Alternator Replacement

Replacing your alternator to get rid of electrical gremlins:

I was getting the “three-lights of death” intermittently, this is when three warning lights on your dash light up together (I believe it’s the battery charge, cooling fan, and check engine?) . After searching on the forums for some time I decided to change the alternator. So in the outdoor parking lot, I hammered out the old alternator and jimmied in a new reman one I picked up locally. After all this I’ve realized that installing an alternator is MUCH easier with the engine out, so do it while the engines out if you can. This solved my problem. You need a long pry-bar and a hammer for this job.

 

The issue is that water is able to drip on to the alternator windings through the right side vent of the engine cover. The Toyota engineers tried to solve this problem by placing a water diverter on the coolant overflow bottle (which is right below the opening), but this does not always work.

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