Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

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MR2DI4
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by MR2DI4 »

Okay the saga continues and I have finally had a response from the USA from what looks like a decent company.

They assure me its a direct fit but hey its not the end of the world if I end up having to use it as a mooring anchor.

Brand new made in the USA. I don't really like american cars so this is about as close as I'm going to get driving one with this fitted, Ooopps tell a lie its already got a Valentine One radar detector. The reliability of stuff made in the USA has been mixed.

Its 200Amp and from what I can work out its mainly about the regulator but lets wait and see. Not worried that the car only has a 120amp fuse, the fuse is there to protect the wiring in the car not the Alternator. If the fuse blows the Alternator was already stuffed.

Will post full details of the company if its a success.


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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by MR2DI4 »

The pitch of the holes on the OEM alternator appears to be 165mm and the front faces at the pulley end are on the same plane.

Hopefully the new one will be a direct fit. I also noticed the pulley sizes can change, the higher current version may in fact have a smaller diameter pulley so the alternator spins faster.

Its going to take a couple of weeks to arrive once it hits the NZ Post YouShop in the USA but its on tract to arrive there by tomorrow.

Will even look at the belt length this time, its an advantage to get the alternator as far away from the engine as possible.
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by benckj »

Mine had same pulley diameter but on the NA it came with a 5 PK rather than 4 so I swapped around. The alternator current is governed by the bridge rectifier and excitation control rather than RPM. The OEM's can be increased in capacity by simply upgrading to a 7 diode rectifier.

Be interested in seeing how you get on with the installation.
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reversao

Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by reversao »

Sorry for hijacking the thread but have a question of similar nature.

My alternator died on me as well and was thinking if the turbo alternator is the same dimension and will fit to N/A car. Or the only difference is 80A and 90A?

Cheers
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by MR2DI4 »

reversao wrote: 13/04/19 9:42 Sorry for hijacking the thread but have a question of similar nature.

My alternator died on me as well and was thinking if the turbo alternator is the same dimension and will fit to N/A car. Or the only difference is 80A and 90A?

Cheers
Ring Toyota and get the original OEM part number to start with and use this as a guide once you find a picture of what you do have. Unless you want to be mucking about with electrical adapters, at least get one that is the same. Some have a round plug some have an oval plug and the main battery connection can be in two different places, side or end mount.

Whether it fits "Mechanically" is really a crapshoot, I have been told its a direct fit but lets find out when it arrives. Unless your getting a refurbished Denso OEM one which are still readily available you need to be prepared to make some changes to it.
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by MR2DI4 »

Alternator has made it to the YouShop in Portland, Oregon in the USA. Cost to get it to NZ is now NZD$75. Total cost is NZD$360 so pretty much the same as I have been quoted for a refurbished one here with the wrong plug on it.

Really hope its going to do the job. Will probably be able to sort out whats wrong with the one currently in the car as long as none of the winding are fried so will fix it up but its simply too much work to put an old one back in. Many cars are just a 30 minute or less job to replace the alternator, not the MR2.

Its likely I will fix the old one and take both to be tested at the same time before I even put one in the car.
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by SonicSW20 »

I'm surprised its so hard to find the right one natively in NZ.
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by MR2DI4 »

SonicSW20 wrote: 16/04/19 9:08 I'm surprised its so hard to find the right one natively in NZ.
Depends on what you want. Yes you can get a refurbished OEM one out here for NZD$180 but its a compilation of old parts and the likes of new brushes. I rebuilt my own with new bearings and new brushes but it has not lasted. It actually went in quite a few years ago but when I checked the actual millage it was pitiful, it lasted a few thousand miles. its been making a "Whine" sound for quite a while, suddenly got worse in a single day then it quit on me.

There is one new on Trade Me but again its actually shipping out of the USA and the problem is when the combined cost of goods+shipping exceeds NZD$400 you instantly get whacked with GST and customs and the bill goes up another NZD$115 minimum.

So really not a lot of options out here. I suspect there are actually very few of these left on our roads now. In the UK and even in the USA it appears there are alot more of them about still of E-Bay wouldn't be full of options.

The 90-100A OEM one is really not up to the job in my car. There are now two fans in the engine bay and the fuel pump has been boosted and there is an auxiliary water pump cooling the alloy box I made post turbo as part of the intercooler setup. I checked the current draw with everything off at idle and its 25A with the battery charged.
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by MR2DI4 »

Well the new alternator arrived.

Pretty disappointing as although its a direct fit its a collection of new Chinese parts and refurbished used parts.

I just had to remove the rear cover to do an inspection. Its a genuine diode pack that has been resprayed grey and they resprayed pain over all the terminals that need to be clean to make a good high current electrical connection. The brushes were not even new and were so ugly I replaced them with a used set that had more brush life left in them. Both the seals either side of the brushes were missing so I put them in from my old alternator along with many of the screws that were odd.The regulator is new but made in China.

All in all not happy with it at all.Will get it tested before putting it in the car. Will pull out the old one first and see where I went wrong on the rebuild. It had been rebuilt with two new bearings and new brushes so I don't understand why it failed so early. I have rebuilt numerous alternators and usually its just a new set of brushes and away it goes again no issues. I went OTT on the rebuild because its such a dog of a job to get it in and out of the car and the intention was it would last another 20 years.

The company was Eagle Autoelectric and I wouldn't recommend them

https://www.ebay.com/str/eagleautoelectric

or use "TOYOTA MR2 200 AMP High Output ALTERNATOR 1991 1992 2.0 2.2L with power steering" for searching in E-Bay.

It gets 1 out of 5 stars. Not recommended.

I even replaced the rear cover with the old genuine ND one as someone had taken a hand file to the copy as it wasn't right round the hole that goes over the round connector, it was missing a "Notch", If you cannot even get this right what hope is there ?
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by MR2DI4 »

So my old alternator is out of the car, much easier this time.

Opened it up and the brushes have zero wear but the diode rectifier pack is fried.Three of the Six diodes are open circuit, the silicon is like dust under the rubber silicone protecting it.I would love to rebuild it but the way its all sandwiched together makes that very difficult.

So I'm almost back where I started. I would rather put a new diode rectifier in the OEM one and use that.

Glad its not a daily driver and my only car, it can sit up on the ramp until both alternators are fixed and tested.
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by benckj »

Interesting find and very disappointing to say the least. I didn’t inspect the internals on my new unit purchased from the US but externally it was all new. Wish I did look though as it was an absolute mission to replace. Thanks for the update.
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by jimi »

I bought a brand new alternator for my MK1 from here https://www.autodoc.co.uk/ used their online chat to make sure I got the correct one, never had any problems since I fitted it a couple of years ago. Searching their site for 27060-74180 finds these https://www.autodoc.co.uk/spares-search ... 7060-74180 and searching by make/model (SW20 Turbo) finds these https://www.autodoc.co.uk/car-parts/alt ... -2-0-turbo
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by MR2DI4 »

Thanks for the replies guys.

Yes they look great from the outside, it just takes the removal of 3 nuts to take off the back cover to see what you have on the inside.

Yes it will work, I can see the minimal wear on the brush ends so it has been tested. So whats the problem you ask ? well basically its "censored" and not what I went to all the effort to bring in an alternator half way round the world for.

I'm following some other leads from people in the industry over here so will be able to post some useful information for those wanting to rebuild and fully refurbish their OEM DENSO version.

Last time I checked you could still buy the brushes brand new from Toyota, along with the KOYO main bearing because its a pain width and not standard, its 1mm narrower, use the standard bearing and everything jams up solid when you put both halves together. I'm onto a source for the Diode Rectifier locally and the Regulators are obtainable as well.

Really don't want to put the "New" alternator in at this stage. Unfortunately my DENSO one is better if I can get a brand new Diode Reg for it.

I will start a whole new post at the conclusion of this with part numbers, cross reference numbers and everything you need to repair and refurbish your own like resistance values etc.

It really should be this hard, its just a bloody alternator. I component level repair and design electronics and build computers with less effort.

Yes its been a total mission, but without a working, reliable alternator the whole car is stuffed.
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Re: Dead Alternator again - anyone suggest a good replacement ?

Post by MR2DI4 »

Here is a pic of the brushes. The OEM new brushes and the "New" brushes supplied. Basically that alternator is going to go for about 80-100,000km tops with those fitted.

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