Issues after hibernation

harrylime · January 30, 2021

I took my LS400 off the road around 6 months ago as it was going nowhere. I plan to fettle it in the Spring, get it over my inspection pit, Dinitrol underneath, service it etc ready for the road again. It is permanently hooked up to my CTEK charger and the plan was to periodically drive it up and down the drive to keep things loose. Due to working all hours preparing my house for sale, the driving up and down the drive has not happened frequently enough. I started it up today and it started no problem, but I have a couple of issues. A notification came up for headlight levelling, although it did not come up the second time when I started again it to move it. The Battery light is staying on when the engine is running (the Battery is only 18 months old and still in warranty). The other thing I noticed is that the wipers seem slower on every speed setting. Clearly, I need someone to test the battery/alternator but as it is still off the road, does anyone have any ideas?

Rakip123 · January 30, 2021

5 minutes ago, harrylime said:

I took my LS400 off the road around 6 months ago as it was going nowhere. I plan to fettle it in the Spring, get it over my inspection pit, Dinitrol underneath, service it etc ready for the road again. It is permanently hooked up to my CTEK charger and the plan was to periodically drive it up and down the drive to keep things loose. Due to working all hours preparing my house for sale, the driving up and down the drive has not happened frequently enough. I started it up today and it started no problem, but I have a couple of issues. A notification came up for headlight levelling, although it did not come up the second time when I started again it to move it. The battery light is staying on when the engine is running (the battery is only 18 months old and still in warranty). The other thing I noticed is that the wipers seem slower on every speed setting. Clearly, I need someone to test the battery/alternator but as it is still off the road, does anyone have any ideas?

A simple volt meter should be able to give you an idea if the alternator has an issue anything above 13.2v after starting is reasonable and suggests the issue would be something other than the alternator. Might also be worthwhile checking if the Battery terminals are making a good clean contact

Zotto · January 30, 2021

Give a look to 12V Battery contacts if they are well tight, and don't worry about alternator as Lexus Hybrids have no alternator. 🙂

royoftherovers · January 30, 2021

3 minutes ago, Zotto said:

Give a look to 12V battery contacts if they are well tight, and don't worry about alternator as Lexus Hybrids have no alternator. 🙂

LS400 never was a Hybrid old pal !😜😜

Zotto · January 30, 2021

Opss, I thought it was a 600H 😇

nicnac · January 30, 2021

Check your offload voltage at the Battery . Maybe your ctek has overcooked the Battery ?. See what the voltage is at idle . around 14V from the regulator is normal .

Herbie · January 30, 2021

We tend to take the lights a bit for granted and sometimes forget the actual purpose of them.

The whole reason for the Battery light to exist is to indicate that the Battery is not being charged. Any time that light comes on, the Battery is not being charged

It's also worth noting that once the engine has fired and is running, the alternator takes the job of supplying the entire electrical demand of the car and also charging the Battery and keeping it topped up.

The fact that the Battery light is on and the wipers are slower than normal is telling you that the alternator is failing. It could be as simple as the brushes need replacing or it could be more involved, but it's definitely not a happy little alternator.

harrylime · January 30, 2021

This was my thinking as well. I don't know if the car being stood has had an effect but I know it's not the best thing to do with a car. I don't know how difficult they are to remove but there is a good company not far away that rebuilds alternators. If I can get it off it is likely to be much cheaper than buying a new one

Malc · January 30, 2021

OK now let me put your issue into perspective

After a couple of weeks laid - up and being drenched by stormy weather, the old gal was fine going to hospital to pick up my partner ............... BUT towards the exit on the M2 in pouring torrential rain and lorry spray etc the wipers just STOPPED upright on the screen, dash lights vanished and blower stopped

radio and headlights still working ..... what to do ...... carried on, off at the exit and by now the power steering was a little stiff on the junction, lights, roundabout etc ............ got to the hospital car park ok, challenging manouvering to park facing outwards ........ leave the engine running tho

windows don't work but radio and aerial up&down does, so I turned off that Battery drain ...................

Call RAC Breakdown and Recovery ... they say about 30 mins ....... BRILLIANT....... maybe an hour later the RAC guy calls to tell me he's around the corner when WHOOOAH ............. the wipers start to work, dash lights appear and all seems normal ........... what a relief .... the RAC guy is still coming thankfully ......... puts his meters and computer all over everything and can't find anything wrong at all ............. telling me that if it hadn't self-healed he would have a better chance of finding the issue ..... thinking it might be a bad earth somewhere ( under the car -----in the pouring rain ! ) or just damp in there somewhere .............

telling me all the time that Ls400s never break down and I'm the highest car mileage he's been out to for a very long time ..... 232k miles

All this while liaising with my indy mechanic who tells me we replaced the alternator on 6th January last year ( at 228k miles on original with the car ? ) and maybe the alternator belt had slipped off .... new belt then too ...............

So I guess it was a damp issue from being effectively moribund for a while ... then driving thru' torrential stormy weather ...... thankfully the often understated " self-healing" took place

Nowt wrong nor on-going I hope ....... let's see, she's going to be almost moribund for a while yet too ... no more hospital appts etc for a while

Malc

nicnac · January 30, 2021

7 minutes ago, Malc said:

OK now let me put your issue into perspective

After a couple of weeks laid - up and being drenched by stormy weather, the old gal was fine going to hospital to pick up my partner ............... BUT towards the exit on the M2 in pouring torrential rain and lorry spray etc the wipers just STOPPED upright on the screen, dash lights vanished and blower stopped

radio and headlights still working ..... what to do ...... carried on, off at the exit and by now the power steering was a little stiff on the junction, lights, roundabout etc ............ got to the hospital car park ok, challenging manouvering to park facing outwards ........ leave the engine running tho

windows don't work but radio and aerial up&down does, so I turned off that battery drain ...................

Call RAC Breakdown and Recovery ... they say about 30 mins ....... BRILLIANT....... maybe an hour later the RAC guy calls to tell me he's around the corner when WHOOOAH ............. the wipers start to work, dash lights appear and all seems normal ........... what a relief .... the RAC guy is still coming thankfully ......... puts his meters and computer all over everything and can't find anything wrong at all ............. telling me that if it hadn't self-healed he would have a better chance of finding the issue ..... thinking it might be a bad earth somewhere ( under the car -----in the pouring rain ! ) or just damp in there somewhere .............

telling me all the time that Ls400s never break down and I'm the highest car mileage he's been out to for a very long time ..... 232k miles

All this while liaising with my indy mechanic who tells me we replaced the alternator on 6th January last year ( at 228k miles on original with the car ? ) and maybe the alternator belt had slipped off .... new belt then too ...............

So I guess it was a damp issue from being effectively moribund for a while ... then driving thru' torrential stormy weather ...... thankfully the often understated " self-healing" took place

Nowt wrong nor on-going I hope ....... let's see, she's going to be almost moribund for a while yet too ... no more hospital appts etc for a while

Malc

Love it !👌

royoftherovers · January 30, 2021

19 minutes ago, Malc said:

OK now let me put your issue into perspective

After a couple of weeks laid - up and being drenched by stormy weather, the old gal was fine going to hospital to pick up my partner ............... BUT towards the exit on the M2 in pouring torrential rain and lorry spray etc the wipers just STOPPED upright on the screen, dash lights vanished and blower stopped

radio and headlights still working ..... what to do ...... carried on, off at the exit and by now the power steering was a little stiff on the junction, lights, roundabout etc ............ got to the hospital car park ok, challenging manouvering to park facing outwards ........ leave the engine running tho

windows don't work but radio and aerial up&down does, so I turned off that battery drain ...................

Call RAC Breakdown and Recovery ... they say about 30 mins ....... BRILLIANT....... maybe an hour later the RAC guy calls to tell me he's around the corner when WHOOOAH ............. the wipers start to work, dash lights appear and all seems normal ........... what a relief .... the RAC guy is still coming thankfully ......... puts his meters and computer all over everything and can't find anything wrong at all ............. telling me that if it hadn't self-healed he would have a better chance of finding the issue ..... thinking it might be a bad earth somewhere ( under the car -----in the pouring rain ! ) or just damp in there somewhere .............

telling me all the time that Ls400s never break down and I'm the highest car mileage he's been out to for a very long time ..... 232k miles

All this while liaising with my indy mechanic who tells me we replaced the alternator on 6th January last year ( at 228k miles on original with the car ? ) and maybe the alternator belt had slipped off .... new belt then too ...............

So I guess it was a damp issue from being effectively moribund for a while ... then driving thru' torrential stormy weather ...... thankfully the often understated " self-healing" took place

Nowt wrong nor on-going I hope ....... let's see, she's going to be almost moribund for a while yet too ... no more hospital appts etc for a while

Malc

50 years or so ago in a Princess, you would not have made it Malc. Well done.

Malc · January 30, 2021

I've sadly never been in a Princess :wink3:

Malc

royoftherovers · January 30, 2021

1 minute ago, Malc said:

I've sadly never been in a Princess

Malc

Not even a Vanden Plas ?

Malc · January 30, 2021

always fancied the 4ltr one tho' ......... years ago a buddy who owned a small local garage bought one ( as a toy ) for himself .... a beauty ........

my driving lessons 54 years ago were partly on my dad's Wolseley 6/110 a 3ltr straight 6 engine ........ I was a scary learner driver for sure ... we all survived tho' :yahoo:

Malc

nicnac · January 30, 2021

Just now, Malc said:

always fancied the 4ltr one tho' ......... years ago a buddy who owned a small local garage bought one ( as a toy ) for himself .... a beauty ........

my driving lessons 54 years ago were partly on my dad's Wolseley 6/110 a 3ltr straight 6 engine ........ I was a scary learner driver for sure ... we all survived tho'

Malc

very up market !...... split screen morris minor here !

royoftherovers · January 30, 2021

6 minutes ago, Malc said:

always fancied the 4ltr one tho' ......... years ago a buddy who owned a small local garage bought one ( as a toy ) for himself .... a beauty ........

my driving lessons 54 years ago were partly on my dad's Wolseley 6/110 a 3ltr straight 6 engine ........ I was a scary learner driver for sure ... we all survived tho'

Malc

The 4 litre had a Rolls engine,I think ?

Malc · January 30, 2021

I think it did and I bet scary maintenance too .... the 3ltr version was the simple BMC engine .... like the Wolseley 6/110

.............. the driving school I learnt with about 95% of the time was on an Austin 1100 .... the key to clutch engagement was the bonnet rising slightly the instructor told me

Malc

royoftherovers · January 30, 2021

6 minutes ago, nicnac said:

very up market !...... split screen morris minor here !

My first car Nick was a 848 cc Minor. Split windscreen, side valve, 3 speed, no syncro on 1st, no heater and no radio. Pure heaven at the time.0-60 in 2 weeks and 33mpg overall. on leaded petrol approx 2/6 a gallon ! Coat me £35 from a pal who bought it back off me for £ 22 and 10 bob. !

nicnac · January 30, 2021

2 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

My first car Nick was a 848 cc Minor. Split windscreen, side valve, 3 speed, no syncro on 1st, no heater and no radio. Pure heaven at the time.0-60 in 2 weeks and 33mpg overall. on leaded petrol approx 2/6 a gallon ! Coat me £35 from a pal who bought it back off me for £ 22 and 10 bob. !

Ah the memories ................. minor was my dads first car .......he was a late learner 50 odd around 1967

royoftherovers · January 30, 2021

1 minute ago, nicnac said:

Ah the memories ................. minor was my dads first car .......he was a late learner 50 odd around 1967

That was a year after we won the World Cup and mine was having a de-coke !

nicnac · January 30, 2021

2 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

That was a year after we won the World Cup and mine was having a de-coke !

Yes ..........and deserved !

harrylime · January 31, 2021

Quick update, I started the car twice today and the Battery light went straight out. The Battery is showing around 12.4V , and over 14.5 volts with the engine running. I checked the connections but hardly touched them, none seemed loose. Bit of a mystery. Couldn't see any leakage onto the alternator, am I right in thinking that they changed the location of the alternator for later cars? (mine is a 99)

nicnac · January 31, 2021

15 minutes ago, harrylime said:

Quick update, I started the car twice today and the battery light went straight out. The battery is showing around 12.4V , and over 14.5 volts with the engine running. I checked the connections but hardly touched them, none seemed loose. Bit of a mystery. Couldn't see any leakage onto the alternator, am I right in thinking that they changed the location of the alternator for later cars? (mine is a 99)

That sounds ok ! ........ check serpentine belt is not slipping . Leave her running for 20 minutes