Hi Guys!

I hope everyone is doing great!

So here is the thing, my car suddenly shut off when I tried to start it after leaving it for a couple of days in the parking garage. I thought it was a battery issue so I contacted a mechanic next to my building in a gas station. He checked it and confirmed that yeah its a battery issue.

So he replaced the battery and it worked. I was able to drive for a day. The following day it happened again. The car will start, I get a crank that its trying to turn the engine on but won’t turn over.

So I brought it to the mechanic (not the same one) and he checked the car, said it could be the alrernator or the ecu (im not good at any of these) he then replaced the alternator etc. after all these he told me that the car is still not starting. And he said that there maybe a short circuit from the wirings and he will need to change the whole wirings of the car!!!

I said is he for real?! It will cost me a fortune! I asked him if he can just check on the wirings and try to find the culprit and fix it, he said he can but it may not work and I may end up just getting the wiring replaced.

What do you guys think? Is it worth to fix the wirings or do I have to replace it like what he said. I dont trust this shop anymore. I feel like they are just trying to rip me off.

Any advice?

 

An easy rule u can use to determine if it’s a problem with the battery or the alternator and even the starter, is this. If it’s not starting (cranking over) usually that’s a battery problem. Could just be dead? Usually a quick jumpstart will get the car moving again, at least long enough to stop by an auto parts store so u can get the battery tested and either charged if it just sat to long, or replaced, if it’s no longer holding the proper amperage or voltage. If you hear a single, but pretty loud click when u turn the key to start it, then that’s a good indication your starter is worn out, something about it has failed and a rebuild or replacement is in order. Sometimes a couple good taps with a hammer while someone is repeatedly turning the key, and often it’ll fire up a few more times this way, great opportunity to avoid an expensive tow truck if your able to drive it to a shop. And the final clue I have for u, if it won’t run and continue to drive, that’s more of a charging problem. For some reason the electrical system isn’t receiving power from the alternator while it’s running, so it’s just operating on whatever charge the battery is holding. Could be a bad alternator, a bad belt that’s not spinning the alternator, usually you’ll lose power steering and other accessories. It’s also possible that the alternator is creating plenty of power but it’s not transferring it to the battery and electrical system either because there is a damaged or corroded cable or possibly a problem with the ground. This is usually a distinctly different problem than a bad battery. You’ll be driving down the road and your stereo will die, then the gauges, fallowed quickly by the engine. You’ll just be dead in the road and jump starting it won’t help, it’ll die right after u unhook the jumper cables. If you can leave it connected to a running car for a while, u might build up some power in the battery so u can drive it a little. But usually it’s better to pull the battery and take it to a parts store or somewhere it can get a full charge. You’ll be able to then drive it again, the more electrical power u use, the quicker it’ll die again. At night with the headlights and air conditioner running, u probably won’t last 10 minutes. It is probably that a weak battery that needs constant power from the alternator, so the alternator doesn’t get a break, can shorten it’s life also, so u need to tell both components, but i wouldn’t replace either til I had them bench tested to confirm a problem. If they both test good, probably a bad battery cable.
This is just accurate info for an electrical problem. If the fuel pump is bad, it might have similar symptoms but need totally different diagnosis.

 

I would have a hard time paying for car repairs that replaced parts but didn’t fix or even address the primary problem, it isn’t starting. Even if the alternator was removed from the car, it would still be able to fire up and run fine, although not for very long. So I would want to at least see his credentials before handing over a penny.

 

Take the car to a lexus/toyota specialist there are many workshops in dubai industrial areas.

The first thing they should have done was to test the voltage at the battery terminals with the car off, and again with the car running. You dont need a wiring harness, that shop is trying to make money off of you. Even if 1 wire is bad, which is rare unless the car was previously wrecked and poorly fixed you can replace just that 1 broken wire in the harness.

I would also make sure the battery terminals are solid and firm with no cracks. If they look bad replace them, you can easily replace them from many of the toyota parts sellers. I replaced my terminal with one from a toyota yaris because it is the same part just different part number. I had the same issue you had, barely wanted to turn the started