Alternator woes

[Harbilly]

Ya. Good points Tim. Love the alt wiring harness repair. Beauty!
I guess it goes without saying that my 'lights on' test is a waste of time if the alt harness or alt is not charging the bat.
I do usually put the bat on my home charger first THEN do an examination under load.
I don't have the specialized equipment but Toyota thoughtfully equipped the van with thirsty headlamps. A person can get a pretty good idea of battery health while parked in front of the house, splayed in a lawn chair, drinking a beer and watching all four bulbs glowing away for a while. Or 'going away' if the battery is junk.

[timsrv]

Yeah, that could work. Assuming that the combined load of all 4 headlights is about 20A (just a guess), a good grp 24 battery could power these for almost 4 hrs before going completely dead. If you do the math (again, assuming the load is 20A) 7 minutes with all 4 headlights would be about equivelent to 15 seconds of a 250A load. So if your battery voltage stays above 10 volts for the duration & returns to 12 1/2 volts within 15 seconds of turning the lights off, then I'd have to say the battery is still okay. Tim

[momentum]

Today I finally got my new replacement parts from Toyota. I installed a new alternator wiring harness and FL 1.25B fusible link. Glad I got that over with, but the van is still acting up. I took the battery to O'Reilly and the battery was tested with a hand held device and "passed", amps and volts seem fine. I was told the battery was fine, and if it was "bad" the tester would have recommended the battery be tested on another machine...

The van will not start under its own power! If I do buy a new battery and still the van won't start, what next? I will try the headlight test as well...

Starter?

[timsrv]

Are you saying it won't crank over? If the battery is charged but the starter does nothing that indicates a starter or starter circuit issue. Here's a thread where that is covered. Tim

https://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/...witch-question.

[momentum]

Just wanted to let everyone know the van is back on the road and running like a champ. I replaced the battery, wiring harness and fuseable link. Thanks for the detailed help, I could not have done it with out ya! cheers

[timsrv]

That's awesome! What did you find out regarding the starter circuit?

[vanwagone]

Ok folks, I've got an alternator pickle. Mine went, as was expected, due to power steering fluid running amok. I pulled it out and not only were the brushes shot but the fella at the alternator shop said the post running up the the core had only moments of life left in it. No one in this next of the woods had anything to rebuild it themselves and so, for what it would cost me anyway, I ordered a remanufactured job, which I just got in today (Denso reman, looked fine to me).

But it doesn't fit. The holder for the bottom bolt is somehow too narrow. And now I've got my grease and frustration all over the reman. Am I missing something or did they get me the wrong alternator? The number on the alternator is A8193, which in a google search seemed to align with my van, a 1986 cargo. I double checked my van serial number just to be sure that mine was sold as an 86 (yes, I have a "G" in my code).

Any help or experience on this one would be wonderful. Tim? Llamavan? I'm tempted to set the darn thing alight... As much as I love it.