September 19, 2018, I purchase a Quality Power alternator: 320amp alternator for my 2007 LX 470. Yesterday, I had the following dash lights illuminate: ABS, VSC TRAC, VSC OFF, battery icon light, BRAKE. This morning, only the battery icon light was illuminated. I called my mechanic and told him. He suspected a bad alternator and told me to charge the battery and drive it in without the AC on, lights on, radio on, etc... I charged the battery for 2 hours and began driving to the mechanic. Upon leaving my neighborhood, I took a left hand turn. Once I got the vehicle straightened out, my steering wheel was then pointed at the 5 o'clock position, but the driving straight. I got to the next light and made a left and the steering wheel straightened back up to 12 o'clock for driving straight. I then had to make a right turn and the steering wheel went to 7 o'clock while I was driving straight. The steering wheel made its way back to 12 o'clock over about 30 seconds of straight driving. I then pulled into the mechanic shop. He tested the voltage on my alternator at an idle and saw it was putting out 0 volts. He then applied some throttle and saw it was producing 18-19 volts. He immediately stopped the test and turned the vehicle off. He said he's never seen an alternator pump out 18-19 volts like that and recommended I replace the alternator and see if we can get the voltage back to normal. He recommended an OE Denso alternator, so I told him to proceed with that. He plans to install tomorrow.
Questions:
1. If my steering goes back to functioning properly, am I just supposed to trust that it was acting up due to the high voltage it was receiving from the faulty alternator?
2. Was the alternator failing or is there some sort of voltage regulator that my mechanic may not know about that could have been failing?
3. How concerned should I be that my vehicle was receiving 18-19v from the alternator (and possibly more as my mechanic said he wasn't hitting the throttle too hard when he saw it reach those levels)? In other words, could that have screwed up a bunch of my electrical components throughout the vehicle? I'm a huge safety advocate and do not want to risk my safety or the safety of other driver's on the road. How can I gain some confidence that my vehicle's electronics aren't trashed?
4. Are there any other concerns I should be asking about and if so what?
Thanks in advance for any help offered.
Questions:
1. If my steering goes back to functioning properly, am I just supposed to trust that it was acting up due to the high voltage it was receiving from the faulty alternator?
2. Was the alternator failing or is there some sort of voltage regulator that my mechanic may not know about that could have been failing?
3. How concerned should I be that my vehicle was receiving 18-19v from the alternator (and possibly more as my mechanic said he wasn't hitting the throttle too hard when he saw it reach those levels)? In other words, could that have screwed up a bunch of my electrical components throughout the vehicle? I'm a huge safety advocate and do not want to risk my safety or the safety of other driver's on the road. How can I gain some confidence that my vehicle's electronics aren't trashed?
4. Are there any other concerns I should be asking about and if so what?
Thanks in advance for any help offered.
