Jay351

Hey Matt, did you solder the brushes in yourself?

Matt16

My alternator works now. Its charging at about 15V according to the dash read out. I know its not accurate, but its better than it was. I would definitely recommend rebuilding the alternator (or at least the brushes yourself) as the work I saw on my alternator (itself a rebuild) was appalling- mismatched springs, crap soldering and loose bolts.

Jay, its a really easy rebuild. I still have the brushes from Toyota. I ended up loosing a spring and bought a kit from Lordco which had the brushes and the springs, thus I am left with unused the Toyota brushes. The alternators are different between the 22RE and the 3VZE, but the brushes are the same. I was going to return them, but if you want, I can save them.

Re-soldering is very easy and someone could easily re-solder them without ever having soldered before. Heat up the iron, place on the the old solder, remove old brushes, then resolder the new.

they look a bit like this:

Reldnew

Part # ('s) for the brushes?
My dealer insists they are not available
Thanks!

BLKNBLU

iTrader: (1)

try this obtained from write up below
27370-35060

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...nator_brushes/

Matt16

I'll check later. Have you tried brushes for the 3.0- they are the same as the brushes from a 22RE.

Bob_T

I know this is an old thread but since I had some recent alternator issues I thought I'd post an update. The alternator on my 22R conked out last week. I've always just bought rebuilt alternators, but this time I tried replacing brushes. They were only $4 at NAPA, part number EC-601. The box said Made in Japan and I was pretty happy about that.

Getting to the old brushes is easy, just remove the sheet metal shroud on the back of the alternator, then two screws to remove the brush holder. The brushes were bad, one of the wires was broken off. However, after I soldered the new brushes in I discovered the copper slip ring that the brushes make contact with was also trashed, very deep grooves in it so I decided to go ahead and get a rebuilt alternator.

I got the rebuilt alternator from NAPA ($75 after core charge refund) and it came with a test report showing a maximum of 90 amps at 6,000RPM. Thought that was interesting since the alternator is only rated at 60 Amps.

My conclusion in my case was that in the future I'll replace brushes if possible instead of buying a rebuilt alternator. Don't like to think of all the money I've probably spent on alternators when all I probably needed was brushes. The NAPA alternator came with a three year warranty as opposed the "lifetime" warranty that the Autozone and O'Reilly's offer but I think the NAPA unit is probably a better alternator.

- Bob

Lnghrnz23

I have a 96 Tacoma with the 3.4v6 need to know if on this model if u can disconnect the ground from the battery to test the alternator I was told by guy at AutoZone that some newer vehicle with the computer that even if the alternator is good it will still die

Bob_T

I don't know if disconnecting the battery ground proves anything or not.

A very simple basic alternator test is to shine your headlights on your garage door at night with the engine idling. Rev it up and if the headlights get brighter your alternator is working.

Lnghrnz23

Thanks for the feedback I will try that and see what happens I had my alternator tested today and it tested good but last time I had my alternator go bad it tested good so I am trying to eliminate possibilities before spending money

RAD4Runner

What are your symptoms, in the first place?

??? So what was the verdict? What did you end up doing?

Before spending much money or replacing any parts, monitor batt/alt voltage first. and watch voltage for a few days. See my thread for how charging system works.

Lnghrnz23

The last time it was the alternator I replaced it this time my battery light is going on and off so I had everything tested alternator and all tested good except I was getting g a charge back to the battery it's self

RAD4Runner

Sorry, unclear. Please use periods.
What do you mean by "except I was getting g a charge back to the battery it's self"
Of course, you are supposed to be getting back a charge to your battery. What voltage are you reading at battery post? What are you reading at alternator "B" post? Do you have a volt-meter? If not, pls go get one - Harbor Freight is your friend - and we'll talk.

scope103

If by "die" he means "you'll destroy the ECU to the tune of several hundred dollars," then yes, he is (almost certainly) correct.

Rad4runner is steering you correctly. To test the charging system, you check the voltage with your multimeter at the battery (should be about 14.1v; if closer to 12.6 it's not charging, if more than 14.7 or so it is damaging the battery). The little plug-in voltmeters look cool, but they cost about what HF charges for a multimeter, so what's the point? Until you do this simple test, removing the alternator or battery to "test" it is a waste of time.

Gunning the engine to look for a change in headlights might work, but probably not. Back in days of generators (50 years ago? more?), the charging system didn't produce much voltage at idle. That's why we have alternators now; they do just fine even at idle.

RAD4Runner

Agree

Also check at alternator "B" post (looks like this), in case there is a problem with the "B" wire between Alt and Batt. On the first-gen 4Runner there is a disconnect (like this) that may have corroded or loose contacts.
From First-Gen 4Runner FSM:
With engine from idle to 2000RPM, Voltages at B should be:
13.9 to 15.1 V @25°C (77°F)
13.5 - 14.3V @115°C (239°F)
Temp is probably engine compartment temp, I would think voltage range should be same between different years. So IF batt/Charge light comes on when voltage reads outside the 13.5 - 15.1 Volt range, it is doing its job.

Agree on going HF*

Absolutely. We should start with simple things first before taking things apart, and replacing expensive parts- which may not be defective in the first place. O.P., from what you're saying looks like your shop did exactly that - replaced your alternator and left you still with an issue.

Agree again. Ideally the alternator/regulator would regulate the voltage so gunning the engine should not affect voltage output much.

*I used the plug-in so I can monitor while driving because I had an intermittent problem (probably caused by oil in alternator from leaking seals on my old engine).

AKHeathen

the ones that die with a good alternator are only on-demand-alternator setups. a simple google search will tell you if yours has, or potentially has that setup. even then, run the voltage below 12 and the computer will command the alternator on for sure and you can pull the battery cable. the only concievable way you could do damage is if you are welding on it, have a bad hid ballast, or 2-way radio..... but you simply turn them off and don't weld on it, lol. bad battery connections happen all the time, and if you couldn't disconnect the batter to check the alternator, ecu's would be going out all the time.

for future reference, there are some alternators more prone to brush wear over other failures, but most common failures in alternators as a whole are as follows: from most to least....
1:regulator failure (will either over or stop charge)
2: diode failure (will flicker voltage and/or have poor performance)
3: bearing failure.....(fairly evident with squealing, or grinding, possibly premature brush failure)
4: worn brushes (stops charging and draws little to no power)
5: other... (mat be a bad connection/solder joint, or cooked windings from heat/ dirt/dust/overcharging)

first thing to check is the alternator fuse and power to the main post. as mentioned, alternators can put out much more than they are rated for, so say you run a big system, lots of lighting, winch, plow, jump starting, etc and have a weak, or poor connection battery, you can overdraw the alternator, just at low voltage and a fuse or fusable link will blow, protecting the alternator. if you are reading below 12.6 everywhere and the fuses are good, the alternator is likely just bad, for whatever reason.