Alternator finally went... recommendations wanted

So...the original alternator on my 2006 Tacoma went after 17 years and a little over 231,000 miles.

I was fortunate the bearing didn't go. Rather it just failed to charge and the battery/charging malfunction indicator came on.

I was headed out to go hunting so it's a bit of a bummer I'm not snagging a deer this morning.

I was able to drive home for 30 minutes on just my battery (unplugged the chargers, turned the dash lights, radio, etc. all off) which is nice I didn't end up on the side of the road. Battery is on a trickle charger now to get it back up and healthy (one of the few times the add a fuse voltage indicator came in handy so I could at least ensure I never let my battery get to drained on the drive back).

Anyway, all that to say....what alternators do you all recommend for these trucks? Mine does not have much in the way of electronics (crank windows, manual door locks, no cameras, or fancy sensors)

I've always had good luck with AutoZone duralast alternators, but figured I'd see if these things are known to be sensitive. I may go to the dealership and get an OEM brand alternator and install it myself if anyone can confirm the brand.

 

Same thing happened to me about a month ago. Alternator had 308k on it and just stopped charging. I went with this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/352570729112 seems to be very well made and at a price that is hard to beat for a 250 Amp alt with a 1 year warranty.

 

Is there a difference between the 4.0 and 2.7l alternators?

 

Step one is seeing if you still have a local shop or person that rebuilds them. If so that is always the best route. If not, I preferer remans from NAPA but wherever should work. I have gotten bad ones out of the box before though.

 

NVM....it would appear there is.

 

I used rockauto to get a reman denso which I believe is the OEM manufacturer.

corrected the manufacturer...

 

Yeah it looks like a denso is the OEM manufacturer.... although on my year it appears it differs from build date....it seems they must have changed something starting in August of 2006

 

Question, why this as opposed to any other remanufactured alternator from a parts store? I am asking as I don't know enough to know the difference.

 

I wish I had time to order one.

 

My experience with autozone alternator was not as good as yours. I’d recommend using a denso reman if you’re in a hurry.


https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/DEN2101084

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/mysterious-battery-drain-2005-tacoma.781077/#post-27944020

 

I bought a new 130 amp Remy from Rock Auto. New in the box and no core charge. No problems so far. Unfortunantly you need one right now.

I first tried a rebuilt unit from Oreilly but voltage would intermittantly drop to 0 output at idle. Of course it passed the Orielly bench test so no warranty even offered.

 

Every town used to have a local place that rebuilt alternators & generators. Typically those shops were filthy with alternators of all shapes and sizes all over the place but that is all they did. I have never had one of these fail and used to be able to get one done for less than $50. These are normally really small shops with a couple of people and that's all they do and they do it well. When you buy a reman from any of the chain auto stores they are imported from Mexico, China, India or somewhere of the like. Done on a massive scale in large factories with inferior parts. I have installed several of these that were DOA right out of the box. On an old chevy 350 that is not a big deal. On one of the 4.7 V8 4Runners it is a massive headache.
If you swap, check your pully to the one on the new unit before you turn it in. It is pretty common to get one that has a pulley with and extra groove or to fall one short. If that's the case its not a huge deal. Just swap your pully out but they get pretty generic.

 

Mine went this year. Got a remanufactured from Toyota. No issues at all.

General experience with rebuilt alternators third party is hit or miss, to be polite. Plus I'm not 18 anymore and flush with free time to do what was back then a 20 minute job.

 

In my experience earlier this year, the dealer told me that Toyota doesn't make new alternators for these anymore..only the factory reman'd. Mine is a 2010 2.7 so similar if not the same to OP

 

You can certainly find a cheap alternator but it’ll be, well cheap. This plan could leave you broken down, repeatedly replacing a lifetime warranty part because it’s cheap. If you never drive through bad neighborhoods, and only on roads that go downhill, and never have to stop, and have time to constantly change your alternator, well you get the idea.

I'm fortunate that my local Napa is well stocked and if it isn’t on the shelf, they can get it almost always the same day from a warehouse close by.

Definitely a good idea. I’ve received a few with the wrong pulley. One with a badly bent fan. So I swapped fans & put the reman bent fan on my core leaving the nut loose for them. Same with a starter, check the gears, count the teeth with a sharpie. I had one with the wrong gear when I was a teen. Pops went back with me and was seriously pissed at them.

 

But the Denso remans do not put new bearings in, thats not great.

 

I've had good luck with Denso remans over the years. Maybe 1 out of every 25-30 had an issue right out of the box. I'd trust them way more than O'reilley's or Autozone.

But the dealership should have a quality reman available, I'd go with that. It'll say denso on it, but it's rebuilt to a higher standard than the others.

 

This.

The brand is important but how well it was remanufactured is more important.

 

OE reman from the dealer.

 

Reasons I went the way I did (OE reman from Toyota).

I remember the old joke about rebuilt starters, they get 500 from the junkyard and try them all once. Half don't work. The other half get tagged as rebuilt. Haha