Got quoted £450 to change alternator by Lexus garage.

I just looked at the diagnosis:

"Battery issue is down to alternator fault this has been caused by power steering fluid leaking onto belt."

If the belt is the problem why change the alternator?

Can we clean the belt?

Can we clean the alternator?

I took the car back and have located a used alternator considerably cheaper. I'll put it on asap.

I have read about this often on here but it always appears to be the oil into the alternator not belt!

Does anyone know a way to shield the damned thing?

If this is a well known design fault due to a piddling £1.50 'o' ring why are Lexus not offering to fix this F.O.C.?

Has anyone managed to claim this successfully under a "fit for purpose" suit?

I got charged £121.03 for the analysis.

Isn't life sweet?

Firstly get the oring changed with a new one. The problem with Lexus fixing the problem is that the fault appears years down the line and over five years before it appears. If every car maker were at fault and made to fix faults within that time Ford or any french car would'nt be on the road. The fault is not a life endangering one unlike a suspension,brake or steering faults which can be recalled if they are a risk(like the Vaxhauls hand brake problem on BBC's Watchdog).


You could have also done the fix yourself by following the thread on lexls.com.

Your problem certainly seems to be the power stering pump Oring and it's an easy fix costing £2. Lots of posts on the various LS boards. Keywords for searching are alternator or Power steering pump

These "design faults" don't make it to the JD Power survey results!

Yes my friends but can we clean the belt? and will an alternator be damned from the first drop?
Is the prob. the belt or the alternator?

the problem is the alternator. the fluid leaking onto it ends up shorting out the alternator and/or electrical problems. not sure about first drop, but do you want to take the risk of estimating when the alternator is going to give up the ghost?

I was charged £1200 fir a new alternator and pwer steering pump for the same thing. The only time my LS 400 let me down in 290K miles

The alternator caight fire due to the oil!!!!!!!!!!!

I understand that the alternator and belt off the donor machine are oil free so I'll take a chance and see about getting another for stand by! Might even keep one in the trunk! I'll also try to figure out a deflector. I've just been told about a pipe cleaner being attached to a machine and used as a wick to take away some fluid, I'll see how the land lies.

For the record and your piece of mind my car came to me with power steering leak all over the place from the o ring.

This is what I did. Replaced the O-ring(Free) and drive belt(£6). I used brake disc cleaner over the oil area and left to dry.

The car has done 20,000miles since with no battery or alternator problems.

Hope that helps.