Sacrilege I Know - but inquiring about Quality Alternator for an 03 Lexus

[GetX'd]

Hey Gents - the title says it all. Seems as though the alternator has been eating batteries maybe for awhile in my 03 Lexus ES300. Bought the car new 20 yrs ago and it still looks it w/only 123k on it. But batteries dont seem to last more then 2.5 yrs at best. Lexus has a 7 yr warranty on their batteries but after 2 yrs only give you 50% prorate. Keeps me coming back. Maybe I'm just a sucker. Anyway this time they did a full charging system diagnostic. Said the #1 rec was a new alternator. I'm sure you'd believe me if I told you they wanted $1600 to replace with a OEM remanufactured one. Yep - I mean nope. Long story short after two subsequent discussions eventually they went down in stages to $975. Still nope. Called 2 shops - 1 = $775 2 = $600. Yikes a lot of $$ for something I could've done on the X in an hour or so for about $50 or so. But on these newer cars I don't even know where it is. Ive done pretty much zero wrenching on anything besides my X. So - I'm going with the $600 guy but need to know what alternator. It seems they all say the same thing - from Lexus to the shops - same alternators - Denzo used in Lexus and they all replace with them. Asking the experts if that is as good as it gets - will I get another 125-175k out of the car if I kept it that long? That's what I'm asking...... Many thx!

 

[Photon440]

My 1995 Lexus alternator is still in working condition, on my SC400 the only problem is if the power steering pump above develops a leak that drips and ruins the alternator. They're $150 - $200 (Canadian) on Rock Auto.

 

[RemCharger]

I used to be a service manager at a premium used car place back in those days. And still work on them at my own shop now.
I'm not sure what you're asking. Go to a parts store and buy an alternator and install it?
They're pretty straight forward.
If it sits for quite a while, they kill batteries.
Disconnect while sitting. Problems alleviated .

 

[padam]

I would say the dealers #1 rec is just as likely a guess.
Denso parts are oem and about as good as it gets. You can buy a lot of batteries for that money. I usually get mine at pull a part:

 

[ckessel]

See if there are any electrical rebuilders in your area. They may cater to industrial, commercial, ag or marine. May be less dough. Denso is a very common manufacture on many engines.

 

[themechanic]

Give these guys a call for a quote on a good Denso rebuild if you are unable to get it done locally. I buy starters and alternators from them and never had a bad one.

C & P Auto Electric - Google Search

 

[Runcharger]

My son had a Lexus for a winter beater. Be glad you aren't changing the starter. The geniuses mount the starter underneath the intake manifold.

 

[RemCharger]

My son had a Lexus for a winter beater. Be glad you aren't changing the starter. The geniuses mount the starter underneath the intake manifold.

LS or SC 400

 

[DeltaV]

Comments for @GetX'd :

Don't let the car sit as someone already mentioned.

I don't believe the dealership.

Dealerships give high estimates in hopes of you trading it in on a new/newer car. I believe luxury brand dealerships (they have wealthier and older customers) are more prone to do this than domestic makes.

I might believe the voltage regulator could be "off", but not really. The most unreliable part is the power supply board, but they usually fail/die hard...no workie.

Does the dealership have a 1 or 2 year full replacement warranty on the remanufactured factory alternator? BTW, the dealership will not cover the labor if the remanufactured alternator goes bad.

Probably should have the "dealership/shop" replace all of the serpentine accessory drive belts when replacing the alternator.

The "dealership/shop" is going to hit you up on replacement of the power steering hoses and fluid flush.

See my first comment.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

I’ll second the motion to take your alternator to a good auto electric rebuilder. In our town of 80k population, we still have one.

It won’t be cheap, but it’ll be right.

I resorted to them a few decades ago when the starter in my daily driver kept failing. Go to auto zone, get the lifetime warranted, lay on my back swapping it out, then 3 moths later you’re back on the ground again. They give you a free starter, but it’s ****, and you’ll spend lots of time swapping it out.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Not surprising you and I both run ES300s for daily drivers. I have 220000 on mine and as far as I know, it has the original alternator, but it never sits for more than a day. I had the starter done at 160,000, had a napa unit put in by the Midas shop that does all my work, they use napa parts unless dealer oem is the only option. And wrenching on those things is a whole different animal than a GTX. I change napa batteries on a five year schedule, never had a failure.

 

[fourgearsavoy]

Well being a Toyota master tech I can tell you that alternator isn't real easy to replace. We charge 3.5 hours labor to do the same basic job on a Camry or Avalon. Our labor rate is $154 per hour here in northeast Ohio. Your local rates may vary. I prefer a Denso re-man when you can get them because of the amount of labor involved in the job. As far as the alternator "eating batteries" that will only happen if there is an overcharging condition and the battery is boiling. The tech needs to do a complete diagnostic report before he condemns the alternator or keeps throwing a new battery every time it comes in with a no start condition.
If you lived closer to me I would be glad to take a look at it for you. These alternators are easy to rebuild and any shop could handle the job.
Some part numbers aren't available in a re-man so new could cost upwards of 600-700 bucks

Gus

 

[Photon440]

LS or SC 400

Same engine.

 

[RemCharger]

Same engine.

Right. This guy is talking about an ES300.
300= 3.0L. Starter in the wide open.
400=4.0L. Drastically different engine. It's a V8.
Hope that clears that up.

 

[Photon440]

He wasn't even talking about starters.

 

[RemCharger]

My son had a Lexus for a winter beater. Be glad you aren't changing the starter. The geniuses mount the starter underneath the intake manifold.

LS or SC 400

He wasn't even talking about starters.

Methinks we got some day drinkers on here

 

[GetX'd]

Comments for @GetX'd :

Don't let the car sit as someone already mentioned.

I don't believe the dealership.

Dealerships give high estimates in hopes of you trading it in on a new/newer car. I believe luxury brand dealerships (they have wealthier and older customers) are more prone to do this than domestic makes.

I might believe the voltage regulator could be "off", but not really. The most unreliable part is the power supply board, but they usually fail/die hard...no workie.

Does the dealership have a 1 or 2 year full replacement warranty on the remanufactured factory alternator? BTW, the dealership will not cover the labor if the remanufactured alternator goes bad.

Probably should have the "dealership/shop" replace all of the serpentine accessory drive belts when replacing the alternator.

The "dealership/shop" is going to hit you up on replacement of the power steering hoses and fluid flush.

See my first comment.

Thank you my brother it looks like you hit the nail on the head. I did bring the car into shop #3 thinking I was going to be shelling out the $600 - brought it in this morning and left it - but first made sure he was going to run a diagnostic on it again. So he calls me not an hour later to tell me "nothing wrong with your alternator - we ran diagnostic tests on it and she's fine.". I'm more than a little surprised and ask the guy if having just put a new battery in it a day or so before would throw off those readings. He said nope. Nothing wrong. Full charges for the job $0. So I had him do a few other odds and ends for me while it was in there - but color me stupid.

I really didn't think this dealer whom I had work done on both of my Lexus year span would pull something like that - I'd also purchased my cars there. I'd say a good 85% of what they'd done for over the years was warranty - but there were a few other minor things that came up during That period to. Those guys are toast. There are a number of other Lexus dealers around here - Altho I'm not planning a vehicle purchase anytime soon and the day my newer one goes off warranty is the last day they'll never see that car again - and I'll never buy a car there again. You know I'm leaning toward the Master Mechanic vs the Service guy. Or maybe it's both. I wonder how they benefit from this? That other shop I brought it to had nothing to gain but a lost job and likely some return business. I rarely have to do more than change the oil and fluids on that car as we only use it for my wife to drive to the hospital for work. That's pretty much it. The only reason I went to the dealer was for them to warranty their garbage battery. Is dishonesty infectious?

 

[moparedtn]

What the H-E-double toothpicks?
(Goes back outside, looks over door to read sign - yep, says "For B-Bodies Only" all right).
*sigh*
Lookit...

First it was shoebox Chevy questions, now it's over-priced Toyotas??
That's it. That's about all I can stand:

(Cary moves when you click on him...)

 

[Hey-O]

This works for me every time and I know when I do or do not need to go here.
I tell them, I'm friendly, I'm generous, I can even be your friend, but if I feel even this much against the back of my pants as you try to enter before you take me out for dinner, we will have a problem and it's not a matter of if I find out, it's when I find out, I will **** you. Now do we all understand one another. These dealers are trained to smell blood in the water and I have stomped on my share of people in my life. If you think I'm being rude, I have witnessed my share of what they are capably of. I have owned dozens of new cars and have had as many worked on. It's called ground rules and it's called business, unfortunately. I buy from many and they are glad to have my business, it can be said in a sort of fun way, but the point is taken. Everything up front and open.

 

[68BabyBlue]

What the H-E-double toothpicks?
(Goes back outside, looks over door to read sign - yep, says "For B-Bodies Only" all right).
*sigh*
Lookit...

First it was shoebox Chevy questions, now it's over-priced Toyotas??
That's it. That's about all I can stand:
View attachment 1356025
(Cary moves when you click on him...)

Ed, he's also a '68 GTX guy, so he thought he was among friends here, with a wealth of automotive knowledge, who might cut him some slack on choice of daily driver.