LX470 won't start 2001 (1 Viewer)

[FloydPutnik]

Hi guys, hope all is well. I replaced my battery two days ago and degreased the motor. All seemed normal except for a couple of low idle stalls at stop signs yesterday and today, but mostly fine. Today, after sitting in the hot sun for an hour, I went out and started the truck and the battery light flashed and my battery meter looked low, about half. I headed home and as I was going about 30 up a slight hill I put it in neutral and revved it a couple times, thinking that would charge the battery or something. It stalled and I slow rolled it to the side of the road, safely, and it was completely dead. No dash lights, almost like there was no battery in the car. Flat bedded it home. 6 hours later tried to jump it and saw smoke off the nuetral post and by the center of the upper motor, disconnected jumper cables immediately.

Earlier this morning, (prior to all of this nonsense above), I left my house and after about 1.5 miles stopped at a light and saw smoke and smelled electrical something. Pulled over and let it run, was fine, continued my errand then back home. Also went to my office ( 2 miles) after that and home. It stalled a couple of times at stop signs but started back up right away. Hindsight I wish I hadn't degreased the motor. There was some belt noise prior to this, serpentine, squealing.

Any help and or suggestions would be much appreciated folks. I have two of these (also an 01 LC) but this is stumping me.

 

[Lucky Strike]

Do you have a volt meter? check the battery voltage, (what is it?) and the fuses on the positive terminal. does the vehicle do anything when you put the key in the ign? stalling at stops is not normal, did your vehicle do this prior to this?

Why was the battery replaced? was the alternator verified to be working?

 

[PLROD]

no sure what "degreased the motor" entails but if you sprayed water in the engine compartment that could be the source of your electrical gremlins.

 

[FloydPutnik]

no sure what "degreased the motor" entails but if you sprayed water in the engine compartment that could be the source of your electrical gremlins.

Unfortunately that's exactly what I did.

 

[FloydPutnik]

Do you have a volt meter? check the battery voltage, (what is it?) and the fuses on the positive terminal. does the vehicle do anything when you put the key in the ign? stalling at stops is not normal, did your vehicle do this prior to this?

Why was the battery replaced? was the alternator verified to be working?

I can get my hands on one this morning. Right now it does nothing when key is put in ignition. It stalled at stops which I attributed to it sitting for the prior couple months. Alternator was not tested.

 

[FloydPutnik]

Alright, I put a voltage meter in it this morning and it was at 0.0. Again the battery is only two days old. I then tried a battery charger at 10 amps and it immediately pinned it and blew the breaker in the charger. I looked in the fuse box on the positive battery terminal and it appears the 100 amp main fuse is missing. I took a couple pics and will try to post them. I'm not very tech savvy so any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ITRJ]

You need to start with the basics. Disconnect the battery from the vehicle and charge it up. You may need to use the trickle charge (low amp) setting to avoid blowing your breaker. If u can't charge it you will have to replace it (batteries are considered damaged if they drop below 12v). Once u have a fully charged battery back in the vehicle, check your charging system. You should see around 14.5V when the engine is running.

 

[ITRJ]

I would also take a closer look at that 140A alternator fuse. It looks a bit cloudy, did water get into it when you washed your engine?

 

[FloydPutnik]

What about that 100 amp main that's missing, could that be the cause for the power surge I'm seeing that caused smoke on the jumper cables and caused the battery charger to peg? Here's the reading on the battery now. I think I'm going to replace it. I feel like it took a big surge and a drain.

 

[PLROD]

Unless you disconnect the battery, I would suggest not parking it in a garage or too close to any buildings or trees until you get this resolved.

 

[FloydPutnik]

 

[FloydPutnik]

Unless you disconnect the battery, I would suggest not parking it in a garage or too close to any buildings or trees until you get this resolved.

I cannot disagree with you there. Battery is out and charging right now. I'm thinking of replacing all 3 of those large fuses in the block on the positive terminal. It still concerns me that the 100 amp main is simply gone.
I should add guys, I just bought this truck a week ago. We've had such fun and good luck with our other one I thought this would be a good addition. That's why this is all new to me. Thanks!

 

[ITRJ]

I'm betting that your jumper cables are a thin gauge off the shelf type? Because your battery is completely flat, when you use jumper cables to start your vehicle you'll be getting high amps through those cables, most likely more than they're rated for, which is why they're burning up.

 

[ITRJ]

As for the 100 amp fuse, it looks like it isn't supposed to be there. I don't see any terminals in the fuse box. If you were missing a main fuse, you would have had major systems offline from the start. What you do have there is an alternator fuse and a junction box fuse. Check those fuses with an ohmmeter and make sure there is no water/corrosion in the contacts.

 

[ITRJ]

If you pop the breaker again with your battery charger, switch it to the 2A setting. It'll take longer but it's a lower current so the breaker won't trip.

 

[FloydPutnik]

I'm betting that your jumper cables are a thin gauge off the shelf type? Because your battery is completely flat, when you use jumper cables to start your vehicle you'll be getting high amps through those cables, most likely more than they're rated for, which is why they're burning up.

Yes they are exactly as you described.

 

[FloydPutnik]

As for the 100 amp fuse, it looks like it isn't supposed to be there. I don't see any terminals in the fuse box. If you were missing a main fuse, you would have had major systems offline from the start. What you do have there is an alternator fuse and a junction box fuse. Check those fuses with an ohmmeter and make sure there is no water/corrosion in the contacts.

I will look at the land cruiser fuse box when my son gets home to see if that one has a 100 amp fuse in it or if it's an empty slot as well.

 

[FloydPutnik]

If you pop the breaker again with your battery charger, switch it to the 2A setting. It'll take longer but it's a lower current so the breaker won't trip.

It's now charging in my garage. I removed it fro the vehicle. I'll be honest, once it's full charged I'm somewhat concerned about re installing it! That seemed like a major surge or something. Not sure what my next move is here. I'll test the two large fuses you suggested first and go from there. Thanks for the replies!

 

[ITRJ]

Those types of cables are ok if your battery is a little low, but they usually can't handle the full load of starting a big engine. If you have to use them, it's best to let them charge up the battery for a while before trying to start the vehicle. Or get some heavy duty jumper cables.

 

[FloydPutnik]

Is there a trick to hettting these fuses out? I'm using large pliers wide open to try to rock them out but I'm afraid I'm going to break them in the process.