I changed my car alternator today

toyotafan

FYI.

I got flickering battery light ghostly on my car again after having the alternator fixed by a mechanics exactly one year ago. I was charged 86 EUR last year and exact prob came back this year when the car was at cold start.

I decided to purchase a new Denso car alternator as I believe that the Denso company is an approved company by Toyota and many parts of Toyota are made by Denso. Price was 170 EUR for this new Denso alternator (DAN1077) from a supplier in the UK. Official warranty is 2 years and I believe this Denso alternator can run for another 120,000 miles on my car. After changing this new alternator, the battery light went away immediately.

I think this was a good deal when I decided not to repair the old alternator, which could charge me for an other 100 EUR and prob might come back next year. This weekend, I will disassemble this old one and learn how it is inside.

Hopefully this sharing could give others an idea when they have the same prob with their car alternator/battery light as my case.
T.a

Alanstrainor

Nice one. How long did the job take you?

toyotafan

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Nice one. How long did the job take you?

Alternator in my car is quite easy to take out and I spent about 10 minutes for everything. I saw the other car like Citroen C1 2007 or Corolla 2004 with a narrow room to work in but I believe it wont be too difficult.

ArnieSilvia

I thought that premature alternator failure would normally occur due to heavy load due to bad battery, bad earth or excessive current draw (with or without engine running)?

toyotafan

ArnieSilvia wrote: »

I thought that premature alternator failure would normally occur due to heavy load due to bad battery, bad earth or excessive current draw (with or without engine running)?

Exactly right. I am waiting for an ammeter purchased in ebay to see currents and will do battery drained test this weekend with a 1 Ohm 10 Watt resistor. My battery is just 1 year old. I will report back if found something.

honda boi

Had the same issue with my car not too long ago.
Battery light was constantly on but started fine all the time,swapped alternator and it turned off.
Feels great changing something and it actually works and fixes the problem doesn't it

jca

toyotafan wrote: »

FYI.

I got flickering battery light ghostly on my car again after having the alternator fixed by a mechanics exactly one year ago. I was charged 86 EUR last year and exact prob came back this year when the car was at cold start.

I decided to purchase a new Denso car alternator as I believe that the Denso company is an approved company by Toyota and many parts of Toyota are made by Denso. Price was 170 EUR for this new Denso alternator (DAN1077) from a supplier in the UK. Official warranty is 2 years and I believe this Denso alternator can run for another 120,000 miles on my car. After changing this new alternator, the battery light went away immediately.

I think this was a good deal when I decided not to repair the old alternator, which could charge me for an other 100 EUR and prob might come back next year. This weekend, I will disassemble this old one and learn how it is inside.

Hopefully this sharing could give others an idea when they have the same prob with their car alternator/battery light as my case.
T.a

Keep the old alternator it probably needs a set of brushes and a new slip ring. A lot of so called reconditioned alternators have new brushes running on worn slip rings and they last no length.

The Red Ace

had a similar issue with my vw t4 with 200k miles last summer, rang the local auto electrics who was only interested in selling me a new alternator for 180e plus fitting. took out the existing unit stripped it and fitted a new set of brushes and slipring which I got from gold lion auto elec in Mayo for c23 euro, perfect since refitting. ideally you need a solder sucker for removing the old solder from the brushes

CJhaughey

The Red Ace wrote: »

had a similar issue with my vw t4 with 200k miles last summer, rang the local auto electrics who was only interested in selling me a new alternator for 180e plus fitting. took out the existing unit stripped it and fitted a new set of brushes and slipring which I got from gold lion auto elec in Mayo for c23 euro, perfect since refitting. ideally you need a solder sucker for removing the old solder from the brushes

I have used them a few times, great service and very fast postage.

toyotafan

The Red Ace wrote: »

had a similar issue with my vw t4 with 200k miles last summer, rang the local auto electrics who was only interested in selling me a new alternator for 180e plus fitting. took out the existing unit stripped it and fitted a new set of brushes and slipring which I got from gold lion auto elec in Mayo for c23 euro, perfect since refitting. ideally you need a solder sucker for removing the old solder from the brushes

What is your OE alternator? My old one is BOSH and now I changed with a brand new DENSO.

jca

toyotafan wrote: »

What is your OE alternator? My old one is BOSH and now I changed with a brand new DENSO.

BOSCH.

whizbang

Toyotafan, did you try the resistor you said ?

I am waiting for an ammeter purchased in ebay to see currents and will do battery drained test this weekend with a 1 Ohm 10 Watt resistor.

First, Just turn on your dipped headlamps; thats close enough to 10Amps drain on the battery.

Second, 1Ohm at 12volts is 12Amps. 12Amps x 12volts = 144Watts. The 10w resistor will probably last 10seconds.

toyotafan

whizbang wrote: »

Toyotafan, did you try the resistor you said ?


First, Just turn on your dipped headlamps; thats close enough to 10Amps drain on the battery.

Second, 1Ohm at 12volts is 12Amps. 12Amps x 12volts = 144Watts. The 10w resistor will probably last 10seconds.

Thank you very much for your infor whizbang. I have not tried yet as the ammeter has not been arrived. I will try your way to check it.

toyotafan

I tested my battery drain using ammeter and resistor. I got just few milivolts and milliamps drained from the battery, and around 15A or abit more when headlight + radio on at idle. Therefore, excessive current draw might not be a cause of premature alternator failure for my case, and could be other reasons.

Note: This second hand car was purchased just last year so have no idea how it was used in the past by previous owners.