Electrical woes for new owner

[CasaDeChaos]

Purchased a 2005 LX470 about 6 weeks ago and it has been great. It has 60,000 miles and all of the scheduled work had been done at Lexus dealer. I haven't done much in the way of mods yet, but I have done a couple and I am worried one of the mods has had a pretty negative effect.

To date, I have installed new lifters for the hood and rear hatch, I also installed a SpecUSA BT45 TOY and completed the brake bypass during. After the brake bypass, I had the brake light on for a while, and then it went away.

My concerns started about 2 weeks ago. I began seeing the battery light intermittently. Usually right after start-up. Would go away after some time at highway speeds. Thought it was the battery or I had fried something with the brake bypass. I planned to get a new battery and then things began to worsen. First, battery light would be on, then the the radio would go out while streaming, then the ABS, VSC TRAC,VSC OFF, Battery, and brake light would come on, amperage would jump to 17.5. The truck still ran and drove fine.

I thought the battery had just gotten worse, so I replaced it with a 24F just to ensure I could get home if that was the problem. Still same problems. The battery tested this am at 12.6 at the posts after sitting 24 hours. Upon start-up, it jumped to 14.0 at the posts. While running, I turned on the rear defrost, A/C, and radio and it dropped to 11.8.

I guess my question after researching on here is: is my issue the alternator or a short somewhere?

Thanks for any help!

 

[JETTIX2]

If the windshield has been replaced (improperly, very common on these), there may be water running down the A pillars and shorting out the fuse blocks at the bottoms, which will cause all sorts of electrical issues. It's a start, hope that helps.

 

[DirtDawg]

Brake bypass?

 

[flintknapper]

Brake bypass?

I was wondering too, but didn't want to ask.

Just on the face of it....sounds like something you wouldn't want to do (bypass your brakes)?

 

[bmw635]

Do alternator load test as it may be on its way out.

 

[fjfj60]

I would start with alternator as well.

 

[KillerBox]

My alternator was changed at 105,000 miles (right before I bought it). I kinda figured that it would last longer than 105,000 miles but, I don't if the previous owner drove it around with a dead battery or jumped it off and then let the alternator charge the battery.

The bad thing is that I am replacing the alternator anyway to a high output alternator (240a) because of the aftermarket stereo that I am putting in it. So I will have a basically new alternator as a spare.

 

[CasaDeChaos]

Ultimately, I had the alternator changed at the Toyota dealer and it fixed the problems. Also, I'm getting about 1 MPG better after. Thanks for all the help.

 

[ibrahim83]

i was about to say alternator. Glad you got it.

 

[CasaDeChaos]

Oh and the brake bypass was the emergency brake bypass for the display to play DVD while driving. Not much use for me, but the kids love it.

 

[PhillyLumpLump]

Nice. I did the same e-brake bypass but had to install a switch on the console...pioneer got wise to just grounding it out.

 

[jerryb]

interesting info on this thread about the brake bypass for pioneer Official AVIC NEX Bypass (AVIC Units Only) - Page 5 - NEX Series
This software deal worked for me.

I already had a pioneer harness with the micro brake bypass installed. Then I started getting error messeges after a few days and I tried that long press in the corner thing, it went away permanently after I set it to off,,, or on, I can't remember.
Good thread on that avic forum

 

[Matserelli]

i was about to say alternator. Glad you got it.

 

[ibrahim83]

I've only replaced them on three cruisers. i wouldn't know.