electrical saga

[forestdan7]

Like the title says....

A few weeks back, my truck (87 4Runner 22RE) was acting strange. It would start and run fine, then a day or so later, wouldn't start at all. Dead battery. Then the next day start right up. Charge light never came on.

Finally it wouldn't start again, and I was in town, so I got a jump and went straight to get a new battery.

Now it starts and runs fine, all the time. Except now, the charge and brake warning lights come on intermittently. If they stayed on, I would assume it was the alternator. But since they flash on and off (always together), I'm thinking it's the ground. This thing's real rusty, so I might not be making a complete circuit.

Any thoughts? Is there somewhere else to ground it besides the engine block and body metal? And how can I test the alternator myself, without driving it 25 miles to town and getting a garage to do it?

All comments appreciated.

 

[extremetoy1]

alternator is going bad, sometimes they dont quit all at once.

 

[WristPin]

most likley the alt is failing.

there are many grounds that you need to be intact on your engine, in order for it to work right.

one behind the head to the fire wall. one coming out of the alt harness that bolts to the p/s bracket to block.

the obvious batt to inner fender, and batt to engine.

and the EFI harness has a few grounds that all bolt on the intake plenum

 

[4RUNNY]

My 89 3.0v6 is doing the exact same thing and the alternator is working fine. I've just gotten used to it. I wish I could figure out how to stop it though.

 

[forestdan7]

Yeah, I wish I could figure out how to stop it myself. Kind of kills my confidence in a long trip in this thing. And where I'm at, you can't get off the road if it dies. One side is a mountain, one side is a creek.

So, alternator. Anybody had luck with a reman from NAPA/Advance/AutoZone? Or should I bite the bullet and buy Toyota? Normally, the 60 gets OEM, and the 4Runner gets cheap and quick. I still love her, I just ain't rich.

Think I'll check the grounds WristPin mentioned too.

 

[cruiser88]

ha wristy does the old trick disconnecting the battery while running hurt the 22re electrical system

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

I would pull the alt and check the brushes, it seems Toyotas get very strange electrical problems that have very simple solutions. I think someone on here just got 3 bad Napa alts in a row..... soooo I would have the nipondenso unit rebuilt if that's an option, and it it's still the original, if not, give a cheap and quick a try I guess....

 

[KLF]

ha wristy does the old trick disconnecting the battery while running hurt the 22re electrical system

YES. Don't do this. At the least, the voltage regulator won't get anything in the feedback circuit, it will throw the alternator into full charge, and the voltage will be to high. It can fry your ECU, and possibly the stereo head unit too.

 

[cruiser88]

YES. Don't do this. At the least, the voltage regulator won't get anything in the feedback circuit, it will throw the alternator into full charge, and the voltage will be to high. It can fry your ECU, and possibly the stereo head unit too.

ok was just wondering

 

[forestdan7]

Thanks for the responses. I'm going to try replacing the brushes first, since it's real cheap. If that doesn't work, then the alternator itself.

Am I way off thinking the rust holes could have something to do with this, though? Not that I'm going to fix the rust. I actually kind of like it that way. Makes running it into trees and rocks a lot less painful.

 

[Turbo Turtle]

No your not way off. I have an old car that benifited from cleaning all the grounding locations. If that does not improve anything at least you can feel confident in knowing that part shoudn't be an issue. I say do the alt. first though

 

[ntsqd]

Patch (my '84 Xcab) used to do the intermitent brake & alt light flashing. Now they're on with the key & the voltmeter shows steadily lowering voltage. So alt time it is. However, were I to replace this one directly it would be the 3rd alt I've put on the truck and the second NAPA. I'm pretty disinclined to do that. My local very talented & knowledgable Starter-gen-alt guy tells me that he can't buy quality parts to rebuild for less that a stealership alt.

Currently I'm looking into putting a Delco CS-130 on it.

 

[forestdan7]

I found brushes at Advance Auto for $9.88, but I didn't check on bearings, etc. But I didn't get them, because I got the guy there to check it, and it's putting out 14+ volts.

I did tighten the belt a little today (it didn't seem very loose to begin with), and the brake/charge lights came on once about 10 minutes down the road, and then stayed off for the rest of a 50 mile trip.

I'm hoping they'll stay off, but I'm not holding my breath.

Thanks for all the input.