but it's under warranty


I purchased this 130amp alternator online for my 22re during the rebuild, and it's been doing simply awesome. Powered all my lights, stereo, electric fan, and even recharged my battery twice after completely killing it by leaving the headlights on

Well Thursday morning it bit the bullet

Started up the truck, and the battery, brake, and trans temp light came on... first thing I did was look at the volt gauge... IT WAS PEGGED ALL THE WAY OVER, RUNNING WAAAAAAYYY TOO HIGH!!!

I thought "well that's kinda strange... maybe the battery's just low and starting to go"... after all it was the coldest night we've had in a while; had to scrape the ice off my windshield (which may not seem too bad for you northerners, but that's about as extreme as it gets in Florida, lol). But anywho, I thought maybe the alternator was just charging the battery back up. I did think it was kind of odd that it was doing it at such a high voltage, but I let it slip, thinking it would come down and normalize...

So I proceeded to leave and drive to work. As I was just about to pull out of my neighborhood, I noticed the charge gauge was STILL pegged all the way over... I pulled over and looked at the digital voltage readout on my stereo capacitor...

IT WAS FLUCTUATING BETWEEN 18.5 AND 19 VOLTS AT IDLE!!!



I popped the hood to take a look, and notice my battery (which is a Red-Top Optima, which is a gell-cell battery, not a lead-acid battery) was boiling out of one of the little vents on the top!!!

So I shut the truck off, and poked around under the hood some more. All the wires on the alternator and battery are fine, and I'm stumped as to why the alternator charge fuse didn't blow

To shorten the story up, I drove the truck right back home and took a spare vehicle to work.

So when I got home, I figured I'd replace the easiest thing first; the battery. The Optima that I has was old, and I actually bought it used, so it was probably time anyway; I noticed it had been getting weak in the cold weather. So I pop the cash for a brand new Optima (this time a larger one, with 1000 CCAs if that doesn't turn the motor over, then I don't know what will, lol). Put in it, start the truck... still overcharging...

At this point I'm all , because it HAS to be the alternator, which makes me a little upset considering it's not even a year old. LUCKILY though, it has a 1 year warranty

Got in contact with the people I bought it from, and I'm sending it back tomorrow to get a full replacement

So today I got home from work and pulled the alt out of the truck. That's one thing I really like about having an older truck; they're so easy to work on 10 minutes and I had the alternator out, lol, gotta love it

I decide I'm going to take it down to the local parts store and have it tested, JUST to make sure... 1st stop, Advance Auto Parts, only because I use to work there, I know how to work their machines, so I can watch the guy and make sure he hooks it up right, lol. He hooks it up and fires up the machine. It spins up, I see the voltage readout peg up to 22 volts, and then the machine shuts itself off, lol. The Advance guy just scratches his head and goes "huh... never seen it do that before...". So he reset and tried again; same thing, 3 more times. So finally he says "well I think out machine's screwed up". I'm like no problem, because I've seen it happen before, lol.

So I run across the street to AutoZone. The guy sticks it in the test machine, and much to my surprise, it does pretty much the same thing, LMAO. Starts up, and then shuts itself down immediately... He starts thinking it's the same thing; he thinks maybe his machine's broken. So he grabs a new alternator off the shelf and tests it; it's perfect. Put mine back in, and shuts itself off.

SO, at least I know it's the alternator that's shot, lol Probably just the regulator shorted out, but that's not for me to figure out really; I'll let the company in Ca worry about that, and send me a new one for free





But anywho, sorry for the LONG story, just thought I'd share my little experience here. Sucks that I'll be without my Toy for probably all of next week, depending out how fast they can get a new alternator to me but that's why it's handy that there's an extra vehicle at this house

 

wow...longgg read LOL...how much was the Alt new????

 

I think I paid like $140, I can't remember exactly; I bought it back in July of last year

I'll know here shorty, as I have to print out the old emails from the purchase to send with it. Luckily I always save my emails from things I purchase online

 

And whos it made by? mean green?

 

oh no way, I'm not paying THAT much money of an alternator, you're out of your mind


startersalternators.com


what's kinda funny is that I've recommended a few people to them too (one just the day before this happened SORRY)

But no they seem to be like a legit company; they're standing behind their work and warranty anyway and sending me a new alternator.

 

Yea if you can post a link or some info on how to get one. I'm about to install a/c and an elec. fan on my truck. Nice stereo & some lights are around the corner. Will need to up the amperage so might as well have one on standby.

 

yeah, the regulator circuit's failed, somehow, but it's internal to the alternator so...

 

well they sell on eBay too

http://myworld.ebay.com/starters-alternators

 

Got a part #? Nothing comes up when you select Toyota Alternators on their website...

 

I had an alternator overcharge one time and it would feed back through the auto shifter circuit and downshift the transmission. First time it happened I was tooling down the interstate at 70 mph and tranny downshifted to 4th out of overdrive. Everyone in the truck looked at me and we all said "did you do that?"

Alternator was overcharging over 18v. Brand new truck too. Never had a problem since.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYOT...Q5fAccessories

 

yeah I'm glad there's so little amount of electronics on this "basic" truck, lol

I was worried about it screwing up the ECU, but the truck still runs, so eh, I guess it's fine, lol

 

You're not going to eff over the ECU as long as the battery doesn't boil dry- the battery will act as a sink for the extra voltage converting it to heat and boiling and... damned sealed batteries. And this is another reason to not disconnect the battery while the engine is running... but that's for another discussion.
However, with the voltages to the ECU rising, every other reading the ECU takes will be affected.

 

the alt in that last link looks like it has the wrong pulley.. looks to be for a serpentine set-up..

my alt is taking a dump and i need a new one fast!

 

considering that none of the 2.4l 22r or 22re's came with serpentine belt setups, that's probably not the actual alternator they picture there

shoot them an email and find out for sure

 

bleeder, dude, I was JUST wondering about your alternator the other day! I was gonna pm you to! LOL!!! Wierd!

 

lmao...
your so nice... i was gonna quote it with something along the lines of "Derr derr derr"...

 

What amp alternator is best for a 90 4Runner? Mine is inadequate and I want to add accessories.Is 130A best? Thats twice the amps of stock isnt it?

 

I was on ebay a few days ago looking for a new alternator, one of the places i looked at was the place were bleeder got his from, and there was also another place also selling toyota alternators, they were located in san diego so i bought a 130 amp alternator from them for my 86 4Runner, it should be here next week.

 

bump


i need a new alterator and found these on ebay. hows yours holdin up bleeder?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYOT...Q5fAccessories


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-93...Q5fAccessories

ones a 170 and the others a 130.
do you think the 170 is worth the extra cash? and do you think it would be better to just send mine in to get rewound at a place that does it or are these ebay ones fine?