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I mentioned in another thread I got the battery, air filter, and brake warning the other day which means the battery was not charging. I did restart and the problem disappeared, however I just knew it would come back right in the middle of a family trip and cause a ton of stress. I assumed that the alternator was the original Toyota/Denso one and took a guess at worn brushes being the cause (car has 381,888km on it). These are the cheapest part it seems anyway.
However at some state it seems the previous owner had replaced it for an OEX part. I don't know how many kms this has on it but when I openend it up there was broken brush material strewn throughout the diode pack, regulator and concentrated around the slip rings. Was not just dust, which one would expect, but actual bits of broken brush end.
Have no idea at the age of this alternator - there is a '2619' on the sticker but (if ww/yy) would be after I took ownership of the car, so that can't be it (I have never replaced the alternator).
The OEX brushes still had plenty of life however I put my new Toyota ones in there and it's been fine since. What happened originally I don't know - maybe the excess brush material caused a bad connection or shorted the slip rings or something. Anyway took it for a 5km test ride and then 12km to work today and all good so far. I keep you posted if not!
However at some state it seems the previous owner had replaced it for an OEX part. I don't know how many kms this has on it but when I openend it up there was broken brush material strewn throughout the diode pack, regulator and concentrated around the slip rings. Was not just dust, which one would expect, but actual bits of broken brush end.
Have no idea at the age of this alternator - there is a '2619' on the sticker but (if ww/yy) would be after I took ownership of the car, so that can't be it (I have never replaced the alternator).
The OEX brushes still had plenty of life however I put my new Toyota ones in there and it's been fine since. What happened originally I don't know - maybe the excess brush material caused a bad connection or shorted the slip rings or something. Anyway took it for a 5km test ride and then 12km to work today and all good so far. I keep you posted if not!
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