I have a 2022 ES 350 F-Sport with 167,000kms (just over 100K miles). Today, on the way home from about 300kms away, the car started to ding intermittently and “tried” to show a warning light and message, but it would go away immediately. After driving about 20km, a warning message started showing up: “charging system malfunction…” Then, it said “warning high power consumption” and proceeded to cut back on my climate control. The nearest town was about 40kms away, I was doing 125km/hr (about 80mph), so I cut back the stereo, ventilated seats, no lights, no maps, etc. I barely made it to that town, after losing power electric steering! Anyways, a Canadian Tire is right on the border of the town, right off the highway, pulled into it and shut the car off.
The mechanic came out with a booster pack and voltmeter and said it’s the alternator right away. They have non in stock, the nearest Lexus dealer is close to my home, about 200kms away still. I called Lexus roadside assistance, and did eventually get it towed. Took a loooong time…. But Lexus said there are no alternators in all of Canada, they are back ordered and no ETA!
I paid the towing company extra to take it to my home, as otherwise the car would just sit on the dealer lot and I have a bunch of work stuff in it. My reasoning is that I could put a battery charger/maintainer on it for a few hours and start it up and perhaps drive it with the remaining charge in the 12V battery to the dealer or mechanic shop. So, after getting home, hooked it up to maintainer, wife had some supper ready and a cold beer (thankfully), after went out and my curious neighbour came over and I started the car with him holding a voltmeter on the battery terminals. It had gone from 11.8V to 12.4V after charging for a couple hours, but then after starting, a few warning lights on the dash, voltage dropped immediately to 11.9V. Turned the car off, and have the maintainer hooked on it right now and will leave it overnight.
Questions:
1. Is this the alternator, or perhaps some other aspect of the smart charging system? Or are they integrated?
2. Could this be the battery? I personally don’t think so, as it got me about 80km from what I think was a full charge… and it does appear to charge up with the maintainer outputting 1.5amps.
3. Could this be something else? Car has been flawless and meticulously maintained by myself.
Thanks in advance for your help!
The mechanic came out with a booster pack and voltmeter and said it’s the alternator right away. They have non in stock, the nearest Lexus dealer is close to my home, about 200kms away still. I called Lexus roadside assistance, and did eventually get it towed. Took a loooong time…. But Lexus said there are no alternators in all of Canada, they are back ordered and no ETA!
I paid the towing company extra to take it to my home, as otherwise the car would just sit on the dealer lot and I have a bunch of work stuff in it. My reasoning is that I could put a battery charger/maintainer on it for a few hours and start it up and perhaps drive it with the remaining charge in the 12V battery to the dealer or mechanic shop. So, after getting home, hooked it up to maintainer, wife had some supper ready and a cold beer (thankfully), after went out and my curious neighbour came over and I started the car with him holding a voltmeter on the battery terminals. It had gone from 11.8V to 12.4V after charging for a couple hours, but then after starting, a few warning lights on the dash, voltage dropped immediately to 11.9V. Turned the car off, and have the maintainer hooked on it right now and will leave it overnight.
Questions:
1. Is this the alternator, or perhaps some other aspect of the smart charging system? Or are they integrated?
2. Could this be the battery? I personally don’t think so, as it got me about 80km from what I think was a full charge… and it does appear to charge up with the maintainer outputting 1.5amps.
3. Could this be something else? Car has been flawless and meticulously maintained by myself.
Thanks in advance for your help!
