sevonuk

Hi, first time post, looking for some help with my 1999 gs300. So heres whats going on.
Car was loosing power while driving. Lights in cabin started to dim, Ac would not go on(ac button light blinking). Car was chugging when accelerating from a stopped position. Barely made it home that day.
Changed out alternator and serpentine belt and recharged teh battery. Took it to Advanced Auto and they ran battery and alternator test. Told me battery was good but alternator was bad. Well even though it was new I put a new one in yet again.
Was driving the other day and the car died in the middle of an intersection. Battery was totally dead. Multi-meter reads 12v on battery when charged and 14v with the engine on??? Also weather im driving or sitting the ac light will only blink and not engage compressor, The radiator fan does not kick in intermittently and the radiator boils. Power stearing seems to randomly get stiff. I chased down all the fuses and couldn't find a parasitic draw.
I cleaned the battery terminals and all the usual stuff.
I am at a complete loss. Any ideas??

kevin3344

How many miles are on the vehicle? Any check engine lights?

sevonuk

200k miles, no check engine light
I recently replaced teh engine coils, head gaskets, and spark plugs.
There was an oil leak from head that seems to be fixed now.
Advanced auto parts test said there was a draw wich i cant find.
Also with the alternator in the car test showed it wasnt putting out the correct voltage(around 11) but with voltmeter it seems to be at 14v and changing the alternator did not help??
Im really stumped here.

shwalker07

You also need to check the grounds and make sure they are clean. I would test the battery and your newer alternator at another place for a 2nd opinion. I recommend this tool in your tool box:


I test my battery every time I do a old change and it does a good job of giving you the state of your battery condition before you are stranded somewhere. Does you battery light come on? Also what is the amperage rating of you new alternator?

sevonuk

Can you point me in the direction of the ground locations on the 2nd gen gs300. I do not believe the battery light comes on on the dash.

these are teh two alternators I have tried so far. one says 100 amp in the description.

kevin3344

Died while driving could also point to your vvti solenoid (common on the 2GS300) or your fuel pressure, especially if the gas tank is low. Struggling while accelerating also points to your fuel pump. Have you checked those recently?

sevonuk

I should clarify. The struggling when accelerating was that there was no electrical power. When stopped car was barely on with battery nearly dead. Aka lights were fading. When I started moving all the things that use power would begin engaging and it was a fight between higher rpm for the alternator and the electrical needs.

I might have explained that really awkwardly but hopefully it made sense. Whatever is going on has got to be in the electrical. Alternator not charging bat or aggressive power drain etc.

EuroWill

This may sound silly, but are you positive the belt is routed correctly? Could you have accidentally routed wrong when you replaced the alternator?

will

kevin3344

Check and make sure all of your pulleys spin freely. That could be causing the loss of power steering / a/c / charging issues. See below:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...-steering.html

EuroWill

I second this. I’ve seen compressors lock up and stall engines.

will

sevonuk

Belt is routed correctly. I replaced the battery today just to be safe. disconnected and cleaned ground to chassis by battery and ground to engine just behind alternator. I did a volt test between positive battery and body/chassis. readings were the same as the battery so no deviation there. As far as I can tell the pulleys on everything on serp loop seem to spin freely.
Perhaps its not relavant but i was wondering about the alternator ground. It has no dedicated ground wire so was wondering if it relys on the its connection to the engine to ground?
anyway after cleaning up the two grounds I could find and replacing the battery its the same problems. When the battery is fully charged the AC and everything works for about 30 seconds then back to everything going haywire. Seems the battery just starts loosing juice fast and everything starts turning off. It just must be a short or something???
Im thinking the huge draw thats draining everything is only happening when the car is on.

:if its relevant my abs light is on but i dun know how long its been there. Its bulb was burned out so it could have been on for ages and be unrelated. just replaced the bulb today.

EuroWill

Unplug your ABS control module and test for parasitic draw. I suspect that you have an internally shorted ABS control module. With the car off and all modules asleep your multimeter should read less than .2 amps when connected in series between the negative battery cable and the negative battery post.

sevonuk

When you say control module do you mean the pump or the ecu under the wheel

EuroWill

I don’t have a wiring diagram, but the 3 big connectors in the picture should be the 3.

sevonuk

my meter is busted for amp reading, ordered a new one. So in the mean time Im wondering if I pull the abs fuse on gs300 will it simply disable the abs so i can drive it around to see if there is any draw or is there more on the abs fuse than on a non luxury car. Im aware of other cars where the abs can be disabled and the normal breaks etc will still work fine but the gs300 seems to have a more integrated system for the breaks. So can I drive the gs300 with abs fuse pulled or will it mess with the normal brakes etc?


Edit: I would just do a volt drop test on the fuse but unless im blind it does not have contacts to test like a common fuse