That's what I am talking about. My 2007 RX350's alternator died at 137K and yours is still going strong at 225K. That's a big gap. And I live in the sunshine state (CA), not snowy where I live, etc. I don't blast heater or air conditioner. My RX350 was made in Canada. Is your 2008 RX350 also made in Canada or Japan?

I did some googling and found non-official info that RX350 alternator has a lifetime of 80K-150K miles and 7-10 in year time.

 

Mine was made in Japan, the same factory as my 2002 Highlander. It's very rare to see Japan here, about 1/10 because the factory that makes them is very close to me. My Highlander's alternator died in 2017. I am "blaming" the long life of it on the fact that most of the mileage on this car is on the highway and it never had short trips. The Highlander has had a lot of short trips but was maintained to the tee compared to my RX which was neglected badly by the PO

 

When I bought my 07 RX in 2016 with 97K miles, it was on its 4th alternator! Seven year later, that 4th alternator is still working.

 

My alternater went of christmas week of '19, turned out to be the internal voltage regulater. Went to oriellys pulled it out of the box & bench tested it 3 times. Still going strong. btw I went w/ the original 100 amp one which was $10. more for some reason. Great time to get a Gates belt & tensioner too.

 

FOUR alternators on your 2007 RX350 at 97K miles??? Man, bummer! you're sure RX wasn't made in China?

 

More like he's going cheap on the alternators.......

 

What gives you all fuzzies on that is that they were all replaced by the dealer.

 

Apparently, OEM parts (new or manufactured) these days aren't much more reliable than After Market.
To my surprise and disappointment, the new fender I just bought from Lexus was not a perfect fit; not even close.

edit: meant to type "REmanufactured," as in rebuilt

 

Man, that's bad. Sounds like they cut corners now.

On alternators: All the "new" alternators sold at my Lexus dealer are re-conditioned ones from broken ones. So, there is no obsolutely brand new ones. My mechanic wouldn't give me back my original old alternator back, unless I give him a $200 core charge. At my local dealer, if you don't have the old/broken alternator, be prepared to fork out at least $85 more added to the price of the re-conditioned one they sell you.

 

Wow, 4 alternators......One great reason to have a shop do it= labor/parts warranty......

 

I wondering if they were using Autozone rebuilts...

 

I have a 2005 RX 330. (Wife got the newer car after I wrecked the honda.)
This morning on the way to Church, my battery light came on, still on way home.
Got home, wiggled bat cables, light went off.
(Replaced alternate w/ carquest from advanced in fall of 2020. still under warranty.)

Watched the vids on how to test.

Here are readings (Under load (UL) was AC max, fog lights, and radio on.)
Battery car off 12.7
Battery car on 13.1-13.3
Battery UL 13.4-13.9

Testing from Alt to Battery
Bat + to frame 13.28 to 13.45
UL 13.16-13.26
Bat - to alt +13.3-13.58
UL 13.29-13.38
Alt + to Alt frame 13.34-13.65
UL 12.82-13.54

Nothing went above 14, but only Alt to alt under load dropped below 13.
Belt was not loose.
Thoughts?

 

By the way, I was talking to my dad a while ago and he said all the auto parts stores used to sell alternator rebuild kits and he used to rebuild his own.
But they were way cheaper than swapping alternators.

I bet we could still do this, if we had the fore sight to have a kit on hand.
Of course now, unless you have a spare car it has to be done right away.

 

[QUOTE=Got home, wiggled bat cables, light went off.
Thoughts?[/QUOTE]

Those voltage readings should not be all over the place like that.

But the first thing you need to do is deal with those battery cables. When you wiggle an electrical connection that has a good, solid, nothing will happen or change, Whether the cable is simply loose or the wire is corroding where it enters the battery terminal clamp, fix that first. Then do the voltage checks again.

 

Ok. I'll check those out and get back.

Had battery tested. It's good.