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Drove my car about 40 miles round trip today for my first time since changing out the water pump and the rack and pinion. had the wheel alignment done at the shop while i went to work and then drove it home. felt great. thought i was good to go then as i was pulling into my neighborhood i saw the battery indicator light show up on the dash. it would flash on and off. by the time i pulled in my driveway i had the windows down and i could hear some unpleasant grinding noise coming from the pulley area. did my alternator magically just decide to die on me when i replaced everything else in this area and the pulley just magically fail?? ( I replaced: water pump (aisin), both idler pulleys with OEM Toyota, updated design), tensioner pulley (febest), I tested the battery with the car off and it's at 11.4V.
When i started the car up in both in the morning and at the shop i didnt notice this noise at all and was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was.
Drove my car about 40 miles round trip today for my first time since changing out the water pump and the rack and pinion. had the wheel alignment done at the shop while i went to work and then drove it home. felt great. thought i was good to go then as i was pulling into my neighborhood i saw the battery indicator light show up on the dash. it would flash on and off. by the time i pulled in my driveway i had the windows down and i could hear some unpleasant grinding noise coming from the pulley area. did my alternator magically just decide to die on me when i replaced everything else in this area and the pulley just magically fail?? I tested the battery with the car off and it's at 11.4V.
When i started the car up in both in the morning and at the shop i didnt notice this noise at all and was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was.
Battery off the car should read 12.4V so likely shot. You didn't say how old the battery is, if its ever been run low on voltage, do you consistently run a maintainer on it, have you ever had any previous issues with the alternator or swapped it out, how many miles on your car, what year, have you made sure the batttery connectors were fastened tightly and not showing any corrosion...
Battery off the car should read 12.4V so likely shot. You didn't say how old the battery is, if its ever been run low on voltage, do you consistently run a maintainer on it, have you ever had any previous issues with the alternator or swapped it out, how many miles on your car, what year, have you made sure the batttery connectors were fastened tightly and not showing any corrosion...
battery is an agm napa legend from 21. Maintainer was on it the last month I had the car apart. So it was unable to keep the car charged for about 1 hours worth of driving today.
I just took the belt off and rotated the new bearings i installed, no play. I tried moving the alternator pulley and didn't feel any play either but clearly something is making a loud *** noise. There is some play in the ac compressor pulley but that was working fine the entire time. shall i load up the parts cannon and replace the alternator or is there another test i can do to narrow it down?? it's extremely hard to differentiate what is making the noise down here.
battery is an agm napa legend from 21. Maintainer was on it the last month I had the car apart. So it was unable to keep the car charged for about 1 hours worth of driving today.
I just took the belt off and rotated the new bearings i installed, no play. I tried moving the alternator pulley and didn't feel any play either but clearly something is making a loud *** noise. There is some play in the ac compressor pulley but that was working fine the entire time. shall i load up the parts cannon and replace the alternator or is there another test i can do to narrow it down?? it's extremely hard to differentiate what is making the noise down here.
Most decent auto parts stores I've been to can load-test your battery (sounds no bueno) but can also put your alternator on their test rig and tell you if it is good that's what I'd do. Todays baterries sadly often only last 4 years so not unheard of for yours at that age to die especially if it has been drianed of voltage prior
The noise - if the abttery is toast the alternator will be working very hard perhaps the alternator belt was slipping as a result? Could the alternator be frozon up not rotating at all or does it seem to turn ok by hand?
Most decent auto parts stores I've been to can load-test your battery (sounds no bueno) but can also put your alternator on their test rig and tell you if it is good that's what I'd do. Todays baterries sadly often only last 4 years so not unheard of for yours at that age to die especially if it has been drianed of voltage prior
The noise - if the abttery is toast the alternator will be working very hard perhaps the alternator belt was slipping as a result? Could the alternator be frozon up not rotating at all or does it seem to turn ok by hand?
I can rotate the alternator but it's much harder than say the AC or PS pump. I think the give away was the voltage at idle when parked in my driveway. not charging up at all. I'm already 1/3 of the way into removing it i might as well go all the way and replace the damn thing parts cannon style... otherwise i'll have to deal with putting the wheels and belt back on and covers only to take em off again.
Now that i think about how this could have failed, some coolant did spill on it when i was doing my flush and troubleshooting my leak but nothing too substantial (I ithought) and i blew it out with an air compressor and left it sit for a week before even starting the vehicle. i guess that's all it takes. alternator on my TSX died after PS fluid leaked into it.
$337 reman Lexus vs $177 for reman Denso on rockauto... easy choice here.
I can rotate the alternator but it's much harder than say the AC or PS pump. I think the give away was the voltage at idle when parked in my driveway. not charging up at all. I'm already 1/3 of the way into removing it i might as well go all the way and replace the damn thing parts cannon style... otherwise i'll have to deal with putting the wheels and belt back on and covers only to take em off again.
Now that i think about how this could have failed, some coolant did spill on it when i was doing my flush and troubleshooting my leak but nothing too substantial (I ithought) and i blew it out with an air compressor and left it sit for a week before even starting the vehicle. i guess that's all it takes. alternator on my TSX died after PS fluid leaked into it.
$337 reman Lexus vs $177 for reman Denso on rockauto... easy choice here.
Makes sense, replace that bettery as well with such low voltage it definitely sounds shot.
Makes sense, replace that bettery as well with such low voltage it definitely sounds shot.
We'll see. it was low voltage because i drove it without the alternator keeping it charged up. Once i get the new alt installed i'll take it to a place to get it load tested.
I ended up replacing both the alternator & battery......Turned out to be the internal voltage regulater.....Pulled one of the shelf & bench tested it 3 times, & replaced the battery w/ a 3 yr warranty one. Still going strong.......
haha the fun begins again. Started removing the radiator fans and of course the two bottom bolts were corroded to all hell and took me an hour to get them off with my snazzy induction tool and stripped bolt removal socket. while underneath the car i noticed my transmission cooler metal pipe was corroded as all hell and the bolts that attach them to the subframe snapped while i tried to remove them to get to my cooling fan bolts. So here more scope creep... i got all new bolts and the metal transmission cooler lines on the way. the rubber hose parts are more expensive then the metal lines. yikes i'll leave them be for now. I now have to drill out the parts of the cooler line bolts stuck to the subframe too. good times. I'll also add that pretty much all of the bolts that bolt the plastic belly pans and pieces to the frame are all disgustingly corroded. No idea how they got so bad but i never really paid attention to any of them. well i guess i have an idea as this was our main driver during crappy winter weather. Same with the bolts that hold the oil and trans pans on. god forbid if i ever need to remove them!
Might want to consider replacing the radiator cooling fan + shroud if you are still using the OEM original. My RX330 original cooling fan would hesitate to start, which becomes an issue with the A/C compressor not working at idle. Over time the carbon from the fan motor brushes build up and can cause the fan to "stick". The replacement TVC fan assy works great. More $$ I know, but since you are already there, you might consider replacing at your mileage.
haha the fun begins again. Started removing the radiator fans and of course the two bottom bolts were corroded to all hell and took me an hour to get them off with my snazzy induction tool and stripped bolt removal socket. while underneath the car i noticed my transmission cooler metal pipe was corroded as all hell and the bolts that attach them to the subframe snapped while i tried to remove them to get to my cooling fan bolts. So here more scope creep... i got all new bolts and the metal transmission cooler lines on the way. the rubber hose parts are more expensive then the metal lines. yikes i'll leave them be for now. I now have to drill out the parts of the cooler line bolts stuck to the subframe too. good times. I'll also add that pretty much all of the bolts that bolt the plastic belly pans and pieces to the frame are all disgustingly corroded. No idea how they got so bad but i never really paid attention to any of them. well i guess i have an idea as this was our main driver during crappy winter weather. Same with the bolts that hold the oil and trans pans on. god forbid if i ever need to remove them!
So thankful they don't salt the roads here! A simple DIY sounds like a PITA
haha the fun begins again. Started removing the radiator fans and of course the two bottom bolts were corroded to all hell and took me an hour to get them off with my snazzy induction tool and stripped bolt removal socket. while underneath the car i noticed my transmission cooler metal pipe was corroded as all hell and the bolts that attach them to the subframe snapped while i tried to remove them to get to my cooling fan bolts. So here more scope creep... i got all new bolts and the metal transmission cooler lines on the way. the rubber hose parts are more expensive then the metal lines. yikes i'll leave them be for now. I now have to drill out the parts of the cooler line bolts stuck to the subframe too. good times. I'll also add that pretty much all of the bolts that bolt the plastic belly pans and pieces to the frame are all disgustingly corroded. No idea how they got so bad but i never really paid attention to any of them. well i guess i have an idea as this was our main driver during crappy winter weather. Same with the bolts that hold the oil and trans pans on. god forbid if i ever need to remove them!
My transmission cooler pipes look the same. When I get around to replacing, I'm considering spraying them with undercoating or bed liner spray before installing to eliminate that issue on the new lines. That's an after I get the car steering properly project though.
Well 150k miles and 15 years of trouble free maintenance and 3 major jobs done in the last month.
This was a royal pain in the @$$ to get out. Not sure which of the "big three " I did was the worst one. But I'm thinking water pump, alternator and then rack in that order. And then spark plugs somewhere in the middle. They are all pretty close with huge f up collateral damage potentials!!
for the alternator you really need to be patient with all of the small bolts that holds the fan and other plastic parts in place. Break any of those and you are in a world of hurt since you are at weird angles. And the actual bolts of the alternator are a cruel joke especially the harness behind the oil dip stick. For that one you need to remove the nut that attaches the harness to the engine block and then once loose you need to remove the metal harness from the alternator. And then When pulling out the alternator make sure you don't smash your radiator or rip any hoses and inflict another $600 worth of damage either. You have no room for error its so narrow!. I tied a string to mine once mine was loose to steady the unit.
once my alt was out I could hear intermittent grinding when spinning the pulley, i think it was done. Hopefully my new one comes in tomorrow. I think getting back in will be much harder than getting it out
Well 150k miles and 15 years of trouble free maintenance and 3 major jobs done in the last month.
This was a royal pain in the @$$ to get out. Not sure which of the "big three " I did was the worst one. But I'm thinking water pump, alternator and then rack in that order. And then spark plugs somewhere in the middle. They are all pretty close with huge f up collateral damage potentials!!
for the alternator you really need to be patient with all of the small bolts that holds the fan and other plastic parts in place. Break any of those and you are in a world of hurt since you are at weird angles. And the actual bolts of the alternator are a cruel joke especially the harness behind the oil dip stick. For that one you need to remove the nut that attaches the harness to the engine block and then once loose you need to remove the metal harness from the alternator. And then When pulling out the alternator make sure you don't smash your radiator or rip any hoses and inflict another $600 worth of damage either. You have no room for error its so narrow!. I tied a string to mine once mine was loose to steady the unit.
once my alt was out I could hear intermittent grinding when spinning the pulley, i think it was done. Hopefully my new one comes in tomorrow. I think getting back in will be much harder than getting it out
Excellent work! Just sit back and think about the >$1000 you just saved yourself in labor alone plus the hundreds saved in buying the parts at a discount. When I do my own work I know everything is done properly not just quickly. The hard part is over.
06-10-24, 02:55 PM
Alternator issue?
