suaz77

I was recently given a 96' LS400 by a family member, right before they gave it to me they replaced the power steering pump, still noticed a leak, mechanic then replaced a hose. When I received car the steering was stiff at slower speeds fluid level was low an obvious leak. I read on one of the forums that the AIV most likely failed which made sense as I had the white smoke coming out the exhaust upon start up. In the process of learning about the AIV my alternator was drenched and died. My boyfriend did the repair for me and removed the AIV, plugged it and capped the vacuum lines. The leak is now gone. He then replaced the alternator, on my drive home it sounded a little whinning so I took back to auto parts store had battery and alternator tested and alternator failed. They gave us a replacement alternator he once again changed out alternator and it once again test as failed. This is all in a matter of 3 days (2 failed alternators) What could be causing this to happen?

Note:
*just to eliminate I swapped out battery in car already
*My power steering no longer leaks but due to constant leak before removing the AIV and plugging it, it is now very loud! Do I most likely have to replace pump assy again or is there a component on it that i only need to replace? assuming I burned out the motor and will have to replace whole assy?

Can the issues with power steering pump not working affect my alternator? the belt is spinning fine and all pulleys turning.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

take it to a different auto store or someone else and have it checked again, if bad, back to original seller.. and report because we dont have any info about your BF ability or how he changed them out it just takes one flick of a hot wire to kill one.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

If the pump is not leaking anymore then it should not affect new alternators. Either your boyfriend is doing something wrong or find another place to get an alternator from like billy stated.

YoshiMan

Which autoparts store is it? A good majority of the remanufactured alternators from the local stores are junk, I have had numerous ones before that are dead out of the box!

Do what billydpowe said and test it at another store, and if it's screwed up, then i would recommend getting another alternator with the "Denso" brand name on it, as they are Toyota's original supplier, and will be much higher in quality.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

This thread has similarities to your situation:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...or-killer.html

suaz77

Yoshiman - from autozone. we have also checked the 120 amp fuse and it looks fine.

simrx3

hi,

fuses never "look" fine.

remove and test.. also its not the only fuse to check for an alternator.. check them all..

cheers

dicer

I have never had a problem with rebuilt starters or alternators from O riellys. A quick do it yourself check to see if the alternator is putting out. Buy a cheapy harbor freight DMM that is a digital multi meter. Some times they are a coupon free item and usually about 5 bucks or so. You want to read about 14.5 or so volts by touching the probes across the battery plus and minus terminals, if its working right. If its doing that fine then that parts place has a checking machine that is designed to sell alternators.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

I bought one of the volt meters that cowboy told us about and rigged up a cig lighter to attach it to the battery to check it.. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...uld-spend.html

suaz77

do i need to disconnect the negative terminal before checking fuses?

suaz77

I have a 12 VDC battery/alternator tester shown in pic. So from my observation all 3 of the Battery lights are continuously lit up. However on the alternator side when I am driving the green and yellow are illuminated. When I brake the green turns off, when i go below 1rpm the yellow turns off as well. If i let off the brake and the car begins to roll (without pushing gas pedal) the yellow will begin to illuminate, the second i press the gas pedal the green then illuminates as well. This process of the above mentioned is consistent and i have not noticed any deviations.

any thoughts?

I was told that it could be the tentioner is not adjusted properly

I was told that due to my power steering pump needing to be replaced that it will not turn properly therefore causing the belt to not turn properly which could cause the dropping in amprage on alternator

I was also told that power steering pump prob is ok that I need to turn wheels back and forth continuously to get fluid into actual pump as the fluid is prob all in the rack and pinion.

How do you know if tentioner is right?

Chicago Electric 12 VDC Battyery / Alternator Tester<br/><br/>

dicer

Tensioner keeps the belt tight. Push and pull a bit on the belt on a section between pulleys, does it feel tight?
When engine is idling you want to see your normal range lit up for the alternator. So by default I guess your device always has the lower scale lit up also. So you would have the 2 lights for alternator meaning the normal and proper voltage. And all 3 for the battery would be normal as well.

suaz77

Dicer,

if im in park all the lights show good. but if i put it into gear thats when the lights for alternator go to bad unless i press the gas. does that make any sense why that would be?

Yamae

Sounds like the engine idles too low. Read the tachometer at P and D and inform us the result.

cgawelko

I was going to suggest the pigtail being damaged from oil and then I noticed Yamae in here. Nothing I can say that he doesnt know so what he says, thats what you gotta do. lol