kbw100273

I have a 2011 RX 350 bought from a Dealer. Lease turn in. Precertified.

I have had no problems with this since 2014 when I purchased it. I have it serviced every 5k. I just got a new batter from my certified Lexus mechanic 2 months ago.

We are coming home on a road trip. Screen goes out. Power steering starts to go out. Power steering light and battery go on. Make it to the gas station. Then try to restart.
"click,click,click" . a little juice. Get a tow to a Pep Boys. All they had in nowhere Florida late on a Saturday afternoon. They check it and batter is fine, but alternator is shot.
They say they can put in the alternator. A few hours later, we get the call that the mechanic messed up and blew a coupling fuse (??) . Had to stay in nowhere Florida for 2 days
while they found the part. Needless to say not impressed with them at all. Lots of $$ out of pocket for hotel, etc.

They finally get the part from Orlando. They "fix" it. My husband makes the 5 hour drive home to Atlanta with no issues. Next day I go to work. Less than 12 hours later. Nothing. Nada. No power at all, Tow truck guy hasn't seen that one before.

Get it to our Lexus mechanic. They have it all day. They run diagnostics and assess it's a pin that wasn't in properly on the junction box that basically runs they whole car.
They keep it overnight just to drive it, stop and start it. They service it. All good. My husband picks it up, goes to store, comes out 20 min later. DEAD.

Towed for the 3rd time in 5 days back to mechanic. They have had it for 1 1/2 days now still trying to figure out what the hell Pep Boys did. I am beyond my wits end. I have treated that car with kid gloves for years. Never neglected it. What gives ? Please help.

salimshah

Since the dealership diagnosed the problem last, why not go back to them and say the diagnosis was not complete/accurate.

Salim

N4TECguy

You need to get a better description of what happened at Pep Boys, what they broke, how they knew it broke, how they fixed it, what part numbers they used...and hand all that to the Lexus dealer. I think they're on a wild goose chase here. I don't understand how you got to the point where things started shutting down without any warning lights on the dash. If I had to guess, I would think you're actually dealing with a bad ground or a bad connection at the battery, rather than anything serious. Second guess might be a bad main relay, but I usually see those fail on Honda's and not Toyotas. It is also possible that your starter or battery is on the fritz. The battery could have been related to what pep boys did. The starter would be you trying to start it with a low voltage battery. Sometimes they arc and get damaged due to high amperage draw at low voltage. These things might be overlooked by mechanics who are working off the assumption that a 2 month old battery is definitely going to be good.

kbw100273

Thanks N4TECguy.

Pep Boys says the mechanic popped the fusible link while installing the alternator. 82620-48140. Our Lexus mechanic (not a dealer) has been able to get the car to turn over once since they got it back the 2nd time. As I said they initially thought it was a short pin that Pep Boys had loosely replaced on the junction block that connects the circuits needed to run that car. Again we got it back after fixing the pin...and dead car after driving to store. They can't find any issues with the alternator installation. I wonder if it was an underlying electrical issue that has always been there. In the past I have had issues where if I sat in the car with certain lights on...I would have to get a jump. A couple of times over the years. But I will ask the mechanic to make sure the battery cell didn't blow with the new alternator. I assumed they would look at that.

vlad_a

Sounds like Pep Boys "mechanic" was wrenching +12V terminal on the alternator (always hot) without disconnecting the battery and hit the ground, causing lots of sparks and blowing the fuse (why in the world you he remove it in the first place?).
If the car is completely dead with no signs of life, that's good. It's a lot easier to troubleshoot for a qualified technician than when it's intermittent.

N4TECguy

That was what I was thinking also.

I think the OP currently has an intermittent situation, which I would guess is a starter issue. My parents have an 03 Camry that had a similar situation. Would start real slow, so I replaced the battery. While replacing the battery, I accidentally dropped the wrench and shorted the two battery terminals with it. After that, the car would only start intermittently. The fusible link didn't blow, but I would get no start no click. If I had someone else turn the key, when I got no turn-over I could smack the starter with a block of wood and it would fire right up. Replaced both battery and starter with generic unit from O'Reilly's, still running good 3 years later