Hello gang. I have myself a 2000 Es300.
I just got the battery warning light in my drive home after getting gas. I thought it maybe a intermittent issue so I pulled over to restart my car. Started back up but the light was still on so I drive an hour w/o ac or radio to get home. I asked my dad to bring the battery (charging/starter/charge) tester and when it was texting the charging system, no charging was detected. The battery isn't being charged. I checked the wiring to the battery, no wiggling, cables to the alternator are connected. This is the 3/4th time I've had to change this alternator in the span of 2/3 years. I notice in the drive home that the rpm want dropping when the fans would come on so I knew I was in deep.

All alternators have been from NAPA. What the hell.
What could it be that's killing them this quickly. 1st, went bad from not charging, 2nd made a bad bearing noise, 3rd pulley shredded the belt, and now this. I recently this year changed my battery and alternator during the cold early spring

No other CEL, I have brake (master cylinder leaky, have replacement in the way) and headlamp warning light (can't figure out which bulb)

 

There is your problem. Why be surprised they are made to the lowest quality standard they can get away with.

 

I didn't really think they would be the cause, 2/4 of them were new and not remans.
I'll have to check my receipts. We always used NAPA for alternators for our own personal and customer cars, but I'm surprised now.
They used to be good....

 

I've had so many failures with NAPA and other house brand alternators, and have read many accounts of same. Sure you get a forever warranty but unless you want to get really good and swapping buy a Denso. New=most troublesome in my experience with a reman at least there is a chance they are using some OE components.

 

Yeah...NAPA alternators are the culprit. I've gone through 4, yes four, on my Sentra over the span of several years. They were the premium new, not rebuilt, with lifetime warranty. The shortest span was 6,000 miles with the longest one lasting 30,000.

I went on eBay and bought a NOS rebuilt (by Delco), with the core being a genuine Nissan one. Problem solved.

 

I would recommend a Denso reman. Got one installed about 10 years ago, still going strong.

 

That's the thing though since (I will need to check my receipts) but I was pretty sure I had ordered new and reman alternators. I will be getting it replaced once again as they were closed last few days.

 

Same problem again with a replacement alternator. It's only been a week. Battery light is back on. If I need to end up buying a another alternator I am open to that, but I don't want any of my current problems to blow that one up as well. I'll get the Denso reman from Rockauto, no place close has anything in stock from the pandemic shortage
I saw this diagram, and wanted to know where to begin:
-I saw the 100A alternator fuse wasn't broken
-I'll need to check if my alternator connector splicing (about 1-2 years ago, used crimp connectors) went bad. If so I remember seeing a post on here where someone found a connector on ebay for like a heavy machinery.

Diagram:

 

Sounds like the alternator may not be the source of your failure. Have you checked the battery and wiring?

 

Hello,

Did you check the voltage on the battery when the light appears?

Here is a post that you were probably referring to; in there, I used an alternator connector made by Kubota, the company that is specialized in farming equipment, that said, a connector from a junkyard should still be fine. Here is a post that describes in details how the charging system works on those cars, and what are the reasons for a battery light to come on. If one of the three wires were to come loose, then you will either end up with no voltage on the brushes, hence no charge, or the signal that tells the alternator what is the battery voltage, which may very well fry your electrical system. Third wire is what actually triggers your light on the cluster, so it should be fine, unless it got shorted to 12V supply. As you can tell, none of those are close to being desirable, so I would strongly suggest to check the crimps.

Other thing that can result in no charge is a loose or damaged B+ wire, the one that actually supplies the current to charge your battery; here is a post where a person got a loose connection in the fuse box, which resulted in no charge, and a potential fire hazard. If there is a charge, but the battery light is still on, then I can only blame an alternator, since it is the only device in that car that can trigger that light, and it should only do so if there is no charge leaving the alternator.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

I will have to pick up this wire and some crimping tool. Did you go that route? I see on your post you spliced/soldered another connector on. Also if I'm not mistaken aren't there 4 wires that come off the alternator?

I'll have to check the crimps again. Good thing is that I cut the previous connector off from the base right before the connector and a lengthy bit of wiring from my previous junkyard connector so I have more than enough if I need to re-crimp.
One thing about this was that the prongs on the B+ cable were longer than the stud on the alternator that it attaches to. I wasn't able to add an extra nut below it so my dad just tightened it down and said the "nut would be enough contact"? I have yet to get a replacement alternator that the B+ cable fit on nicely apart from the original. Are the prongs supposed to touch the base or is the nut enough?

I haven't been able to diagnose anymore on the car, earliest I can get to it would be this weekend.

 

I actually did solder those wires together, since at the time I thought it was a better option compared to crimps. With that, I believe you were the one to call me into the doubt in one of the posts, so after a few days in Google, and a few more weeks of looking at the mess I made there, I finally went and redid all of it using heat shrink butt-connectors, making much more of a tidier job this time. So far so good, will see how it would hold up overtime..

For a good crimp connection, I would actually highly recommend getting a ratcheting crimper (here is one of the cheaper options); while those are a bit more expensive, they do provide a much better result, and you won't have to worry about the wire slipping out. The other tip when using those connectors is to not cut all the wires to the same length, a much better way is to stack them up by a length of a connector, so that each one will go behind the other one. The point is that the crimps have a pretty beefy diameter to them, and if you were to lay them on top of each other, you will have a much harder time concealing them compared to stacked connectors.

A picture would actually be nice, just to make sure I understand the point correctly. In the OEM alternator, one nut on a B+ terminal holds the plastic bushing and the rectifier tightly to the body, while the other nut is supposed to hold the terminal. The prongs are on the terminal to prevent it from slipping when you go to tighten it, there supposed to be cutouts in a plastic bushing to accommodate those. If you have an alternator where you cannot secure a terminal properly, then it is definitely not something worth considering.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

It is indeed 3 wires.


So I'm here you can see that the prongs don't touch the washer nut at the bottom, I did have to grind away a little bit of the black housing to make the back side of that cable to slot in.

I checked voltage/continuity in the wires.
There is no voltage coming out when I check the B+ terminal to the body of the alternator. I only see battery voltage.
There is continuity between the B+ and the Positive terminal on the battery.
There is continuity between the body of the alternator and the Negative terminal on the battery.

I suppose the 3-pin wiring to the alternator is where to look next?
How would I test that? I could check continuity between the pin against what?

The signal wire pin gives 12v against the negative battery terminal.
the ignition wire pin gives 12v with ignition on and 0v with it off

I'm getting 0 resistance between the B+terminal on the alternator to the positive terminal on the battery.

Actually going off the diagram in post#8 the wires are in different order than L,IG,S

 

Well, thaat somehow doesn't look all that right.. From the last photo, it looks like your black housing is not seated all the way, seems like when the bottom nut was unscrewed, the housing got flipped around, so that the cutout for the wire is facing an opposite direction, and the slotting on both alternator and the housing do not match, though it may have been like that right from the factory. While the connection you got should work, I would still consider returning this alternator (if that is still an option) and getting a Denso replacement, if nothing else, it will at least give you some peace of mind..

While at it, you can also upgrade to a 100A alternator off of Highlander/RX300, since it bolts right up to the old internals and gives a much better performance; the fun part is that JDM Toyota Windom comes from the factory with that 100A unit. Stock 80A ones are really underpowered, to the point of the idle starting to fluctuate when you put the hazards on.. Denso 210-0439 should work for your car, and it does cost about the same, if not cheaper than a NAPA unit.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

That cutout was actually on both sides, I had to remove the black piece to grind away a little of the plastic. And it only fit one way as it has a D shaped hole in the alternator.




The third picture you can probably see that hairline gap between the bottom of the wire and the top of that nut.
But it sounds like your saying the alternator is no good. I'll order the 100A one your saying to get.