tpham7

I was out driving last night when all of sudden my battery check light went on. I drove around for a bit, then all of sudden my lights dimmed! I was on the freeway too, luckily I made it to my friend's house just in time when all of the electronic equipments went out. The doors started locking and unlocking by itself and I had no lights at all! My battery went dead because it wouldn't start and all the lights are dimmed. So I was stuck, until my brother came out with another battery. I made it home safe and sound, thank god.

-could this be the alternator going bad because the power steering pump is leaking?
-how much will this cost me?

Caanon

From what I've read it could be a bad battery or grounding issues, but I don't know alot about those.
When my alternator went out it acted exactly like your situation. Alternator cost me about 150 through kragen I think.

As for power steering pump which always seems to the cause for alternators going out on these, if you know what you're doing you can try this:
http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...power+steering
I don't know how much it is to have someone else rebuild or replace it, my pump was replaced just before I bought the car.

tpham7

correct me if I'm wrong, but the alternator is located on the bottom of the left side of the engine right?

tpham7

then what the heck is this? because I see fluids sticking to it on the bottom...maybe something is leaking?

T0ked

iTrader: (2)

Power steering leak causing damage to the alternator is a problem on SC4s, not SC3s. Check your distributor. I read about one other incident on this board about something like this happening.

tpham7

okay, it's the distributor then...but what's leaking the oily fluid??

Kilo

Tpham : The SAME EXACT thing happened to me about two weeks ago.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...hreadid=134172

Before you go and and get a new alternator, check out your serpentine belt. I made the mistake of getting a new alternator but the problem still persisted. It turned out that my crank pulley wasnt working right, which effected my power steering, AC, and alternator - causing my battery to never charge.

To test: Pull on the Serp. belt and make sure that there isn't too much slack in the belt. It should be fairly taut. Also, Let your engine run and watch the movement of the belt, while turning on your AC and having someone turn the wheel. The rotation of the belt/pulleys should be consistent without any hesitations. If it's not a smooth/regular/cyclical motion, than you may have found your culprit. Good luck!

tpham7

hm I encountered similar problems as you Kilo but not exact. When the battery was dying out, I have no lights, and turning the steering wheel was pretty hard. The ABS and Air Bag lights were both on. The cluster lights also died out slowly until the car died.

-I'll check it out tomorrow. I don't know what's leaking from my distributor, but I'll change the cap/rotors for it anyway since it's pretty cheap.

Kilo

Tpham: Our experiences are identical. In my opinion, there are two possibilities. 1) Alternator failed, which resulted in your battery not charging. So when your battery ran out of juice, you car died. 2) Your alternator may be fine but your serperntine belt isn't functioning properly which doesn't "churn" your alternator ~> no charging of battery.

tpham7

I checked the belt this morning and it seems fine, there's no slack at all and it turns all pullies. So it must be the alternator.

bambooluv

The same exact thing happened to me at the begining of the year. Battery light came on, lights went dim aliittle later and than the car died, I change to a new alternator and also got a new battery( only cause it was in dire need of a new one) and its been running good sense. But just in case check your battery terminals and make sure they are on tight.-pete

Kilo

Guess it must be your alternator then. Just to give you a price reference. I paid $200 for a new Denso Alternator.

tpham7

yea, I just replaced it today. $160 for 160 amp alternator + $40 labor for 1 hour = $200. The mechanic was my dad's friend so we got a discount. . Car runs great now.

jdmsoarer

luck u got away cheap..