94SRUNNER
GOLD Star
I have had some poor luck with alternators. By my count I am on my fifth alternator. A bit of history...
First off, my LX is basically stock. Nothing that I can figure would cause an alternator to fail prematurely. No leaking coolant or oil from the engine that would cause failure. The area behind the alternator was and is dry.
In December 2016, what appeared to be the original alternator went out for the first time during my ownership at 137667 miles. Due to a time crunch my only option was an Autozone Duralast unit, which went in with out much issue.
The Autozone Duralast unit went out for the second time, approximately 9 months (9/16/2017) later at 150200 miles. It was under warranty, so I pulled out the bad and swapped it for a replacement Autozone.
The second Autozone Duralast unit went out approximately 10 months (7/15/2018) later at 164400 miles. I did not feel like dealing with an auto parts store reman'd unit. I had a used OEM unit that I had picked up and installed new brushes in. I had it tested at a local alternator shop near me in Dayton and it tested good, so I went with that as my replacement and threw the Autozone unit on the shelf.
This past weekend I had to drive to Pewaukee Lake, Wisconsin to pick up my son from my brothers and the truck ran fantastic. No issues. Started it up yesterday and it was typical symptoms, bad electrical whine and reading low voltage on the dash gauge and ScanGauge. So....after approximately 24 months and at 181104 miles I got to do it all over again.
This time I went with a reman'd Denso unit from Napa. Now I have heard the pros and cons of the reman'd Denso's, but I'll take my chances as I've got the change out time to around 2 hours.
Previously I had removed the alternator out of the bottom. This time, I felt like trying a different method. I pulled it out through the top without removing the upper coolant line or the coolant reservoir. Below how I went about it;
1. Disconnect the battery (10mm)
2. Remove intake tube (10mm)
3. Remove serpentine belt (14mm socket on breaker bar or wrench on tension pulley)
4. Remove 3 bolts that hold power steering pump (14mm deep socket)
5. Disconnect the high pressure line (17mm and 37ft-lb for reinstall) and wrap in rags and place a container of some sort to catch PS fluid. Once the flow has stopped, pull the power steering pump out of the way. I also unbolted the PS reservoir, which allowed me to set the pump back even further. Pull the high pressure line back towards the front of the engine bay and secure with a zip-tie.
6. Unbolt the alternators 12 mm and 14mm nut and 14mm bolt that hold it on
7. Slide alternator forward off mounting stud and turn so you access to the rear connectors. Unbolt the 10mm nut on the power calble and squeeze the connector to release it and pull the connector free.
10. Then, remove the alternator out the through the top. If you orient the alternator correctly you can make it around all of the various plumbing components with little effort.
11. Finally, repeat the process in reverse order to reinstall the alternator then the power steering pump. Once both are bolted and torqued to spec, reinstall the serpentine belt, intake tube and finally the battery.
Note; You may need to spend a little extra time bleeding the power steering system, so have some extra fluid on hand as you may experience spillage with this process....
Using this method, I had everything buttoned up in about 2.5hrs
This link is a good resource;
First off, my LX is basically stock. Nothing that I can figure would cause an alternator to fail prematurely. No leaking coolant or oil from the engine that would cause failure. The area behind the alternator was and is dry.
In December 2016, what appeared to be the original alternator went out for the first time during my ownership at 137667 miles. Due to a time crunch my only option was an Autozone Duralast unit, which went in with out much issue.
The Autozone Duralast unit went out for the second time, approximately 9 months (9/16/2017) later at 150200 miles. It was under warranty, so I pulled out the bad and swapped it for a replacement Autozone.
The second Autozone Duralast unit went out approximately 10 months (7/15/2018) later at 164400 miles. I did not feel like dealing with an auto parts store reman'd unit. I had a used OEM unit that I had picked up and installed new brushes in. I had it tested at a local alternator shop near me in Dayton and it tested good, so I went with that as my replacement and threw the Autozone unit on the shelf.
This past weekend I had to drive to Pewaukee Lake, Wisconsin to pick up my son from my brothers and the truck ran fantastic. No issues. Started it up yesterday and it was typical symptoms, bad electrical whine and reading low voltage on the dash gauge and ScanGauge. So....after approximately 24 months and at 181104 miles I got to do it all over again.
This time I went with a reman'd Denso unit from Napa. Now I have heard the pros and cons of the reman'd Denso's, but I'll take my chances as I've got the change out time to around 2 hours.
Previously I had removed the alternator out of the bottom. This time, I felt like trying a different method. I pulled it out through the top without removing the upper coolant line or the coolant reservoir. Below how I went about it;
1. Disconnect the battery (10mm)
2. Remove intake tube (10mm)
3. Remove serpentine belt (14mm socket on breaker bar or wrench on tension pulley)
4. Remove 3 bolts that hold power steering pump (14mm deep socket)
5. Disconnect the high pressure line (17mm and 37ft-lb for reinstall) and wrap in rags and place a container of some sort to catch PS fluid. Once the flow has stopped, pull the power steering pump out of the way. I also unbolted the PS reservoir, which allowed me to set the pump back even further. Pull the high pressure line back towards the front of the engine bay and secure with a zip-tie.
6. Unbolt the alternators 12 mm and 14mm nut and 14mm bolt that hold it on
7. Slide alternator forward off mounting stud and turn so you access to the rear connectors. Unbolt the 10mm nut on the power calble and squeeze the connector to release it and pull the connector free.
10. Then, remove the alternator out the through the top. If you orient the alternator correctly you can make it around all of the various plumbing components with little effort.
11. Finally, repeat the process in reverse order to reinstall the alternator then the power steering pump. Once both are bolted and torqued to spec, reinstall the serpentine belt, intake tube and finally the battery.
Note; You may need to spend a little extra time bleeding the power steering system, so have some extra fluid on hand as you may experience spillage with this process....
Using this method, I had everything buttoned up in about 2.5hrs
This link is a good resource;
100 series / lx470 alternator replacement quick tips no pictures
Just did this on my 98 LC so it is fresh in my mind took exactly 3hrs and I'm slow, If anyone has basic tips to add please do... I've done this before but not often enough to "do it without thinking" I should add it helps to have a milk crate to stand on... 1. remove plastic engine cover (10mm...
forum.ih8mud.com
Last edited: