I don't know what's going on but here's a couple of thoughts.

1. These alternators are already weak and asking them to maintain 1 normal size battery is already pushing it. Asking the alternator to maintain 2 batteries is really pushing it.............and that's assuming you don't regularly discharge them. If you are asking the alternator to recharge even one dead battery you are asking too much.

2. When I say these alternators are already weak, I'm assuming you have a quality alternator. For a period of about 5 years I was using the inexpensive "lifetime warranty" alternators from a discount auto parts house. During this time I went through about 10 alternators (about 1 every 6 months). I finally got tired of all the problems and decided to try an alternator rebuilt by Denso (the OEM manufacturer). The Denso alternators cost a bit more (around $150) but I ran that alternator (Denso #210-0272) hard for about 3 years before I finally upgraded to a Delco Remy 250A welding alternator. The Denso rebuild was still going strong when I removed it from service. Here is some more information about quality issues with the inexpensive "lifetime alternators": http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...lternator-woes

3. Just because you quit servicing your power steering reservoir doesn't mean the pump will stop leaking (at least not right away). The most common leak in our power steering pumps is at the suction line. This means there doesn't need to be pressure present for the pump to leak. All it needs is a small amount of residual fluid to be present in the area of the leak & the leak to continue. A leak here can go on for more than a year and/or over 10k miles. This leak is EASY to fix.......arguably easier than changing an alternator or 2, or 3, or 4........FIX IT! Here's a thread that addresses this: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...-Steering-Leak