So my 97 is having an endless downward spiral of electrical issues. When I first picked it up the cabin over head lights didn't work. I checked all fuses, harnesses, door switches, and wires and found nothing wrong. Within a few months the 12volt cig plug on the dash stopped working. About a year later the stereo quit working and now the clock cuts in and out. My power seats and windows are getting slower and slower like I have some huge load from something 100% of the time. The last few weeks I can see the volt gauge on the dash is struggling to even get up to the middle line. Today I was in a drive thru getting lunch and the car started to shutter. I looked down at the dash and saw the low volt red sensor light on. Within a few seconds the car died. I had to push it out of the drive thru and then got a jump. I had to keep the rpms up the entire drive home or it would die. At red lights I tossed it in nuetral and kept my foot on the gas. The battery was replaced with a Costco battery a few months back. As I was pulling into my driveway I heard what I think was the alternator making a whining noise. The alternator was replaced with a non-denso unit about a year before I bought this 80 which means it's about 3 years old and has about 15k on it. Should I just toss on a new alternator or should I look for something else? I have never had an alternator take such a slow painful death. The ones that have failed on me with other vehicles in the past died rather quickly.
Electrical Gremlins. New Alternator? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter bhicks
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Find a AEB Auto Electric battery shop and get a new set of brushes and a voltage regulator do it yourself, also make sure the commutator is good, they make a replacement sleeve for that too
- Thread starter
- #3
Where is the voltage regulator? Also, what is a commutator? Never heard of that.
Sounds like you need a Denso alternator. Could fix a whole mess of problems.
Are the grounds good for the wiring harness?
Are the grounds good for the wiring harness?
- Thread starter
- #5
Looks like the voltage regulator is built into the alternator. I just ordered a new Denso off Rock auto. It wasn't much more then buying the rebuild kit plus volt meter combo so I figured my time was worth more than the little savings. Delivery shows middle of next week. I will report back if any or all of my symptoms are solved with a new alternator. I have checked as many grounds and wires as I could find related to the alternator or just grounds in general. I'm not sure how many grounds are on the entire vehicle but everything I found was tight and clean.
The voltage regulator is underneath, the shield, it also is where you plug it in to the harness, the commutator is what the brushes ride on and transfer the power to your battery, most of the automotive electric shops can rebuild it for you, rarely do they die, it is just worn out parts
REKCUT
SILVER Star
Have you used a meter to check the output of the alternator? Battery? I would think it wise to see what numbers kind of voltage your getting.
https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...442806549877/1996+Toyota+Land+Cruiser+EWD.pdf
Download, print, study, keep in 80.
- Thread starter
- #10
I did early on in my search for the issue and found a weak battery but a working alternator. I did not check with the multimeter yesterday when the car actually died. It was dark when I finally limped it home. I will check with the meter today and see what I get.
Nope. (but yes, should be checked). I ment that the long list of associated problems might be ground related since, by looking at the EWD Manual, there are a few ground points for a lot of systems.
Have you done any basic diagnostics like putting a voltmeter on the output of the alternator?
What is the battery voltage across the battery terminals when the engine is running?
What is the battery voltage across the battery terminals when the engine is running?
REKCUT
SILVER Star
See post #10
I see no answers to the questions.
- Thread starter
- #16
The volts coming off the alternator when I first started getting electrical issues showed nothing wrong with the alternator. After vehicle was turned off the battery was barely getting over 11 volts. It was replaced and the problems went away for a short time but came back and were much worse this time. I don't drive this 80 very often so fixing electrical issues on it wasn't a priority. The last few months have been 100% focused on the business and keeping up with holiday orders. Now that those are behind me I decided to start driving the 80 more to see if I could start figuring out these issues. 2nd day of driving is when it all went bad. I spent almost an hour looking for my multimeter with no luck today. I had a new guy organize my shop. It looks great now but I can't find anything. He will be here Monday and I will have him find it for me and will test the alternator again.
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^ not sure exactly what you are saying in your testing.
You tested 'the volts coming off the alternator" and showed no problems, but the battery was barely getting to 12V ??
That implies the alternator is shot if it was connected to the battery while you were testing.
It's pretty simple, with engine running at a fast idle you should see around 14.4V at the battery. If not then alternator is shot or wiring is shot or your battery is dead and getting hot rapidly since it is loading down the alternator. Batteries typically don't die by going low impedance, so I'd guess alternator and/or wiring with alternator being more likely.
cheers,
george.
You tested 'the volts coming off the alternator" and showed no problems, but the battery was barely getting to 12V ??
That implies the alternator is shot if it was connected to the battery while you were testing.
It's pretty simple, with engine running at a fast idle you should see around 14.4V at the battery. If not then alternator is shot or wiring is shot or your battery is dead and getting hot rapidly since it is loading down the alternator. Batteries typically don't die by going low impedance, so I'd guess alternator and/or wiring with alternator being more likely.
cheers,
george.
- Thread starter
- #18
I'm guessing I did the testing wrong. No matter what the volts showed coming off the alternator with the car on I could not get the battery to show more than 12 volts with the car off. Most of the time it was closer to 11 volts and not 12. I tested the alternator with the vehicle on at idle and it always showed good. I tested the battery once the I turned the car off. I assumed the battery was gone since the alternator was giving it plenty of juice but the battery was just not charging. I found my multimeter this morning and will test everything again this afternoon. If I'm doing it all wrong, then let me know. I'm no electrical guru and was just going off what made sense to me.
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^ again, doesn't make sense. You say the alternator was good but battery only 11 - 12V while running. There's just one wire between the alternator and the battery (via a fusible link). Exactly where are you measuring alternator output?
11V is a dead battery. 12V is nearly discharged.
Electrical testing requires a methodical approach or it's basically GIGO.
You need 14.4V at the battery during fast idle. If you don't have that, then measure voltage at the alternator fusible link (battery side) and then alternator side. Report some measured number, not your 'memory'
cheers,
george.
11V is a dead battery. 12V is nearly discharged.
Electrical testing requires a methodical approach or it's basically GIGO.
You need 14.4V at the battery during fast idle. If you don't have that, then measure voltage at the alternator fusible link (battery side) and then alternator side. Report some measured number, not your 'memory'
cheers,
george.
- Thread starter
- #20
Battery was tested with car off. When car was running the volts on the battery and alternator matched. I did a poor job explaining that earlier. When car was turned off the volts on the battery dropped to around 11 volts. This is all months ago. The battery was replaced and my problems went away for a few weeks then returned but with more issues. Those are the issues discussed in the first post. The battery is basically new since I only drive the 80 a couple times a month at most. Grounds all look good (the ones I know of and could find). Fuses are all good. Just no radio, no 12 volt cig, no overhead lights, a flickering clock, and now the red alternator/volt light coming on with a dying engine. Must keep RPMs up to keep engine running. Also have a super slow start. New Denso alternator gets delivered tomorrow and will be installed this weekend. I will post results after that.^ again, doesn't make sense. You say the alternator was good but battery only 11 - 12V while running. There's just one wire between the alternator and the battery (via a fusible link). Exactly where are you measuring alternator output?
11V is a dead battery. 12V is nearly discharged.
Electrical testing requires a methodical approach or it's basically GIGO.
You need 14.4V at the battery during fast idle. If you don't have that, then measure voltage at the alternator fusible link (battery side) and then alternator side. Report some measured number, not your 'memory'
cheers,
george.
