My wife's Lx has been basically trouble free besides a water pump at 110k miles until a few days ago. It now has 115k miles.
She went to start it and the battery was dead. I jumped it, then took it to have the battery tested. Two auto parts stores tested it (possibly a mistake) and said the 3 year old battery was strong but the alternator showed only around 13 volts and is going out. After realizing replacing the alternator isn't as easy as my '86 Chevy was, I took it to a trusted mechanic who specializes only in foreign cars.
They replaced it with a new Denso unit.
Yesterday after picking it up and driving on a 3 hour trip the dash lit up like Christmas: CEL, VSC, 4Lo, among other lights. Then the voltage dropped until it died. I figured it must be the battery after all and replaced it. Made it the last hour and a half of the trip no problem.
Today, my wife was driving and the dash lit up again, but this time the voltage was climbing. She said it got almost to 19v on the dash gauge. She made it home thankfully.
I generally try and do all the maintenance myself and have so far on this and my 100 series, but this has me frustrated and stumped. Has anyone here experienced anything like this or can point me in the right direction?
I'd like to get it back to the same mechanic so they can make it right, but he's 3 hours from my home. It might end up at the Toyota dealer as that's as close to Lexus as we have here.
Thank you and sorry for the wordy post.
She went to start it and the battery was dead. I jumped it, then took it to have the battery tested. Two auto parts stores tested it (possibly a mistake) and said the 3 year old battery was strong but the alternator showed only around 13 volts and is going out. After realizing replacing the alternator isn't as easy as my '86 Chevy was, I took it to a trusted mechanic who specializes only in foreign cars.
They replaced it with a new Denso unit.
Yesterday after picking it up and driving on a 3 hour trip the dash lit up like Christmas: CEL, VSC, 4Lo, among other lights. Then the voltage dropped until it died. I figured it must be the battery after all and replaced it. Made it the last hour and a half of the trip no problem.
Today, my wife was driving and the dash lit up again, but this time the voltage was climbing. She said it got almost to 19v on the dash gauge. She made it home thankfully.
I generally try and do all the maintenance myself and have so far on this and my 100 series, but this has me frustrated and stumped. Has anyone here experienced anything like this or can point me in the right direction?
I'd like to get it back to the same mechanic so they can make it right, but he's 3 hours from my home. It might end up at the Toyota dealer as that's as close to Lexus as we have here.
Thank you and sorry for the wordy post.
