I was driving home this afternoon and all of sudden my AC stopped blowing and the battery light came on. I didn’t lose power and was vale to made it home. Last week I did start to hear a small squeal and I thought it was my power steering, but do alternators make noise too?



I drove about 25 miles home and haven’t checked anything under the hood yet.

 

Run the engine and check voltage at the battery you should see 13.4+ volts.

 

Go to an Autozone, Advance Auto, etc and they will put a tester on it. Hate to say, sounds similar to my experience when my alternator failed. Hope I'm wrong, good luck.

 

Just be aware that you may be running off of 100% battery power if the alternator did actually die, so driving the car anywhere may lead to you getting stranded once the battery is depleted and can't run the electrical system and ECU any more.

 

Perfect time to utilize the hidden diagnostic menu on the nav screen- https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-settings.html
It will show your battery output without pulling out of your garage.

 

I second YoshiMan, don't drive it anywhere unless you charge up the battery first or else you're gambling on a date with a tow truck. Even then, 30 miles or 30 minutes is about your limit, and still risky. If you don't have a multimeter, the above idea from bradland is perfect. Since you mentioned the AC quit working, check and make sure the serpentine belt didn't snap. You probably would have noticed a loss of power steering if it broke, but just in case you have arms like The Rock and didn't notice, have a look at the belt.

 

I have the non-nav 😕
Just got a multi and it reads 12.3 and belt is good.


I didn’t start the car.

 

This is after turning the car on. Good thing I’m on the way to get a new alternator from Bell Lexus.

 

Don't forget the back-to-school 15% off discount, on top of the original discount. Check to see if they will price-match online pricing.

 

Ended up swapping the alternator and the battery light is gone. Short drive and everything seemed good. I’m taking the core back to Bell Lexus for the $75 core refund.
This might be the original alternator.



The connector was the most difficult part getting off.

The new reman alternator




New one is in.

The whole process took about 2 hours. Love working on the LS.

 

When I replaced mine back in June, the hardest part was removing the electrical connector.

 

Same here. I was afraid of stretching the wiring too much or breaking something off. Some of the wiring protective loom flaked off when I unplugged it.
Should i buy some of this stuff and wrap the wires?

 

yeah, the wire loom is crumbling all over my LS's engine bay too. I suggest the split plastic tubing type in preference to tape, it's much easier for long runs.

 

Mine is original and now 18 years old with 121k on it. Still works fine but replacing it soon just so it doesn't become an issue later. I will keep the core and have it rebuilt locally and just hang on to it, just in case. Thankfully the alternator replacement is quick and easy on these cars, was MUCH more involved when I had my GX460 done.