Alternator finally went... recommendations wanted

So:

All dealerships within 100 miles did not have an alternator.l for my truck.

Only one parts store did. It was an AutoZone. I purchased it and kept my core.

I later found a alternator rebuild shop the next town over. I intend to take my core there and get it rebuilt so that the next time this happens I will have one at the ready.

The AutoZone one so far seems to be working just fine. Of course I have no idea how long that will be the case, but should I have any issues I will update this thread.

 

Here is a link for alternator parts. To include rebuild kits.
https://www.maniacelectricmotors.com

 

Original Alternator? 231,000 miles? for me, the decision would be easy: OEM Denso. If the truck is used to tow, used in a cold climate or often run at low speeds (hunting) roads: if it's a direct-fit swap, I would upgrade to the 130 Amp Tow Package unit.

If new is no longer available from Toyota and you don't want to be doing it again for at least 75,000 miles, I would buy the re-manufactured unit from Toyota.

 

Agreed that would have been nice, but they simply don't make that alternator new anymore. I couldn't get a rebuilt one either. That being said, I am going to try and get my original one rebuilt and if possible upgrade the power output on it (I plan on installing additional lighting, and I already have a substantial amount of added electronics that pull extra power as is).

On the bright side at least my truck is on the road again and while others seemed to have had bad results I have never had an issue with a rebuilt Duralast alternator.

 

Lets hear what you guys think. Just got home from a 4k mile road trip. Down in Louisiana for a couple months, then went over to Florida and Georgia before sitting in crazy amounts of rain and traffic today. 30 miles from home and I see a flicker on the dashboard. Thought maybe a reflection at first, but there it was again...a very, very quick flash of the battery light! Started watching the scangauge and sure enough, it dropped. Went as low as 11.7, but always came back up. Seemed to settle in to the 13.4 range. Sweated it out but no issues getting home. Also went back out to grab some dinner. Started at 14.0-14.1 but by the time I got back it was hovering in that low to mid 13's again.
It'll bump up a couple tenths if I run up the RPM's. Also seems to give back a 1/10th if I shut off the headlgiths.

I did notice a slow start a couple days ago and had intentions of doing the (long overdue) battery once I got home. But never any real issues starting or anything like that.

I'll try and test the electrical system tomorrow or tuesday, but what's everyone's guess? Alternator going bad? Or is the battery shitting the bed?

 

Once the engine is started, even a very weak battery should show decent voltage, in the 13.5 to 13.2 range, the weak end of the scale.

Overdue as in old? Sometimes the posts can get oxidized. Everything might look clean & ok. But after you remove the terminals from the posts, the posts might look black or dark brown. Clean the terminals and posts with a battery brush, then retest. Not always but sometimes it’ll improve drastically.

If they’ll let you return the alternator for a refund. But then what about a core? Not sure how that works. When you go to get a better quality unit you won’t have a core to turn in.

If you have a multi meter with peak hold abilities. Hook the multi meter to the battery. Set for dc volts peak low hold. Start the engine, what’s it say?

 

Yea, battery is 9 years old lol. Never even a hiccup until now (if thats what it winds up being)

Alternator is original to the truck.

 

-You were wise to have kept your original one. When I was a Honda service advisor, I learned that the factory remans always get NEW internal voltage regulators along with the normal bearings, brushes, etc, hence the higher cost but they last a lot longer.

-Autozone, O'Reilly's, and even Napa don't replace the internal VR (read on Napa's website what their rebuild consists of), they test it, replace the bearings/brushes and ship it out the door. That's not only why the price is low, but also is a main point of failure. You're getting an alternator that is only partially rebuilt, giving them a core that is better quality and could be rebuilt by an independent in your town. LOL, it's the world we live in!

-As time goes by, it seems our best bet is to find a dealership whose parts department sells online at wholesale prices. It's the best of all worlds, quality parts and a price break.

 

For the price, you'd think that they would put a new bearing or bearings in them, that's a lot of miles on any bearing. Very surprising.

 

AMD/The Car Care Nut recently posted an excellent video about alternators. Definitely worth a watch. He made a point that the alternator is really only a "maintainer" as far as a battery is concerned: Not a battery "charger". If the battery is bad (ex:low voltage or dead and needs to be jumped) it can kill the alternator in short time working hard trying to bring the battery back to full charge and struggling to achieve it. One other thing he mentioned that I knew, was that the "battery" (symbol) warning light is telling you that the alternator has a problem and is not charging. If it's on solid: it's not charging at all. Not really a battery alert at all but indicating instead that the alternator may be on its' last legs.

One of the main points he made was that if you think the battery is showing signs it's on it's way out, (slow cranking, battery dead after leaving the dome lamp on for an hour, etc) get rid of it before it takes the alternator with it. If it dies on you and you need a jump start: you're on thin ice. Sometimes batteries just get so old they can't/won't take a full charge any more, but the alternator will die trying!

 

Yeah glad someone else called this out.

It's a real thing that the alternator and battery depend upon one another the way two halves of an arched stone bridge lean against one another. If either one gets very weak it's going to drag the other one down with it. I wonder if the 9+ year old battery contributed to the eventual death of OP's possibly-overworked alternator.

I recently installed a NOCO™ onboard battery maintainer, with a 2-year old Optima yellowtop 750CCA in the truck, and am noticing peppier start-ups as the battery is finally getting the proper charging it deserves.

 

Thanks, great video. Got me thinking it would be nice to see amps sent from alternator to battery. The Car Care Nut has some pretty strong (negative) opinions of after market alternators in the last few minutes of the video.

 

I had to replace the alternator in a mid-90's Volvo 900 series once. Brutally expensive: as I recall around $500. + labor. The mechanic where I took my cars warned me that he would not replace it with anything else but new OEM. (Bosch) I trusted him so I agreed. That car had 140,000 on it with the original and had gone another 150,000 miles on the replacement when I sold the car.

 

Got a reman'd denso from rockauto for my gen 1....
Put about 5,000 miles on it and then it sat. Started it up recently and the bearing is screaming bloody murder.
I have the original OEM alternator on a shelf caked in mud, and am tempted to just take the bearings out of that one (250k mi) since I rarely move the truck now.

 

Oem reman, look how many miles and years you got out of the first.

 

Sounds like he got burned by a lifetime warranty alternator. Sounds great when you buy it. 2 years later you've replaced the lifetime warranty alternator 3 times. Imagine the nightmare for a small business. Got paid the time to swap the alternator and a little bit for the part. Now on my dime I gotta take it out, drive it over to where I bought it, wait in line, wait for them to test it and hopefully get a replacement (good luck with that). Drive back, put it in, don’t get paid. Just spent 3-4 hours of not being paid.

 

Probably. He is a 99% Volvo shop at a level on par with AMD. Just a complete wizard with them and the type that if you went in and he found, say: a worn right suspension component, and you told him to do both sides while it's in there, he would decline if it didn't really need it. His answer would inevitably be: "doesn't need it: the other side is fine". I took my cars to him for the 5,000 mile oil changes, because I knew he gave everything the once-over while it was there.

 

It’s always good to hear of one who takes pride in doing a good honest job.

 

I’d figure out who made the original and is reputable whether that be Bosch Denso Valeo etc

New or Reman
IF reman then a good source not bad ones

works the same with calipers
Some “reman” calipers may not even be original genuine and are “remanned” by kicking around a parking lot

low warranty
Unknown company
Doesn’t say brand
Possible stock rating if tow package already comes with 250

sounds sketch

corner auto parts stores is where to go when looking for a rock to see how far you can throw it

 

If you just want an oil change, it takes three weeks to get in there. However if something goes and you're dead in the driveway, and need to get it towed in: It will be in a bay or up on the lift getting looked at in a couple of days. That tells you something.