RTH: Alternator Suspect Voltage Output (1 Viewer)

[TeCKis300]

I'm on a road trip right now and noticed my aux house battery that runs my fridge seems to not be fully charged. This is suspect as we drove 9 hrs yesterday and I would normally expect it to be fully charged.

Looking at my starter battery voltage with the car is running, the voltage seems to be low. 12.6V to 12.8V. Even when running on the freeway. I had some suspicions with my main starter battery that I changed it a month ago. Monitoring at that point, showed the system to be 13.1 - 13.5V which could be a tad low, but I thought I was just using the battery hard camping over the years.

I think this is enough symptoms to suggest my alternator is on it's way out? @tbisaacs

Fortunately we're in a city with lots of family around, and caught this before heading out to our next leg into more remote country. Going to look to see for stock from the local Lexus/Toyota for an alternator.

Is there interchange with other models?

How hard is it to change? Any leads on good tutorials?

 

[indycole]

Sounds like you're already on the right track. The only other consideration would be the ambient temperatures? It's been a while, but before I used a DC-DC charger I found that the alternator output was limited a bit on a SW road trip when temps were 110 and higher.

Otherwise, I know that water cooled alternators are a thing in Australia so I'd probably go digging for some YouTube videos that highlight the swap. That might be similar? I swapped my alternator out but that was at the same time as the radiator, cooling fan, water pump, etc. so I definitely removed more than was needed. I think the airbox and hose need to come out? Sorry, it's been a while.

(edited to add that it looks like it's accessible via the wheel well without needing to remove the airbox though it's tight)

 

[tbisaacs]

I'm on a road trip right now and noticed my aux house battery that runs my fridge seems to not be fully charged. This is suspect as we drove 9 hrs yesterday and I would normally expect it to be fully charged.

Looking at my starter battery voltage with the car is running, the voltage seems to be low. 12.6V to 12.8V. Even when running on the freeway. I had some suspicions with my main starter battery that I changed it a month ago. Monitoring at that point, showed the system to be 13.1 - 13.5V which could be a tad low, but I thought I was just using the battery hard camping over the years.

I think this is enough symptoms to suggest my alternator is on it's way out? @tbisaacs

Fortunately we're in a city with lots of family around, and caught this before heading out to our next leg into more remote country. Going to look to see for stock from the local Lexus/Toyota for an alternator.

Is there interchange with other models?

How hard is it to change? Any leads on good tutorials?

My symptoms were very similar. One thing to try is disabling the DC charge and see what happens?

Although I would def expect a full house battery after that much driving even if your DC charger was throttled back because of temp related input voltage.

 

[kcjaz]

I'm on a road trip right now and noticed my aux house battery that runs my fridge seems to not be fully charged. This is suspect as we drove 9 hrs yesterday and I would normally expect it to be fully charged.

Looking at my starter battery voltage with the car is running, the voltage seems to be low. 12.6V to 12.8V. Even when running on the freeway. I had some suspicions with my main starter battery that I changed it a month ago. Monitoring at that point, showed the system to be 13.1 - 13.5V which could be a tad low, but I thought I was just using the battery hard camping over the years.

I think this is enough symptoms to suggest my alternator is on it's way out? @tbisaacs

Fortunately we're in a city with lots of family around, and caught this before heading out to our next leg into more remote country. Going to look to see for stock from the local Lexus/Toyota for an alternator.

Is there interchange with other models?

How hard is it to change? Any leads on good tutorials?

Here is a link to my thread on this experience. It turns into a starter thread but the altternator is on my kitchen table in post #9.

Alternator removal - serious PITA

So I as part of a re-base lining PM project where I am replacing water pump and most of the rotating parts on the front I have decided to replace the alternator as part of the project mostly because I've been told it is difficult to get to, and just looking at where it is it is clear "this ain't...

forum.ih8mud.com

I struggled. A better mechanic would have struggled less I'm sure. The FSM procedure doesn't seem possible but maybe there is some way to rotate stuff on a certain sequence to get the alternator out through the side.

 

[TeCKis300]

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the quick information!!

Just ordered an OEM alternator, part# 27060-38050. Thankfully Genuine Lexus Parts | Lexus of Sacramento - https://parts.lexusofsacramento.com/ has a good deal on it for 4th of July, bringing it down from $730 to $474. Still, a pricey alternator this is. Toyota nor Lexus has it on hand so it's being ordered for pickup 8AM tomorrow.

Now to figure out how to pull this thing out and you guys have me well on my way. Working without my own garage of tools...hrmm. Doesn't look like this is an easy button operation.

My symptoms were very similar. One thing to try is disabling the DC charge and see what happens?

Although I would def expect a full house battery after that much driving even if your DC charger was throttled back because of temp related input voltage.

I disabled a bunch of ancillary items and voltage would fluctuate and go up by .1V or .2V. Revving the engine doesn't make it come up to more than ~12.9V.

My Victron DC-DC charger is set to auto-detect engine on with a voltage threshold of ~13.5V, and turn off at ~12.9V. It already wasn't coming on based on the system voltage as I can tell.

This thing is on its way out.

 

[jjtrou2072]

I went through this a few weeks back.
It's not fun to replace.

2013 LX Battery/Alternator

It's pretty hard to beat the Interstate battery at Costco, on price, availability and warranty. Just my two cents. And assuming you're not running dual batteries, a fridge, winch, etc. Just did this one myself. Interstate 27f, $135.99 out the door.

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[FxFormat]

What are you using to measure the voltage, do you have an accurate volt meter that you put directly to the battery terminal? 570 Alternator jobs are not easy, it's very easy on the 100 but on the 200 it's a lot harder. Taking the belt on and off is already PITA on its own. Do you have the battery icon lit on the dash?

 

[TeCKis300]

I went through this a few weeks back.
It's not fun to replace.

2013 LX Battery/Alternator

It's pretty hard to beat the Interstate battery at Costco, on price, availability and warranty. Just my two cents. And assuming you're not running dual batteries, a fridge, winch, etc. Just did this one myself. Interstate 27f, $135.99 out the door.

forum.ih8mud.com

How many hrs would you say this operation is?

What are you using to measure the voltage, do you have an accurate volt meter that you put directly to the battery terminal? 570 Alternator jobs are not easy, it's very easy on the 100 but on the 200 it's a lot harder. Taking the belt on and off is already PITA on its own. Do you have the battery icon lit on the dash?

I have two points of reference. The most accurate being a Switchpros that is calibrated off a voltmeter to the battery terminals directly.

 

[Sandroad]

I’m not sure what city you’re in, but since you mentioned being away from your tools, I would note that some parts stores like Autozone have a tool loaner program. If you need a specialty tool, or just a set of sockets, might be worth checking out.

 

[clrussell]

What does it do if you unplug your camper? Maybe the camper charge wire is pulling some power?

 

[TeCKis300]

I’m not sure what city you’re in, but since you mentioned being away from your tools, I would note that some parts stores like Autozone have a tool loaner program. If you need a specialty tool, or just a set of sockets, might be worth checking out.

I've got a reasonable set of hand tools with the LX factory set and a tool roll I always carry. Some with the Airstream. I'm in Sacramento with lots of family around so should be okay. Seems like the 14mm socket is taking front stage in this operation. Would be nice to have a better set of extensions and access tools. We'll see.

What does it do if you unplug your camper? Maybe the camper charge wire is pulling some power?

Yes, good call and an important step in diagnosing. I've been running around town without the camper and all loads off. No CEL yet, but the voltage is suspect at barely 12.7, peaking at 12.8. The dash voltage display doesn't have the resolution to show it, but it's also reflecting what the other devices are telling me. Just measured the batt with car off and it's reading 12.3V which supports that the alternator is not charging well.

@kcjaz and @jjtrou2072 , thank you for those references. Gave a solid jump start.

Hello alternator. PS pump is off and about to unmount the alternator behind/below it. Getting the alternator baby delivered is another story yet to be played out.

 

[jjtrou2072]

How many hrs would you say this operation is?

Took me the better part of a day i.e 8 hours or so. But I really didn't have a gameplan and was figuring out a few things as I went.

Now if you really attack it and have the tools laid out and ready to go maybe half that? Hard to tell.

 

[32cls6speedmt]

I remember reading that this was a 3.5 billable hour job.

 

[FxFormat]

I remember reading that this was a 3.5 billable hour job.

Sounds about right, we charged $500 for the previous job

 

[sdunham89]

Did it last month and took me 5-6 hours. Did do a lot of head scratching though.

 

[TeCKis300]

Got some good wrenching in and probably 1/3 of the way in. Thankfully I have a garage to work in at my inlaws home. It's in there and this is one of those jobs where most of the fight is about access and angles. Without my normal set of breaker bars, extensions, swivels, box wrenches, it's been a battle.

Interestingly, I'm at 168k with my alternator. Definitely have been using it hard. A few other posts showed they had issues at similar 160k and 170k miles. @tbisaacs was right this is probably something to PM at higher mileage. Considering the difficulty of the job, not really reasonable as a trail repair.

Highlighting a few threads/posts that have been helpful

Well I got it out. No way will the alternator ever go out over the frame rail. I pulled the radiator to “make things easy”. Fan mounting nuts had been jacked up from prior work done at dealer so I spent about an hour and a half filling the nuts flat so I could get a wrench on them. After the radiator was out the rest was “easy” and only took me 4 hours to get the PS pump and alt out. Even with the PS pump and radiator out, getting the alt out is a bear.
Edit: adding pic of extracted alternator. Just 3 bolts and a nut...

View attachment 2543163

shot with PS pump out and PS hogh pressure line and pressure sensor pulled out of the way:

View attachment 2543182

Just wanted to give folks some more insight into an alternator replacement on the 200. I had the battery dash light pop up on me the other day. Checked voltage on the battery while running and was only getting 11.6v or so. The alternator needed to be replaced.

If you're a search nut like myself before diving into projects, the only couple posts I found were saying it had to be pulled from underneath. Saying both lower radiator hose and the power steering lines had to be removed. @CruiserFan88 mentioned the pressure hose on the power steering pump being $300 if damaged.

In all the Tundra videos online, they're able to simply pull the alternator through the passenger wheel well when the power steering pump is unbolted and swung out of the way. The smaller frames on our 200 series just don't allow for that.

Not wanting to damage any high pressure power steering hoses I opted to try to pull the alternator up through the top of the motor. Even if I had to pull the radiator. And really, it wasn't all too bad. The fan, shroud and both radiator hoses need to be removed and then you pretty much have all the access you need.

No more battery dash light once it was all back together. It was a solid 5.5-6 hour job for me last night. Although, I broke away for taco Tuesday with the family and wasted about an hour on the 2 lower alternator bolts. Without any breaks and being more familiar with the job, I could probably tackle it in 3-4 hours.

Thanks to all those that posted before me on this subject. Hope this adds to the conversation and gives others another angle to try.

View attachment 3034819

View attachment 3034818

New alternator is in.
Voltmeter shows it charging at 14volts.
Battery light gone.

Here is roughly the steps I took.
1. Remove passenger side wheel / tire. Take out two plastic clips and rotate the wheel liner up out of your way.

2. Remove Bottom Shields/Fan/Shroud/Radiator Hoses and Serpentine Belt. I also dropped the sway bar (4 17mm Bolts) to give more access from below.

3. Loosen the transmission cooler hard lines by taking the bolt out of the front bracket (On Alternator). And the bolt on the backside bracket close to transmission. *This step is necessary to give yourself room to get the bottom 2 Alternator bolts out.

4. Remove bottom two alternator bolts. Even with loose transmission lines this step is still a PITA. I attacked this from below.

5. I wound up removing the power steering pump. (2) 14mm bolts come out through the front of the PS pulley. Then a prybar through the wheel well to get it out of its bracket. I used a coat hanger to hold it up out of the way once it's free.

6. Once the PS pump is clear, it's a straight shot from the wheel well to the remaining bolt and nut holding the alternator in place.

7. Lastly I Disconnected the plug and 12mm nut holding down the power terminal then fished the alternator up through the front of the engine bay on the Driver's side.



This took basically a whole day for me granted I'm not a professional. I'm sure there are others who could do it faster with less steps.

 

[tbisaacs]

Got some good wrenching in and probably 1/3 of the way in. Thankfully I have a garage to work in at my inlaws home. It's in there and this is one of those jobs where most of the fight is about access and angles. Without my normal set of breaker bars, extensions, swivels, box wrenches, it's been a battle.

Interestingly, I'm at 168k with my alternator. Definitely have been using it hard. A few other posts showed they had issues at similar 160k and 170k miles. @tbisaacs was right this is probably something to PM at higher mileage. Considering the difficulty of the job, not really reasonable as a trail repair.

Highlighting a few threads/posts that have been helpful

Are you going at it from the passenger side wheel well?

 

[TeCKis300]

Are you going at it from the passenger side wheel well?

Working it from that side, but everything I've read suggests it's not possible to extract it from there like the Tundra. Wonder how close it is and whether loosening a couple body mounts could do it? I don't have the right tools to try that path.

One more pesky bolt and I'll find out soon.

 

[tbisaacs]

Working it from that side, but everything I've read suggests it's not possible to extract it from there like the Tundra. Wonder how close it is and whether loosening a couple body mounts could do it? I don't have the right tools to try that path.

One more pesky bolt and I'll find out soon.

Yea I think a body mount + jack would do it. Would probably work for starter replacement too

 

[TeCKis300]

Officially halfway. Got the new alternator from Lexus first thing in the morning. Was able to pull the old unit out through the bottom by removing the anti-sway, and several brackets allowing the various lines to flex out of the way. Didn't have to touch the radiator.