Hi everyone I have an issue with my Lexus.
Today i did about 50 miles of driving. I've had my car for 2 and a half years
It has 136K miles and engine running strong. All maintenance done to date
I came to a stop in a parking lot, and as i turned into the parking spot, i lost power
steering and almost hit a parked car. So i was surprised. Car was still running but the
power steering was out, lights were flickering off and on, and radio went out. Things kept
turning off one by one. Instrument cluster flickering, all lights blinking. Then i turn off the car and
immediately smelled some burning smell from the hood. no smoke, just a smell.
It did not smell like sulfur, just like a burning plastic smell, weird for me to describe.
My assumption was that the alternator crapped out on me. So the car would not start after that.
I took out the battery and the gentleman at Autozone told me my battery was at 1%
he said it had trouble in the charger, and the battery began to leak from the top.
he wanted me to take it, even though the battery was fully charged, actually overcharged
and i ran the risk of blowing up the battery in my trunk just from transporting it to my car.
I swapped it out with a brand new one. I went back to my car and placed the brand new battery in and the car turned right back on, drove all high way for 30 miles. Then as soon as i got to the
access road, the lights started to flicker again, and i was slowly losing everything, including power steering. i pulled over to a restaurant parking lot, and turned off the car. I took the battery out again, waited for my gf to get here so i can take the second battery to autozone. guy told me it was at 12.1V, slightly undercharged. left it to charge, came back and the gentleman said the battery was having a problem, it charged only to 12.28V and now swapped it with another brand new fully charged battery. I went back to my car and put it on, car started back up, drove 5 miles home, with just the battery light on, it flickered on and off for a couple times (10-12 times) then stayed on. When i got home, i left the car on, the battery light stayed on, and the lights started up again and everything dimmed out. Car shuts off.....
I have clean terminals and cleaned out the battery connector, positive and negative. All the pulleys are spinning great, no noises or squeaks at all.
I noticed some of the fuse panels were getting hot such as the ones I'm going to post on here,
1. right next to the battery and 2. in front of the brake fluid reservoir, so everyone can get the idea of what I'm talking about.
The battery was also warm, positive battery cable was hot too
Even one of my aftermarket HID ballasts was really hot, on the drivers side, but the passenger side
ones was significantly less hot.
Battery is at around 7V now so something is discharging the battery, even when the car is off.
I guess my next step is to inspect the alternator pulley and wires to the altenator, which i will do tomorrow.
Now I don't know what to do as far as diagnostics. I do not want to remove alternator if i do not have to.
But does anyone have any ideas of what it could be. I appreciate everyone's response

Sorry for the long story, but I felt it was necessary. Thanks again everyone

 

To tell if it's your alternator bad it sometime will have a burnt smell under the hood. Easy way to test is start the car up then take either positive or negative terminal off the battery. If it drop dead its your alternator that gone bad simple as that.

 

DO NOT do this! I repeat, DO NOT do this unless you want to potentially do more damage to your car electronics. Do a quick google search on what could happened to modern cars if you do that if you dont believe me.
There are many easier and cheaper way to test the alternator. You could bring it to the shop and ask them to test it foe you or get a Digital Multi Meter and test it yourself.
Anyhow, i think your Alternator is going bad (more specifically the Voltage regulator). Good luck andkeep us posted.

 

Sorry but unplugging your battery doesnt do damage . As i done this all the time with no issue and most mechanics i know do this also just to be sure it is the alternator. I did this on my wife Is250 guess what it still running wihtout an issue. To the OP you can do waht make your feel comfortable. If you do a search on this fourm most if not all member here do my way to test the alternator with out an issue.

 

Get yourself a new alternator ASAP!

 

It's your alternator. Nothing to panic. I have this problem before.
here is what happened to me
1. air condition shut off
2. radio
3. steering wheel
4. gauge light
5. headlight

Put on new alternator and all good again.

 

Definitely your alternator. Has happened to me twice already, once in New Jersey, and now here in Houston. Dont get the Autozone Alternator, get a more reputable one from O'reilly, CarQuest or OEM.

 

hi guys thanks for your responses.

quick update, i replaced the alternator with a rebuilt one that i had done here in my city.

cost was $100 to rebuild. better than $180 plus tax for a brand new one.

it has a thicker positive cable post, 3/8" compared to the 1/4" post.


i used to have a chirp when i turn off the car, and now it went away also, so i'm glad

it was the alternator and nothing major.

 

Glad you got it fix.

 

I'm having this same issue now. Bench tested both reman and they tested good but once I put on the car they started to only put out 13.39 volts going to try one more time before going back to oem.