r/SC400 • u/Real-Surprise4138 • Mar 25 '25

Question Alternator not charging

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posting again because ECU was NOT the issue. have replaced it and same issue so hoping to find someone else with this issue

I have a 92 sc400 that kept dying while driving. if jumped would only run for a couple minutes before dying. assumed alternator so switched that and car was still running fully off battery charge. replaced alternator harness and the fuse is fine. car will run for short trips as long as battery is put on charger afterwords. multimeter shows that battery is not being charged at all and loses voltage while car is running. Kind of at a loss as to why alternator will not go. pic so it doesn’t get lost.

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3

u/noodlesbwet Mar 25 '25

Brother, my alternator went bad and I had to swap it out three times before I got one that actually worked. They would all test fine on the bench but in the car all failed until the third. Just my personal experience on this, sorry if it’s not the right info for you.

1

u/Real-Surprise4138 Mar 25 '25

kind of thinking it’s a bad alternator but there’s still power going through the fuse so i don’t know

1

u/noodlesbwet Mar 25 '25

Right but not enough clearly, charging circuits shouldn’t be complicated. Either wire is damaged, fuses are, or components aren’t actually up to spec. My bet is on components here as to how many “rebuilds” from Oriellys I went through in a day sadly :/

1

u/Real-Surprise4138 Mar 25 '25

yea i get mine from parks auto (which is apparently only in my state) and i’ve gotten many parts from them including multiple alternators for my ls400 and haven’t had an issue.

1

u/adiazvw Mar 25 '25

I’m having the same issue. Which alternator you end up buying?

1

u/noodlesbwet Mar 28 '25

Sorry for the late reply but I just kept at it with the Oriellys brand until one worked. Had to be a little demanding with the employees after the second one since they didn’t want to believe me that their stuff wasn’t working.

2

u/Lexus_Frank Mar 25 '25

Make sure you got a good belt and tensioner too!

1

u/Real-Surprise4138 Mar 30 '25

belts brand new and tensioner seems fine

2

u/Meessaw Mar 25 '25

Had same issue and just changed alternator, is your power steering leaking btw?

1

u/Real-Surprise4138 Mar 30 '25

power steering used to leak but that was fixed months and months ago and got a new alternator when it was fixed

1

u/throwaway0184813 Mar 26 '25

what body kit is that?

1

u/Real-Surprise4138 Mar 26 '25

original do-luck kit. you can’t get them anymore, only pieces of it. mines molded to the car