OK drove my previously functioning 2000 Sienna, it was driving fine/like normal for a minute, then it started "lurching" when I hit the gas. Felt like it was losing power or starved or something, it couldn't gain speed...in idle it would still "rev" a bit (lose power), though less. Like "power, die, power, die, power die"
More clues: the battery light was on (but only dimly LOL) and so was weird other lights like ABS. No check engine light. Also previously (a bit) sometimes the dash lights would flicker with the engine RPM
After hooking a charger up to it, it started up (surprisingly), and ran well for a minute, then started lurching and finally ground to a halt (despite amount of gas pedal). It couldn't get much speed going. Not to mention dying eventually.
Battery read only 8v DC across the terminals (using a voltmeter). I went ahead and charged the battery, turned the engine on, and it ran but the voltage for the battery didn't go up to the 14v like it should when running, so now I suspect the alternator. If I put a voltmeter on the alternator "output" terminal and the other lead to ground, it would show 1.5v. Weird, it should show 14...