1984 Toyota Camry / Vista with 1.8l turbo diesel 1C (3 Viewers)

[Mike NXP]

I would say there is an issue with the alternator. If it's the original Nippon Denso unit, I strongly recommend not to replace it with a no name unit or remanufacured (by who and with what parts?) unit. It should be easy to replace the brushes or voltge regulator, or find a new rectifier if the old diodes have gone bad.

I agree. It's hard to tell if it's the original but I hope to have it out soon....I don't want to hunt down parts and rebuild, hoping I can press the easy button and support local rebuilder instead.

Looks like aftermarket isn't available even if I wanted to go that route

Well, good that you were able to isolate and confirm at least two problems. There used to be a guy who ran an automotive electrical repair shop in downtown Kalispell, not sure if he’s there anymore but it sounds like you have at least one option.

Vacuum pump piggybacked off the alternator is common on Toyota diesels of that era.

Right, that connection at the battery needed to be addressed either way. I'm actually kind of relieved the alternator isn't putting out proper voltage anymore and now focused on getting it tested / rebuilt / whatever ... I found a guy in C-falls who sounded knowledgeable enough and claims he looked up the OEM number and was able to find all the replacement parts he needed but is still trying to find a rectifier

Vac pump is for brake assist - Diesels don't make vacuum like a gas/petrol engine does so need a vacuum pump

Well, luckily the lines came off easy enough...That is new to me, never had to remove an alternator along with vac lines

I'm also not sure how normal it is but one of them had a good bit of oil that poured out when I removed the line
>> I know see the manual shows these as oil inlet and outlet so I guess that is normal


Questions:
> I assume I should also replace the washers on the banjo bolts / vac lines

> Can someone take a look at the pic below and see if I am missing something here.....The long mounting bolt still has another 3+ inches to go and I'm hitting the body of the vehicle. I can't really see what else I could do

Service manual just says remove cables, bolt , and remove alternator....hmm

 

[Mike NXP]

F U C K....

Toyota just going to sneak that in there, Jack up engine slightly

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

F U C K....

Toyota just going to sneak that in there, Jack up engine slightly


View attachment 3876787

Wow, the Camry designer must just have returned from an internship at Volkswagen.

 

[Mike NXP]

Wow, the Camry designer must just have returned from an internship at Volkswagen.

=] lol, going to call it a day on this for now and try to tackle it this weekend.

So far I've been able to locate two mounts, but I suspect there is one or two more....The mounts don't look easy to get to either so what a project this just became.

I also need to figure out how to even get under the motor and where to lift it from.

I imagine I've got to get them all loosened up to get any lift on the motor. I need about 2" ....I wonder if I can just flex the motor upward enough to slip the bolt out. I really don't want to remove the mounts

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

That small metal cover on top of the alternator will reveal the brush pack. They should be an off-the shelf item. If that's an internally regulated alternator it's also the access point to that so you can remove and test it. If they are fine then it might be a bad rectifier.

You could probably get away with loosening the nearest engine mount and jacking the engine up carefully.

 

[Mike NXP]

Here is a quick write-up incase the 1-2 other person in the world have this motor and need to remove the alternator

• Remove + and - from battery
• Remove + from alternator along with 2 smaller connectors . Can be accessed easily from above
• Get vehicle on jack stands and remove passenger tire
• Loosen alternator mounting and pivot bolt
• Remove belt
• Pull the vacuum line off the top / backside of alternator
• Remove oil inlet and outlet
  
  Now the main mounting bolt needs to come out of the alternator but its too long and the engine needs to come up a bit.
• Support engine with whatever you got, in my case I just used a piece of wood on the oil pan. Prob not ideal but it works
• Start with the mount closest to alternator
• Remove AC bracket mounting lines, this gives a bit of wiggle and you can get a 3/8 extension with 17mm socket onto the nut. Then a 1/2 breaker w/ 17mm the bolt side . This isn't enough to get the alternator high enough to clear the bolt
• So then move to the mount down below.
  ***Here is another sign that someone has been in here, these bolts were not metric and I assume have been replaced
• Two bolts down there. Pull them out and jack engine up
• This was tricky because I am not centered in the engine and it got all wonky on me BUT it worked and I was able to clear the bolt out and not destroy the engine mount.
  
  
• Put a pin / screwdriver / something in motor mounts for safety sake while the engine is not secured

A proper engine hoist and a second set of hands would have made this easier.....I almost drilled a hole through my wheel well to pull the bolt out but decided that may be stupid, then again if I have to pull this again I may just bore out a big ass hole lol



Will post more details after rebuild......Thanks for all the help mud world

 

[Mike NXP]

The alternator rebuilder works quick , he got back to me today and said he did something along the lines of : bench tested and failed . cleaned it all up , replaced bad rectifier , replaced oil seal, replaced bearings , regulator - brush assembly .....he also said something like, one of the positive diodes inside something was fried so thats what would cause the short to ground and voltage draw when off ...

$236 for the repair and it should be done in a few days.

Fingers crossed this brings everything back to life and I can go back to enjoying this vehicle

 

[Mike NXP]

Still waiting on Alternator rebuild but in the mean time I found some slow blow / " fusible timing fuses "


Quick thought and question:
- My alternator is only rated for 60amps, but the fusible link for that circuit shows 80 amps
- The fuse holder I purchased says its only rated for max 60amps, and has 8awg wiring

>> I'm wondering if I should stick with the wiring diagram specs and but a 80 amp fuse in there or step down to a 60amp just to keep within the ratings of the fuse holder

Either way I'm not too worried about it, anything beats the 1 strand of wire that this setup used to be held together with lol

 

[AirheadNut]

Honestly the 8awg should be just fine for 80A, especially for a relatively short run. The internals of the fuse holder might not be up to continuous 80A but will be just fine for a 60A alternator. I would start with the 60A fuse and if it blows then uprate to the 80A.

 

[Mike NXP]

Looking forward to getting this installed. This guy knows his stuff and did a really impressive job on this repair. He couldn't find a rectifier so removed and replaced diodes on the original. All of the other necessary parts have been replaced along with a fresh cleaning, sandblasting, and paint job. Even replaced the oil seals and whatever other bits he could on that vacuum pump setup

>> https://www.specialtyrebuilders.com

 

[Mike NXP]

Some people say, everyone is required to have a certain amount of misery in their lives. My solution, buy a 80s Toyota Diesel and all of your misery will be focused in one place

• I was having a tough time getting the alternator in place. I kept banging into the coolant sensors shown below. So I was able to easily pull the sensors and let some coolant drain out
• Now here's where my stupidity took over. The coolant just kept dripping and was interfering with my alternator install. So I went and grabbed some rubber plugs.
  >> I grabbed a plug that was too small and pushed it right into whatever that metal cooling tube is
  
  
• So the alternator install was put on hold while I started removing more parts to pull the coolant tube. I managed to extract the red plug and luckily it just fell down into the bend of the pipe and didn't go into the motor

I've got a few questions brewing for anyone willing to chime in

• When I removed those two sensors, I noticed one of the connectors freely spins, but is still secured. These are original sensors with TEQ stamped on them
  >> So do I go about trying to find a new sensor while I've got this all apart, or just re-install and move on for now? They were working before so I'm inclined to just re install
  
  
• What about the fact that I removed this coolant tube at two locations. There's two gaskets in there but I really don't want to deal with cleaning / replacing seals / gaskets

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

I would say the spinning connector is just the epoxy failing and the rivet holding the connector on loosening. They seal with a copper washer around the head of the sensor, so it won't leak. If it still works, just run it. You can always replace the epoxy, but they are pretty cheap as a genuine item, very cheap if you go with a generic unit.

Silicone RTV is your friend if you don't want to mess with replacing gaskets...

 

[Mike NXP]

I would say the spinning connector is just the epoxy failing and the rivet holding the connector on loosening. They seal with a copper washer around the head of the sensor, so it won't leak. If it still works, just run it. You can always replace the epoxy, but they are pretty cheap as a genuine item, very cheap if you go with a generic unit.

Silicone RTV is your friend if you don't want to mess with replacing gaskets...

Great info as usual, thanks for the post.

Yep, I just want to get it all buttoned up for now and see how she goes

 

[AirheadNut]

Another option for gaskets would be to get some gasket material from an auto parts store and cut yourself a new one. Pretty easy to do, just trace out your fitting and cut it out with an exacto knife.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Another option for gaskets would be to get some gasket material from an auto parts store and cut yourself a new one. Pretty easy to do, just trace out your fitting and cut it out with an exacto knife.

Indeed, silicone is a sloppy way of working beloved of our local mechanics in this part of the world, but it does the job most times.

 

[Mike NXP]

Yep yep, another good idea but taking the lazy way out here seems a bit more appealing . The joy of a car that doesn't travel very far, I'll just keep an eye on it for now and keep fingers crossed


For my reference below. Looks like the OEM part for those two sensors is NLA but I'll do some more digging

8942712051	SWITCH, TEMPERATURE DETECT		CV10 NO.1,W/HEATER IDLE UP
8942732020	SWITCH, TEMPERATURE DETECT		CV10 NO.2

 

[Mike NXP]

Indeed, silicone is a sloppy way of working beloved of our local mechanics in this part of the world, but it does the job most times.

For sure and certainly is easier at times..

I was surprised to see amayama claims they have stock of those gaskets, but im not messing with it for now

 

[Mike NXP]

I decided to procrastinate the alternator install even longer so I could dive into replacing this little cooling hose that's been leaking lately.


I was wondering, once I fill the system back up do I need to do anything like to bleed the system? I always hear people talking about that but I usually just top the system off, run it, cool down, check level, repeat.
------
This sucker was buried down in there and crusted onto the pipe but I managed to get it out

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

I would just make sure the vehicle is parked in such a way that the radiator cap port is the highest part of the system, open the heater valve, start the engine from cold with the cap off and burp the system by squeezing hoses where you can. Once the system is full and the engine starts to heat up and push coolant out, cap it off and call it bled. Once it's cold top up the overflow to the correct level and it should be good.

 

[AndyMax]

Hey there — I just wanted to reach out because you’re the only other person I’ve seen with a turbo diesel Camry.

I’ve got an ’85 with the 2C-T that I’ve been slowly collecting parts for. It’s been sitting for about a year and a half while my 300TD Mercedes wagon has been taking up most of my wrenching time, but I’m finally looking forward to digging into the Camry.

Plan is to rebuild the injectors with new nozzles, replace the glow plugs, overhaul the cooling system, do the timing belt and water pump, delete the EGR, refresh the brakes, and go through the usual wear items. I’ve been excited about this project for so long that I’ve ended up doing a deep dive into these fairly obscure cars and learned quite a bit in the process.

Just wanted to say thanks for documenting your build — it’s been a huge help seeing someone else working on one of these. Looking forward to following along, and feel free to reach out if you ever want to connect as a fellow diesel Camry owner.