Hey all. Today my alternator decided to quit after I got to work - batt light came on so I took a multimeter to it and would not charge above 12.09A. No big deal, the Toyota dealership down the road had a "new" Denso reman in stock. I was told it was brand new over the phone, not a reman, but I didn't really have a choice but to install it; I live 20 miles away and my work was broken into twice last week, so I'd really rather not leave my car there.

Well I put on the alternator, and the battery light went away... but after maybe 5 minutes of idling it began producing a very high pitched whine - I mean seriously on par with a dog whistle. I thought it was a vacuum leak coming from the air box, but it's clear as day 100% coming from the alternator. It's not deafening but can certainly be heard over the engine and radio. Reacts immediately to electrical load or engine speed, and only cuts out when dipping below 1000rpm.

Will this go away with time, or did I just waste $300? Is there a fix for it besides buying another alternator? It is ungodly annoying and quite embarrassing; I turned a lot of heads on my way home. I've never heard an alternator make such a noise and have no idea what's the cause or how to tackle it, and of course information is apparently scarce beyond 10 year old posts going "yep I had that problem once" with no resolution. I read somewhere that it's due to the alternator trying to send too much voltage or something, but I can't see how that is if it's an OEM reman? Unless Toyota doesnt know what the hell they're doing. Again, never before heard this so I'm at a total loss

Edit: now I see why everyone does a CS144, it's practically the only solid option under $200

Sounds like you have a defective remfg alt. No, they should not do this. It's possible it's a shaft bearing whine. Anyways, that should be warrantied, and the dealer should replace it for you.


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The belt is properly aligned and tight then it could be the alternator bearing.

Got it, guess I'll call them tomorrow and see what happens. I scuffed up one of the ears pretty bad trying to get it into that damned bracket so hopefully they take it back
Really not looking forward to doing it again - I'm not sure who in their damn mind thought putting the tensioner on the bottom/pivot bolt on top was a good idea. Thank god that wheel well has a straight shot at it

I had a diode fail in the rectifier and the more load I put on the Alt the louder the whine got.


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The reman is defective...they OWE you one that works, or a refund. Their price was a little high; you can order one online for right about $200 plus shipping.
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Whether the whine is from a high load (not likely) or bad bearing, it's something that the alternator normally does at the end of it's life, not when new.

Worst case, they give you hassle. Take the rig in and let the parts director hear it. It's defective and they should give you a replacement.

Can even take a phone video in...

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Nope, they told me they do not warranty electrical parts, including alternators and starters. Nor will they let me return it since it's been installed and the box has been opened. Even pointed it out on my receipt where it's printed several times they won't warranty any electrical components. Tried showing them a video of it and they stated there's no way for them to know for sure that was because of a faulty reman and not my doing.
What a joke of a company. Guess I'm going CS144 now.

try a diff dealer, the alt doesn't normal fall under the no warranty on electrical components, that usually sensors and non-moving electrical components (unless things have changed as company "tighten their belts" as the USA economy continues it's collapse). The quality of parts world wide have been on a decline for yrs, ie brake components wearing out faster, should have a 30day on the alt at min. Try call another dealer and talk as if ur looking to buy and c what they say about defective alts and starter under the 30day...

edit: If u paid with a card, perhaps stopping payment is in ordered...

Yup. Its not electronically burned up. It's bearing failure.. they have 1 year warranty on parts.

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Yeah it seemed strange as hell to me, everywhere I read online talks about how they WILL warranty them. Gonna try and reach their parts director later today and try to sort it out, I stopped in before work so I didn't really have time to sit there and argue
I can assure you it's not mechanical. Makes the same high pitched eeeee that CRTs would make back in the day when you'd turn them on after a while

Oh. You know that flyback leak. Diode or voltage regulator. I know exactly the sound your saying now. Yep. Regardless, it's defective out of the box.

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If a warranty falls through with the reman and you didn’t turn in the OE for a core, I’d look into swapping alt brushes from the reman to the OE alt and see if that will get you some extra life our of it.

I had success with an OE alt when I owned a ‘96 T4R that replacing brushes worked for years afterward, but also had the one off my ‘00 that new brushes alone didn’t work and most likely needs a full rebuild. I saved it for a future rebuild from a shop locally, and threw in a reman for the time being.

Talked to the parts director and he got me a new one right away, overnighted for tomorrow no less Was very apologetic and clarified reman alternators carry a 12 month warranty and it is indeed small sensors and the like where that rule comes into play, even went out to my car with me and immediately knew it was a bad voltage regulator

Edit: well oddly enough on my way to toyota the alt was still making noise, and made noise when I showed the parts people, but about 5 minutes after leaving it became extremely quiet all the way home? That's strange

Doesn't matter it's being replaced and the parts director handed it.

Alts and starters are the same remfg 1 year warranty.

Good deal. This one will be corrected and will have a happy ending.

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