alternator symptoms ?

[ginericLC]

Yep! Did the search already. I didn't find exactly what I was looking for so here I am.

IH8mud, that is what it says on the side of my 80 but for some unknown reason I found myself blasting through some today. I was almost out to the highway and I my Auto Tranny Temp Light, Alt Light, Brake Light, and Oil Light came on all at once. Amp Meter or Volt Meter (not sure which the 80 has) suggests low charge.

I rinsed it out trailside and the lights went off for about 3 minutes but then they returned. So when I got home I rinsed it out some more. It does have a funky almost grinding sound in it that I don't recall before.

So do I pull it apart and clean it and buy brushes etc... and rebuild it or do I bite the bullet and get a new one.

212,000 miles on the rig and I don't have a receipt for it ever being replaced. I'm guessing it is original.

I'm leaning towards replacement because I'm going on a 4k trip in two weeks. I would hate to fix part of it and then break on the roadside. I'm going into Toyota hell. Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana are what I consider import hell. If it isn't 70s or 80s Chevy, Ford, or Dodge you can forget about getting parts for it in this region.

 

[Rich]

For now pull out the brush pack and clean out the mud.

 

[CJF]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=86928&highlight=alternator

You saw this thread and gave the alt. itself a good going over?

Good luck,

Curtis

 

[ginericLC]

Here are two shots of the first and minor mud crossing. The next one is the one that pretty much destroyed my neat and clean engine bay. It has been a really wet year in Idaho. Normally there would not be green grass here, especially not this tall. We are going to to have a bad fire season.

 

[ginericLC]

I did the hose thing. Still no luck. Tomorrow after work I'll try the gentle hammer before I tear it apart. It is such a PITA to get to under the distributor.

 

[ginericLC]

Next question OEM or aftermarket? I haven't even PM'd CDan yet I know it will be expensive. It has 212k on it and as near as I can tell it is original. I dug through piles of receipts and I don't see any for an alternator. I can get one locally for $156 with a lifetime warranty. I only need about 80-90k. I figure at 300k I'll pull the 1FZE for a diesel and most likely I'll need a new alternator then.

 

[trainrech]

I just went the cheap route on our LX 450 and couldn't find a difference between the O'Reilly $140 one versus the original OEM that I was replacing. Molle Toyota (TAC member discount you can use) wanted $240, NAPA $200.

Swapping the alternator is a PITA. FSM suggests removing the battery tray and disconnecting the PS reservoir from the block. They are right...