Fizzy T Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Hi guys, Driving a friend to the airport last weekend I thought my dials were glowing rather dimly, then I thought "hmm my headlights look really dim too". After around 20mins of driving like this and thinking I swear something isn't right I started to hear a whine from the engine bay *turbo side*...The inevitable happened, I lost all power and the engine struggled to even idle. I was convinced by this time it was my alternator that had failed, we had the heated seats, heater, lights etc all on so I think it was too much stress for the power system. We broke down in Reading and called RAC, the breakdown guy gave me a battery and followed me home but was surprised I made it home on the one battery. A quick multimeter check confirmed my alternator was only charging when revs were over 3k, I presume this is not normal? Toyota want £385 for a brand new alternator but I've seen SRD do uprated ones for around a hundred less, any suggestions or recommendations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripped_fear Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Mine died last year too. Cheapest one I could find was a freshly refurbished one from TCB on exchange basis. Can't recommend them enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Get yours rebuilt, for probably less than 100 quid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Hatter Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Don't worry about overpriced branded units, go here. http://www.universal-rotating.co.uk/Public/Default.aspx Remember to send them your old one to get £50 deposit back. I replaced my siezed one 7 months ago no problems at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzy T Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Bought a brand new oem one off here for £90 so I'm happy now. Fitting it at the weekend, cheers anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Hatter Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Bargain! Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham1984 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Mine died last year too. Cheapest one I could find was a freshly refurbished one from TCB on exchange basis. Can't recommend them enough. This. Fizzy T from memory it should be at 14 volts + on idle, anything under 13 something and the battery isn't charging at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzy T Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Yeah the other day I checked and on idle it was sitting at 12.13v, under around a 3k+ load it was around 14v. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham1984 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Now imagine how low it is with lights,indicators,cd players etc on. It's literally hanging on from the sound of it. Your battery will be knackered too if you don't change it soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The alternator died on my other motor a few months back, managed to get just the regulator from AllParts for £50, original Bosch part Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzy T Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 The car sits on the drive 99% of the time so I'm not worried about it really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham1984 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The car sits on the drive 99% of the time so I'm not worried about it really. Somehow I missed the part where you've already brought an alternator lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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