Project snowball:........RANT!
Why can't I leave well enough alone? I have had this pile for 7 years and had zero problems.....untill now.

I decided to replace my positive wire to the starter(2gauge) and upgrade the wire that goes to the fusebox(8gauge). I made bigger ground wires to the frame and engine(2 gauge). I cleaned all of the grounds I could get to in the engine bay, grind, scuff reinstall paint.

The Battery light comes on..............
I pull the alternator and bench test it @ work.. iffy diode
I get a reman.......
I bench test new reman alt.........good
I install.............. two days of heaven no lights

Yesterday I am running errands(sp) and the emergency brake light is on AND the battery light?? What gives?

We are creeping up on Hurricae season and I want my junk to run(fast)
/RANT

I have done some searching but there seems to be no difinitive answer.
......(google,here,pirate)
I have no FSM / repair manual except the .edu file (here/bookmarked) and that rag called the haynes
.......(and well if I want to rebuild an alternator...tear it apart and test)

Could the volt gauge be causing the problem the whole time? (reades 17-18 volts) My fluke reads 12.8- 13.x

This has got to be something simple I tell ya! I want and (sigh) need help.



I am about to call her 'Ol yeller

LOCKnGO

 

if the battery and brake lights are on at the same time the alternator is done plain and simple.

 

Test the alt again. Could a problem with the new wireing tost an alternator. with out causing problems to other systems?

 

same happen to me when i went through a huge puddle check wiring. if the 2 lights come on doesnt mean you have a bad alternator

 

Why and what is the cause?

I work in auto parts and it drive me crazy when I have a customer that ,first blames the alternator and then blames us parts salesmen(but neglect to tell us that they have the original battery from 1995 and there is 4"s of shmuts of crud built up on the cables).
I have gone through everything I could think of. Could the volt meter be the culprit? It Reads 15-17- / + volts (if so How do/can I bypass it?) I have an autometer voltgauge I wa planning to hook up to the alternator batt connection...Just to see.

how do I find out if the parts I installed are bad? or even better what was the cause to make them bad? What things do I look at? I understand there is a chance that the part could be bad, I bench testevery alternator, starter and battery I selll. Some are defective right out of the box. I accept this as fact.

I know this sounds stupid and I am glad I don't have to use this rig as a DD but I am a little anal things like this. (I like to learn as much as I can) about why things happen. Thats why I come and search the 'net and ask questions.

yotatech rocks
LOCKnGO

 

The brake light and battery light is a classic way for toyota to say the alternator is acting up. I wouldn't just go replacing it just yet. The connections could be a problem. Go through it all and make sure everything is good and tight.

 

Isn't it crazy how people just always assume every electrical problem is the alternator?!
I have come to see this all too often myself. Weird.

 

hmmm, before i started working with my truck, doing the hg mine wasn't like that. but after starting it the last time before tearing it back down, I had the same issue. I'll have to deal with it when the time comes.

 

i have the same deal on my 85 and it has been that way for at least 8 years. i have seen countless posts on this issue and there is a brush kit that you can by to replace the brushes on the alternator to fix it.

 

I can't believe you would even consider this after that awesome paint job you did. I know you are joking.

 

A serious short somewhere in the wiring could be frying your alternators....just a thought...

 

I was thinking the same thing. Well; I did all of the tests (FSM) I could. And everytest points to the alternator. I have good voltage, good ground, I checked for amp draw(short) And now the volt gauge is working with a different battery*.

When I bench tested the original alternator the diode reading came up 'iffy'. That might be why only the BATT light came on and not the brake light. Tomorrow I am going to take the reman-alt and battery in to bench/test them again and see what is what. Think I will bypass the dash volt meter and hook my Autometer Volt meter in it's place.

* the battery I was useing is a 1 year old Optima Red *
I put in a Yelow Top from my civic and the volt gauge works agaiin. HMMmm I wonder if the red top killed the ALt? Dman this is frustrating. I went cheap with this Alt($90.00) because I was looking at one of these high output alternators. And I needed just to get by for now.
I called PowerMaster and they wanted $700. for their 140amp setup

I'll post back later with results.

 

Search the forum for a gm alternator swap.
A guy named al did this write up... ahh hold on I'll find it.

 

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...ight=getitdone

The second post has the write up.
I did it to my truck and it rocks!

 

keep getting the store to replace the "faulty" alts my buddy went through about 8 before he got a good one

buy that time they would test them all in the store and then get new ones from other stores or the warehouse until they got him a good one

buy the way my buddy has an 80's pick up with a wood box bed and a chopped roof that was welded back on and turned into a softtop

to think i was gonna give $5500 for it and it had a transplanted motor and trans at a very very shady used car lot that sold anything w/ a motor

 

15-17 Volts?? Grab a voltmeter and check the voltage at the battery with the motor running at idle. The voltage should be somewhere around 14.2 v. If it's 15 volts or higher, then you're having issues with the voltage regulator, which will kill alternators and batteries.

 

Water killed my alternator too. Same thing, battery and brake light. New alternator, no more lights.

 

I have been looking into that swap, I found one of these HIGH AMP ALT
$300. dosen't seem to bad for Powah!

I took the alt into work today and bench tested it and it came up 16v steady(seems a little high to me) I took one of our alts off of the shelf and it tested the same 16v. So I come home and do the run through; and here is what I got.

BAttery read 12.65v with my Fluke meter

Alternator not even in vechicle: + to plug - to BATT ground
BAT voltage at BATT/ALT connection 12.65v key off
S terminel 12.65v key off
L terminal 12.65v key off
IG terminal 11.36v (?) key on

Alternator in vechicle cold start 11- 1200 rpms
BAT voltage at BAT terminal 12.12v After two starts

I tested the Ohms readings in the BAT circut and got 0ohms I have a good ground. The only thing I have'nt tested was the IGN circut(don't know where to start)
The ENG fuse tests 0 ohms just as does the ALT fuse

This has me puzzled I even ran a jumper from the Alt to the frame thinking it was a ground problem.

AM I missing something?

LOCKnGO

 

Does any have the wireing diagram for the ingition and alternator circut for a 90 4x4 3,0? The Runna wireing is different I think

 

I think......
I brought the reman alternator back and got a new one. I tested every circut and checked every connection in the charging circut.

I bench tested the new alternator and it it was putting out voltage before I even turned on the energizer/ ignition switch test. I asked my boss about this and a few others and they said the new alternator is bad.

So on a whim I brought it home and slapped it on and whola! no more lights. brake light and battery lights were both out.

I took Project Snowball to work and hooked the Beare(sp) tester up to see how well it's charging, and now she is pumping out 14.5v at the battery and 14.5v @ the batt terminal which I confirmed with the Fluke meter. I also got 55amps under full load25amps @ idle

I am going to call Worldwide (the people who reman our alternators) tomorrow and ask their tech people why that when I get the 'GOOD' result from the banch test the alternator doesn't work on the vechicle and the one that failed works damn good. Now like I said in my previous post my tech sheet says that I need BAttery voltage at all three terminals IG,S,L and they all require battery voltage. I still have a 1.3v drop in the IGN circut

Oh well; I'll see what they say tomorrow when I call.

LOCKnGO