NEED HELP PICKING THE RIGHT alternator FOR MY TRUCK

My charging light started blinking on my 1996 Toyota Tacoma, it's 2.4 l engine my VIN number is 4TANL42N2TZ187766 and the best price should I buy new or reman one? I would change belt then too, and which is the best youtube video to use to help me, my old 80-year fingers suck now any help from you young smart guys here would be appreciated by me, I need to check out the connections but, it only happens last night with my lights on, scared me driving home for 45 minutes
Thanks ahead of time, you guys have helped me many times before, nice group of people here
Gary Diamond

 

Do you have a multi meter. Test battery draw? 14v running,12 truck off. As far as oem or reman what is In your budget. Oem if you don’t want to do it again for a long time. Once the unit is out I recommend getting it bench tested at a chain part store to confirm the alternator is defective. Denso is oem and all I would run.

 

hi Gary-

remanufactured is good. just make sure it fits. i'm not aware of videos, but it's easy to replace.

 

As far as YouTube tutorial videos I’d always recommend looking for timmah tool time.

 

Get an aligning punch and align the alternator at the bottom side. It fits kinda tight there and its a time saver. Once you get the bottom bolt in place you can then focus up on top. Make sure your battery is disconnected first.

 

Piggybacking on this thread with an electrical problem of my own. Recently I've been getting temporary drops in voltage, almost like a wire is grounding out or a bad alternator, but it only lasts a second or two. Yesterday, the voltage spiked up to 19 volts and was causing problems like windshield wipers turning on and flickering dash lights. I'm running a 3-yr old aftermarket alternator. Could the voltage regulator be starting to fail?

 

I do not recommend remanufactured alternators. I've had 2 go out within 1 year of installation of both of them. I've been stuck in either parking lot having to call for road service for a jump start or have had to drive home with a booster pack strapped to my battery tied under the hood while trying to drive home with my truck fully loaded with gear. I recommend buying the OEM Denso alternator! It will cost you a little more, but it has worked well for me and I've had no issues since.

 

Time to get a denso reman from your dealer

 

I have had great luck with the denso reman Alternators I get from my local Toyota dealer as they no longer can get new alternators for the older vehicles I work on.

As I have been told!

 

I'm good with the electric part, I'm a retired electronic tech part its also getting noise maybe the bearing in it I had a issue getting the connector off it to clean it up

YES that is very bad, you can burn out your computer and every thing that works on your truck yikes 19 volts sounds like the raw voltage going into the regulator, it CAN NOT BE ANYTHING ELSE DON'T USE THE TRUCK UNTIL YOU REPLACE IT you could end up junking it

 

10/10 thread title formatting for matching username.

as stated, go OEM if you have the cash.

something like this https://www.yotashop.com/denso-alte...e-denso-70-amp-alternator-1996-1999-210-0188/

 

The regulator controls how much AC goes into the coils, sounds like a shorted transistor not fixable Unless you can get that potted module best replace it, the worst thing than a dead battery, crap you can even have a fire, and get killed.

For myself I'm looking for a good one to buy, yes I will go for a new ONE. My issue may be fixed for now but I want to have it here when it dies just do not want the wrong one or a crappy one either, getting stuck at my age can kill me I had a dirty connection off the stud AND THE 10 MM NUT WILL NOT COME OFF, SCARED TO BREAK IT, so I used a 250-watt soldering iron got the end take solder ran a #12 wire to a 10amp fuse, to the battery just found out that fuse jumped fixes it so I upped it to a 25 amp fuse to the battery it working now but with 125k miles I want to get the best one help me find a good one my VIN IS 4TANL42N2TZ187766 DO YOU REMOVE THE WATER HOSE THAT IS OVER IT, DO YOU WORK FROM UNDER THE TRUCK??

 

Look at LC Engineering.
A great source for quality rebuilt, and new items.

 

@oldguy128 Thanks for the advice, Gary. I still have my original Denso in the garage as a spare, which I replaced the brushes on. I'll take your advice and swap it out right away.

Not sure if it's worth the expense to refurb the bearings and regulator on the DENSO - they were working fine when I took it out of service.

 

When i checked prices from Toyota since the regulator and rectifier are all one it was 1/2 the cost of the reman unit add in the brushes and bearings I bought the remam from Toyota

 

Reman = $198 from Toyota. OR

Rectifier $84
Regulator $158
Bearings $37
TOTAL: $279

They give you no incentive to do it yourself!

 

Hey @oldguy128 you are pretty old, and I would like to help you.

Here is the video to help you replace the alternator (I recommend you start at the 3:30 time mark):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs1RotngY-Q

I also recommend some pliers to help the connector that Timmy was struggling with in the beginning. Good luck!

 

Will 80 is a few days

 

Thank you I can't do it, damn it, my fingers are too messed up I really need hand surgery bad I don't more current since I don't even use the radio LOL

 

Just had mine out. I removed the top of that radiator hose and the battery to have more space to maneuver. Also removed the driver's side wheel and pulled back the weather flap to access the bolt on the bottom.