2002 Original Alternator

[Rock_Rat]

I bought my 4Runner brand new in August of 2002, Sport Edition. It now has 285,000 miles and still looks great. I do all of my own maintenance and I keep thinking about my alternator. It’s original and shows no signs of weakness. Do I wait for it to fail or do I make a preemptive strike and replace it?

This thread took on a life of it's own! Just to let you know my alternator failed at 333K. That says a lot about OEM. Anyway, check out my post in my build when you do remove the alternator for either brushes or a new Denso. HEre's the link Rock Rat's Alternator Replacement.

A couple of key points for you:

• Don't try and disconnect the connector until the alternator is out and on its side
• There's a bushing that needs to be reset "flush". Use the socket method I used.

No kidding I say this because I saw someone on here grind his alternator to try and get it to fit. I'm not sure what the outcome was, but it was a matter of just setting the bushing flush.

Have fun!!

 

[nglayton]

I'm jealous that you guys are getting 250k, 300k and 333k out of you original alternators. I would have been happy with 200k+.

My 3rd gen at 188k is on it's 3rd one. As a matter of fact it seems to fail so often that I now have a spare on the shelf for when it fails next.

And because of that experience I replaced my 5th gen's alternator at about 87k as a preventive measure. That's what lead me to this thread as I want to rebuild the old 5th gen alternator so it's ready to go when the currently installed on fails.

 

[TMP]

Something has to be wrong in the electrical system for the alternator to fail so often. Frayed wire, bad connection??

 

[PowrPly]

This thread took on a life of it's own! Just to let you know my alternator failed at 333K. That says a lot about OEM. Anyway, check out my post in my build when you do remove the alternator for either brushes or a new Denso. HEre's the link Rock Rat's Alternator Replacement.

A couple of key points for you:

• Don't try and disconnect the connector until the alternator is out and on its side
• There's a bushing that needs to be reset "flush". Use the socket method I used.

No kidding I say this because I saw someone on here grind his alternator to try and get it to fit. I'm not sure what the outcome was, but it was a matter of just setting the bushing flush.

Have fun!!

Thank you very much for the info and advice. It’s much appreciated!

 

[nissanh]

You replaced it with aftermarket?

I'm jealous that you guys are getting 250k, 300k and 333k out of you original alternators. I would have been happy with 200k+.

My 3rd gen at 188k is on it's 3rd one. As a matter of fact it seems to fail so often that I now have a spare on the shelf for when it fails next.

And because of that experience I replaced my 5th gen's alternator at about 87k as a preventive measure. That's what lead me to this thread as I want to rebuild the old 5th gen alternator so it's ready to go when the currently installed on fails.

I think you went with an aftermarket alternator with a lifetime warranty... This is a BIG no. Stay with the OEM and just replace the brush kit. If you have a lot of electrical accessories, then you may fry the diodes other than that, it will run forever!