine.
please help guys
thanks

 

Same thing happened to me twice.

On my 2010 Murano, battery started to go out and car ran rough. I was about 2 miles away from home, and 1/2 way into returning home, car died completely.
Tow truck came I was able to restart the car by jumping but the car died immediately when the jumper cables were disconnected.

Ended up towing the car home. Took the only 3 months new battery back to Autozone,
and they tried to charge it overnight, but didn't work, and gave me a new battery.

With the new battery in place, I started the car, but multi-meter reading was barely over 12V,
instead of upper 13s or 14V when being properly charged.

I ended up replacing the alternator, and everything has been fine since.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In another scenario, my neighbor wanted to sell 96 Camry that's been sitting in garage for 5+ years.
Using a portable jumper pack, shockingly the car started after cranking for only 10 seconds.
Dang, those Toyotas are just too good.

But car died when the jumper pack ran out of battery, probably because the alternator was not charging on this one also.
So we cleaned his garage to make room to pull up my car to the side, and tried to jump.
This time, the car just cranked 30 seconds without starting on several tries
This is when I noticed the jumper cable was becoming super hot and
I can smell the electrical/rubber burning smell.

I ended up not buying the car, so not sure what happened after that.
I've jumped dozens of times in my life and never experienced burning smell before.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

What is the year and mileage of the car? How old is the battery and alternator?
I highly suspect that it is your alternator, but it's worth checking:
1. battery terminal and clean any corrosion if necessary.
2. Auto part stores can test the alternator but you'll have to get it there.

 

Okay yeah so I have a 2008 Gs 350 AWD
It’s at 125xxx miles
and the battery says July and where it’s 1-9 the 7 is checked. I don’t think that’s 2007.. I hope not.

but yeah I had a Honda years back where cleaning the terminals was all I needed but the fact that the car (the Lexus) draws absolutely no power right now and it was before leads me to believe it’s something fuse related but I’ll definitely check the wires when I get home tonight.
As for the alternator, I was thinking of pulling it out to test it at a auto parts store to save on a tow truck. Cause if I’m going for a tow, might as well at that point bring it to a mechanic and pay the crazy rate to diagnose and fix. That’s my worst case scenario though.

 

Testing the alternator at auto part store is pretty quick,
but you can do that yourself easily at home also if you have a multimeter:

If you are going to remove the alternator,
since Amazon provide no questions asked refund policy on most items,
you could also have a new (or rebuilt) alternator ready
so that you can change it on the spot if necessary.

Definitely, your battery is not 2007, but even if it's 2017,
depending on where you live, that's close to end of life anyway.

In Houston, our batteries only last 3 years on average due to hot temps,
Also, very likely your alternator is original as well,
so 13 years with 125K miles is getting close to end of life.

I had a pretty tough time with 2010 Murano alternator replacement due to constricted space,
but this gen GS doesn't seem to bad.

If this was my car, I won't even worry about testing anything,
and I would just replace the battery and alternator knowing
it's near end of life anyway.

 

Definitely sounds like alternator to me. A lot of toyotas i've owned don't let you know the alternator is bad until the battery discharges.

 

Thanks guys for the support and help so far I really appreciate it. I can’t really do much on my car until Friday because of work but here’s an update based off of what I’ve read on this forum and other and from YouTube.
So yesterday (Tuesday June 22) I took my battery out and took it over to o’Rileys where I was told it needed to charge in order to give a reading (which was weird because using my multimeter it read 12v but I figured maybe he knew something I didn’t) I got my battery back the next day (today) and the guy told me it was bad. The cold cranks of the battery are supposed to be 600, but the guy could only pull a good reading at 450 cc.
With that battery though, I was able to get the car back on and off the street and back into my drive way where she died completely again.
when the battery was connected I did the negative terminal first then positive. When I connected the position I got the smallest grey/white smoke cloud come up which I’ve never seen. But the hazards turned on immediately and I saw that the dash had lit up. The check charging system notification came up again as well as the check engine light and the battery and power steering light. The engine didn’t want to turn over at first. I tried when I noticed all the lights but nothing. I pushed my push to start as if to turn off the car, it turns off, I start it back up, the starter makes some noises but doesn’t get there, try again and the starter works and the car started! I was so happy but knew it wasn’t a fix, so I drove it the 20 yards into my drive way. Once I turned it off the after that it died completely and again she’s a dead brick.

So definitely ordering a new battery because duh and I think once I pop that guy in, I’ll see if everything’s fixed. And If it dies again, then it’s the alternator.
but tell me if I’m wrong, but because it did turned over with the weak cold crank battery: that means there’s no way it’s a fuse or a relay or a rat somewhere inside my car eating wires and creating a short.. right?

 

Yeah, voltage is only output measurement, there are also CCA (Cold Cranking Amp), AMP/HOURS, Reserve Capacity,
Conductance Testing, and Load Testing.
https://www.underhoodservice.com/vol...bout-how-long/

Whenever you get the car started (either before if you can and definitely after) the new battery is installed,
check the voltage. On Corolla, I see little over 14 volts once the car is started. On Murano, it barely makes it over 14
and then drop to high 13V. I'll test the GS300 and Camry later today see what the charging voltage is.

Ironically, my son's 2016 Corolla just started to have battery issue starting 2 days ago.
We bought this almost 3 years ago, so I'm pretty sure this is the second battery
since battery on average last only 3 years (2 to 4 on extreme cases) in scorching not Houston temperature.

Though he didn't tell me until 2 days ago, he had noticed slight longer start in recent weeks.
And 2 days ago, he had left the interior lights on all night and most of next day,
The battery was reading at 6.5V and obviously wouldn't start.
After jump starting, the battery read little over 14V, which was indicating
good charge (attempt that is).

He was able to drive 20 minutes to a store, and then was able to restart it.
Then drove another 10 minutes to someone's house, and this time it wouldn't start.
So as battery is going out, it's giving you little hopes that it can be saved at times.

For us, it's just too much hassle to deal with at inconvenient times when problem can be solved for about $125 bucks.
So I'm gonna jump start his car, and have him go to Walmart to get a new battery put in.
Why Walmart? Because they provide 3 year warranty and 2 years of prorated warranty.
I've tried more expensive batteries, but they all seem to last only 3 years in Houston.

Back on Murano battery issue. Before the alternator went out completely, I can feel my only 3 months new battery getting weaker,
and sometimes threw up several lights on dash, but then once I clear the codes, all seemed OK for a week or so.

In the course of replacing the alternator,
I noticed the wire connector was partially melted, so I think it was charging when the connection was good,
and not charging when the connection was bad. I thought about just splicing the wires, and replacing the connector end,
but getting the alternator out of Murano is such a bit** that I didn't want to repeat the work, so I just replaced the alternator.

At 26.37 mark on this video, you can see the partially melted and partially crumbling connector.

Your slight smoke is still questionable...
Do change the battery, and check battery cables end to end to make sure that it's good.
After getting the new battery, test the charging voltage with car started everyday for few days
just to ensure that it's high 13s or low 14s V since bad alternator can also kill the new battery, like my Murano.

 

Damn...I felt like I was living through your story last couple of days.

So, recently, I had to jump start my son's Corolla 3-4 times with my GS300 over 2 days.
My son's battery was reading 6-7V, and mine was reading 12.5V.
Once the car started, both cars read over 14V, so charging was good.

On Saturday, I drove GS300 45 minutes to a store, and then drove back just fine.
on Sunday, car wouldn't start with all sorts of dash light flashing.
Headlight would come on for a split second and then turn off.
The battery was reading 11.8V. The car almost wanted to start but didn't.

When I jump started the battery, my wife said, she saw a little bit of white smoke around the battery...just like you.
To be honest, I know some people may beat me up for this, but I've always jumped the car without
grounding the negative jumper cable to weak battery car's metal frame somewhere.
The reason is, long time ago, I've found that where you choose to ground effects the voltage,
but when I go + to +, and - to - terminals directly, I always get the highest voltage needed to
quickly start the car. Of course I've only done this on quick jump starts that takes less than 10 seconds, and not extended charge.
The reason why I mention this is because, few times that I ground the negative jumper cable,
depends on which metal I ground to, sometimes I do see brief white smoke,
but I don't recall seeing white smoke when going +- terminals directly (though I know that's not recommended).


After the car started, voltage read 1.4.4 or so, so alternator seemed fine.

The Interstate battery was 3.5 years old, but had 5 year warranty.
As mentioned, in Houston, average battery life is 3 years, so I knew I had to replace it.
In any case I jump started the car and drove to O'Reilly's thinking I saw Interstate batteries there,
but they said they only carry max 3 year warranty, but they went ahead and tested the alternator with the car running.
The testing device showed "Bad voltage regulator", which is inside the alternator I believe.
But I knew this cant be accurate, since I drove 15 minutes to the auto part store,
and with dead alternator, I wouldn't make it that far.

I then took it to Autozone to see if they cover Interstate battery,
but they don't carry this stock, but proceed to test the battery.

This time I turned off the car for him to test, since he said he can jump start me if it doesn't start.
Testing device showed "Bad battery".

But car started right up, and once I got home I turned off the engine, and was able to restart it once.
Next morning, the car went back to the same symptom as Sunday...flashing all sorts of dash lights
and wouldn't start.

I jump started and drove to the WalMart, and got 3 year warranty battery,
and problem is solved for now.