jbomber

2006 GX 470 225k miles - last summer, July 2021, alternator went out while on vacay in rural Utah. Had towed to shop replaced alternator with AC/Delco from Auto Zone lifetime warranty. Has worked fine since, but 3 year old battery(24F) would occasionally need jumping after sitting for a few days in a row, so decided to replace battery in April 2022. Three months later, July 2022, vehicle dies on rural road in Missouri with same symptoms as in Utah in July 2021. Towed to friends cabin, his son replaced alternator. Made perfect sense to me; new battery same issue as year before. (Had no way to test alternator) With battery charged up, and new alternator in place, drove 1/2 mile and car died, tried jumping, wouldn't stay running. Brother drove me 75 miles r/t to buy another new battery (24F Walmart brand). Started fine, drove 25 miles, lost power, died again. Took off positive post to see if electronics would reset. Vehicle started, but died 10 seconds later. In each scenario (4 times) while on road, all the lights came on dash including brake light, lost power, then vehicle died as I got to a safe spot to park, but this very last time the dash lights were flashing crazily, including tail lights according to my brother.
Other items to note: In June 2022, Check Air Conditioner Connection light came on. Have not yet replaced relay, assuming that is the issue, idk. This last time when driving 25 miles, before it lost power and the dash lights went crazy, the blinkers were not working but the running lights, brake lights, headlights were working. So what's causing the battery to drain so quickly?
Recap:
July 2021 lost power on road; alternator replacement fixed it.
April 2022 replaced 24F battery and was still running fine.
June 2022 AC check connection message came up on screen; this message renders all other climate functions inaccessible since the AC message is all that can be seen.
July 2022 lost power on road; alternator replacement did not fix issue

I guess it could be a bad AC/Delco alternator from Auto Zone, but I'm thinking there's something else going on to drain the battery that quickly. Of course, I don't have the tools to diagnose and the vehicle is now sitting at an ag store parking lot in rural Missouri 50 miles from my farm.
BTW, Shop in Utah charged me $240 labor to replace alternator, attempted to do it myself until I realized fan has to be removed and I didn't have tools to do that. Friend's son just charged me $400, labor only, to replace alternator - ouch! Hurts when it didn't fix the problem.

chiph9

Sounds like you need to get it to a shop where they can diagnose a charging problem, or a parasitic drain.

Chip H.

Davenlei

iTrader: (1)

I think your alternator died again. I wonder if your dying battery damaged your alternator over time. I know when I had a battery behaving like what you described (dying after a couple days), my alternator seemed to be working harder and was making some noises when driving it. I replaced the battery and those noises went away. Maybe a coincidence but who knows.
I suggest getting the alternator tested again to see if you need to use that lifetime warranty and get another one.
Also did your splash guards in the wheel well protecting your alternator rot away? If so, get new ones off ebay and install them. It is about $20 and will protect your alternator from water splashed from the tires when it rains/go through puddles.

RPH74

I kind of suspect the alternator as well, but it appears that he just had it replaced to no avail. Though I have had friends install auto parts store alternators and have them be bad right out of the box.

Btw to the OP- there is no need to remove the fan when replacing the alternator. It can be removed from underneath the car.

Lexus4321

Gotta verify the wires on the connector that goes to alternator. This connector controls alternator.

How is anyone verifying alternator function under load? Alternators usually die from the diode packs burning up (too hot).

Will the vehicle run after starting but you disconnect batt? Amp clamp batt + wire, what direction and how much amps?

My guess, alternator is good but does not function correctly (connector), and then batt drains down and dies. Look at the electrical diagrams in sticky section for those wires that go to alternator.

Example
https://www.dbelectrical.com/product...-07-08-09.html

jbomber

Thank y’all for your insight and suggestions. I hope to put a fully charged battery in it and do some tests before towing/trailering it back. Not so easy when the vehicle sits two hours away…and a rookie at electronics.

jbomber

well when it died in Utah I gave up trying to remove the alternator from underneath. I couldn’t get it past the fan blades to get it out 🤷🏼‍♂️ Idk

Davenlei

iTrader: (1)

Eeks. That's far. Luckily the one time I was not able to drive the car (radiator sprung a leak), the car was literally a couple blocks from home. I hope you get it resolved as easy as possible.

Lexus4321

Isn't the PS pump pulley in the way of removing alternator?

RPH74

Yes, you just have to remove the pulley first. No need to remove the PS pump.

IBallEng

Do you have a voltmeter? I can show you how to easily test the alternator functions. This is NOT rocket science, nor is it a mystery. Happy to help if you are interested.

coachstu

Make sure you don't have an aftermarket master window switch.