Warhorse

Hi guys,

The vehicle in question:

2007 IS350 with 111859 miles on the clock. Name is Kona.
Fully loaded with all options for the time (bluetooth, nav, sunroof, backup camera, rain sensing wipers, blah blah blah)
Completely stock save for some Spec D LED DRL Headlights that I installed myself two weeks ago.
All recalls have been serviced on the vehicle.

The issue:

Tonight I stopped for gas and after filling up I started the car, and while it started without hesitation, I noticed that it gave that ever so slight hint of the battery barely having enough cranking amps to fire it up. When I started to drive I immediately noticed that I had no power steering and the check VSC came up on the lcd display in the gauge cluster. The nav display also turned off. I put it in park and turned the car off. When I tried to start it again it started clicking like there wasnt enough juice for another go. However, in acc mode all the accessories powered up fine and the a/c was blowing (albeit warm since the engine was off). As dumb luck would have it the Quiktrip gas station I was at happened to be right next to an autozone. I mosied on over there and the vatozone guy came out with his engine code reader (sadly he couldnt bring a battery tester because theirs was broken). He pulled the codes and Kona (my cars name in case you havent been paying attention or are of the IDGAF variety) says my crankshaft and camshaft positioning sensors are freakin out, yo. Of course, a bad battery could be the cause of these codes. The kicker is this battery is only two years old and it replaced the stock battery that lasted for damn near 8 years. That being said, I jumped the car and it started, but everything was wigging out. The battery light, check vsc and check engine light were all on. I drove the car home and on the way there every time I started slowing down to stop at a light the nav display would turn off and the blower for the a/c would turn off. Once I started driving and picking up speed everything would come back on. I made it home and pulled the battery. I took it and had it tested and they said the battery was bad. It was conveniently 3 months out of warranty so I bought a new battery, installed it and the car seems to be running fine now.

My question is that are these weird issues the car was experiencing solely caused by the bad battery or could there be an underlying issue that caused the battery to go bad in the first place?

Maybe Im reading too much into it, but I like to do my due diligence anyway.

Thanks for reading and comments are appreciated.

Arrta

Autozone or similar can perform a battery/alternator test. I just had to have one done on my '08 is250 because after I replaced my O2 sensor again the car was starting hard. Turns out my battery was bad, but it was the original Lexus installed battery from when the car was put together. A 9 year run was good lol.

Bichon

Is the battery light (charge warning indicator) still on? A properly functioning alternator generally puts out enough juice to run the power steering and accessories even with a bad battery. I'd certainly have it tested sooner rather than later.

HartFB

+1 to Bichon, I had my alternator go to **** a few months ago on the way to O'riellys for a test.. had to get it towed home. I had the battery light on and the steering became very stiff up until the car totally turned off on me and I had to push it myself a ways to the nearest lot, I consider myself lucky because there wasnt very much traffic. Definitely get it tested asap as it can be pretty dangerous if it is indeed the alternator. I got a new one put in for about $400 so it wasn't the worst thing ever.

DennisMik

I would say the alternator has died. Get a voltmeter and get the car started. Measure the voltage, across the battery terminals is a handy spot. Te meter should read around 14 volts if the alternator is working. Anything below 13.5 is a bad alternator.

Warhorse

Thanks for the replies guys. I was out and about today and the car exhibited the same behavior I explained above, but this time with a brand new battery. This definitely seems to indicate the alternator quit on me, because the battery is solely running all the accessories till it runs out of juice.

Do you think installing the new led head lights could be a factor at all? They were completely plug n play with the stock harnesses. The timing is certainly peculiar, but at the same time the car ran flawlessly before and after the install.

I found a 130 amp alternator on rock auto for 170 bucks or there is a 150 amp for 210. I can install it myself. Wouldn't be the first time I've had to put one in.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Replace with a factory replacement alternator, unless you have an aftermarket amp installed.

Same symptoms as I had, except mine happened during a rain storm and my wipers were the first thing I noticed not working right (wiping slower and slower). Damn car died within 1 mile of my house. Grrrrr!

Warhorse

Oh that sucks! Im in Phoenix so its pretty much always sunny here. Lucky the temps have been low (low being 76 to 80s) this past weekend/start of the week and both times this happened we were really close to my house thankfully.

I did confirm that the alternator is bad. Autozone actually has a 150 amp alternator for $167.99, which is the same price as the 130 amp version on Rockauto.com. To top it off the Duralast autozone version comes with a lifetime warranty. Im going to pull the bad alternator today and install the new one. Im guessing these cars have a 130 amp or 150 amp version depending on the options that they come with? My car has the upgraded stereo with all options so Im just gonna go with the 150 amp alternator.

DennisMik

Installing a higher amperage alternator isn't going to give you any better anything, but installing an underrated alternator will create problems when trying to run all the accessories at the same time