I'm living this thread, literally. 1990 LS400 245K, in excellent shape, no dents, clean inside and out, and runs like a sleeping baby. In early January I was going to buy a used Camry when I saw it being worked on and readied for sale. They were changing the timing belt and water pump. After the work I test drove it and fell in love, pronto.
In late Feb car dies on me and gets towed to mech. It would start but won't turn...as if there's no gas in it. They said it was fuel pump, then it wasn't. Said it was cam position sensor, then it wasn't. It wasn't the crank position sensor either. All kinds of diagnostic stuff wouldn't tell. Then I called in a friend, an electronics expert. In 20 minutes, he showed it wasn't fuel pump - had me crank ignition for a quick second and said gas was flowing. Looked at the fuses and it was the EFI (20A) yellow fuse. Darn! For this the car had sat in the shop for a week. I wasn't charged a cent and the shop owner fired the mechanic who'd worked on my car.
On Sun. 3/11 car dies on me on the NJ's GS Pkwy. The dashboard lights had been coming on/off for a few days but I was too busy. My buddy comes and says its the battery or alternator, jumps me and we drive home.
I'd started reading this site and thread when I bought the car and knew I had a PS fluid problem, including the white smoke business...but I digress.
We put the car on ramps and I bought a new alternator after we confirmed thats the problem. Then we had the big snow storm and had to wait. Warnock Lexus wanted $350 for a remanuf unit but I got one with a lifetime warranty for $182 elsewhere. We replaced the alternator, but would you believe I forgot about replacing ACV and vacuum hoses, while we had the old alternator out? Well, I got the ACV (irontoad.com $72+s/h) and hoses and got right to work. As you might imagine, having already replaced the alternator, we were loathe to remove it again to get easy access to the ACV. We didn't have the specialized 17mm wrench to boot.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I forgot to disconnect battery terminals, started removing the
ACV and shorted alternator. The 120 Amp bolted fuse went. Replaced it. I now have new ACV and vacuum hoses. Car drove well all day with no problems yesterday till late afternoon then I saw the lights flicker briefly and then again after about 30 mins, it happened again. I checked it this morning and battery voltage was at 14.5 volts with engine running. Alternator good, no dashboard alarms. After about 5 minutes I checked again and all dashboard light alarms had come on. Voltage was down to 11.9 and diagnostic equipment said alternator was no good.
I suspect we short circuited the alternating with the incident. What do you think?
Thanks for reading my long winded piece. ;)
R
UPDATE: 3/22/07
Took altie back to shop (BuyWise, Vauxhall, NJ) and exchanged it. Has a lifetime warranty. Replaced it. Driven over one hundred miles today and all is excellent. No blinking dashboard lights or funny noises. Wish me luck!
