Charging issue (1 Viewer)

[James Cody]

I have a 1999 100 series. I'm having charging problems. The belt seems ok, the alternator pulley turns easily by hand. Symptoms started about a week ago when the discharge light on the dash came on when I started it. I revved the engine and it went out. Nothing happened for a several days, then it came on when I started it again. I revved the engine and it went away and it did this again for the next couple of days. Yesterday, it came on and won't go out. The battery is new, but cheap. I cleaned the cable connectors when I changed the battery about a month ago. Voltage at the terminals when the engine is running is about 12.5, which I know should be more like 14. This makes me lean towards the alternator. These are my questions.

Before I dig the alternator out, is there anything else I need to check?

Should I replace the alternator with a reman from the local dealer or should I just do the brush kit/sub assembly? Should I buy the alternator or brush kit from somewhere else?

Anything I am missing?

Thanks in advance

 

[Rhetoric]

I have a 1999 100 series. I'm having charging problems. The belt seems ok, the alternator pulley turns easily by hand. Symptoms started about a week ago when the discharge light on the dash came on when I started it. I revved the engine and it went out. Nothing happened for a several days, then it came on when I started it again. I revved the engine and it went away and it did this again for the next couple of days. Yesterday, it came on and won't go out. The battery is new, but cheap. I cleaned the cable connectors when I changed the battery about a month ago. Voltage at the terminals when the engine is running is about 12.5, which I know should be more like 14. This makes me lean towards the alternator. These are my questions.

Before I dig the alternator out, is there anything else I need to check?

Should I replace the alternator with a reman from the local dealer or should I just do the brush kit/sub assembly? Should I buy the alternator or brush kit from somewhere else?

Anything I am missing?

Thanks in advance

I just went through a flaky alternator replacement. My truck had an alt put in by the dealer in 2013, so the Toyota Denso reman lasted nearly 12 years and 160k miles. I ended up putting in a Toyota Denso reman. One of my local dealers honors the 15% Costco auto discount, which has been nice.

I took the back cover off the alternator I pulled out to inspect before I returned the core. I found the slip ring was completely destroyed and the brushes nearly gone. So a brush kit would have done me zero good.

Pics attached.

 

[nissanh]

At what mileage did you notice the complete wear of the slip rings? None of my vehicles 92 sprinter at 296K,, 00 LC at 257K, 97 4R at 223K miles got good amount of slip rings so I replaced just the brush kit OEM. I get 14.2- 14.4 V at idle with headlights and AC on.

 

[Rhetoric]

At what mileage did you notice the complete wear of the slip rings? None of my vehicles 92 sprinter at 296K,, 00 LC at 257K, 97 4R at 223K miles got good amount of slip rings so I replaced just the brush kit OEM. I get 14.2- 14.4 V at idle with headlights and AC on.

This Toyota Denso reman made it from 10/28/2013 - 110,244 miles to 3/14/2025 - 270,555 miles. The lower slip ring was turned completely to dust, while the upper had more of what I would expect for copper wear.

I plan to check brushes / slip ring whenever I do a timing belt job.

 

[nissanh]

May be the bottom brush is very abrasive or the Cu ring they used in remanufacturing was in poor quality. But good to know. thanks!

 

[Rhetoric]

May be the bottom brush is very abrasive or the Cu ring they used in remanufacturing was in poor quality. But good to know. thanks!

You got it! Figured it would be good to list this as a data point for others.

I had a gap in my service records, so when I went into the replacement I thought I would be pulling the original. Nope. Called the Toyota dealer it was serviced at and they sent me the invoice from this job. It also explains why all the bolts were over-torqued.

I debated on keeping the alternator and rebuilding it, but since it was already a reman I just returned it to get my $81 back.

 

[Bisho]

I have a 1999 100 series. I'm having charging problems. The belt seems ok, the alternator pulley turns easily by hand. Symptoms started about a week ago when the discharge light on the dash came on when I started it. I revved the engine and it went out. Nothing happened for a several days, then it came on when I started it again. I revved the engine and it went away and it did this again for the next couple of days. Yesterday, it came on and won't go out. The battery is new, but cheap. I cleaned the cable connectors when I changed the battery about a month ago. Voltage at the terminals when the engine is running is about 12.5, which I know should be more like 14. This makes me lean towards the alternator. These are my questions.

Before I dig the alternator out, is there anything else I need to check?

Should I replace the alternator with a reman from the local dealer or should I just do the brush kit/sub assembly? Should I buy the alternator or brush kit from somewhere else?

Anything I am missing?

Thanks in advance

Sounds like classic alternator. I tried an O'Reilly alternator. First one lasted 10k miles until the bearings went out. 2nd went 30k miles before it quit charging. Third one had bearing noise from the start, and I finally replaced it with a Toyota reman I got from a Serra sale. The fourth one is sitting in a box that I take on long trips, just in case. Losing an alternator far from civilization is not a good scenario.