heidihidin

Happy Holidays to all
so as many of you may know ( i apologize for bombarding this forum with questions for the past couple of weeks with nothing to give back) i just purchased a 14 es 350 with 42k miles for my parents.
The service record shows alternator replacement at 35k
What can be the cause of this? is this alarming?

Htony

No need to worry. Alternator has embedded electronics components(rectifiers, voltage regulators, etc.) which go some times.

bc6152

The plus side is that you have a factory alternator with only 7000 miles on it. Reach around and pat yourself on the back...

heidihidin

will the battery dying several times when the alternator was bad decrease battery life?
the battery is still original panasonic

bc6152

Discharging and recharging an auto battery numerous times can cause sulphurization and premature failure of a battery. Cross your fingers and just keep an eye on it.

BradTank

Yes, and (more likely) you could also have a bad battery and that caused the alternator to die an early death. The alternator is constantly trying to charge a battery to a level it can't reach.

If it were my car, I'd put a new battery in there if it's original. It's cheap insurance and is probably going to need replacement anyway even if it has nothing to do with the alternator going out so early.

Here's a warning label to illustrate.

lesz

There have been threads here about a problem with the gateway computer that ends up causing battery drain.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...nd-2014-a.html

I believe that it affected some 2013 and 2014 ES.

Thus, I suppose that there is a possibility that, if the battery on the car was repeatedly drained, it could have caused the premature alternator failure. If the car that you bought is in the affected group, you should make sure that the gateway computer was also replaced or else you could end up battery/alternator issues in the future.

You might want to check to see if the VIN on the ES that you bought puts it into the group of ESs that the TSB applies to.

heidihidin

how do i tell if my vin is effected?
i do not understand what production change effective vin mean

Popgun

heidihidin

how do you know if its before or after?

Popgun

Well, look at the number. For Example, look at the first one. 2149103. Ignore the other stuff. Number the same or higher higher than that? TSB does not apply. Lower, then it does.

heidihidin

2132265 lower right?

wontonly

Wow, this bulletin seems to apply to the VIN for the one I just got my parents as well. Will tell them to bring it in next time they get their service.

Too bad Lexus can’t just automatically identify, contact the owners, and fix these things. With my experience, I’ll probably end up paying an exorbitant repair bill and the dealer won’t even mention the bulletin.

lesz

From reading the posts in the thread that I linked earlier and from reading posts in other threads here, it would appear that some dealers have been more cooperative than others with regard to replacing the gateway computer at no cost to the vehicle owner. It would also appear that getting the dealer to replace the gateway computer at no cost to the vehicle owner becomes more difficult if the factory bumper-to-bumper warranty has expired.

Thus, I would suggest that it would be wise to deal with the issue before the bumper-to-bumper warranty expires. I'm guessing that having to pay out of pocket would result in a significant repair bill.

wontonly

Thanks lesz, I just purchased the CPO at 52K miles. Would the free repair still apply?