Do I have a bad alternator?

Turn a bunch of electrical stuff on like high beams and fan blower and check again running

And unplug that field connector like mentioned above, see if the noise goes away

 

That what I went with when I had to replace the one on my mothers Honda Pilot.
Reman Denso. So far, so good.

 

Got right around 100k on my original alternator,

Currently at 45k on the reman denso zero issues.

Edit - I attribute the failure of the first one from lots of back to back WOT high rpm pulls during the hayday of HPTuners and figuring out tunes and gathering logs. The alternator diode board sits right by the exhaust manifold and the phase that failed on mine was the one closest to the manifold. The bearings were tight n smooth, brushes had plenty of life left on the first alternator.

 

I know I probably sound like a little bitch, but I can't seem to wrestle that green field cable connector free.

 

I honestly thought that replacing alternators at any mileage was a thing of the past, even on the American vehicles.

 

It just really depends on use. A highway driven truck that doesn't see much load (heat n rpms) will go lots longer than a truck loaded down running higher rpms producing more exhaust heat.

 

Nope. They are like anything else.
They break eventually.

The more you use it, the faster it wears out.

Cleaning the engine bay or getting water in it doesn’t help either.
Along with mud and dirt…….

 

Denso is pretty much the only reman I'd trust. We use them a lot at work and they've been pretty good

 

Are you pressing the release button on the connector?

It's still an electromechanical device so they still fail although some last longer than others.
Keeping a good battery installed definitely helps alternators and starter last longer though.

 

The one that's on the firewall side of the connector, yes.

 

I hate those little release tabs. Sometimes you have to push the connector in, push the tab, you might hear a click, then pull the connector off.

Another thing that helps is to blow clean with an air blow gun while wiggling pushing pulling the connector. Dirt gets in there and acts like cement holding it together and getting in the way of the tab moving.

 

Just had to replace mine on a 2017 Camry at 68000 miles. You just never know. I baby it too

 

If you’re replacing it yourself, the alternator, while the belt is off, give all of your pulleys a few rotations in the opposite direction, it makes them happy.

 

Practice it before turning it on and don’t have any loose clothing or hoody strings or necklaces dangling.

 

Why does it make them happy?

 

It will just knock any crud loose, if there is any, by spinning the bearings in a different direction.

 

You get the connector off yet?

 

I learned this re new/rebuild earlier this year with my 2010. I did the factory reman earlier this year and zero issues since. Mine croaked around 130K miles but I do have an upgraded stereo.

No way to predict how long you will get from it TBH. See what these tests yield first..mine cost about $300 something so you don't necessarily want to just hang a new one.

 

Thanks to the help I received in this thread, I have now *definitively* diagnosed a failing alternator. Check it out:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/62dy...ator.MOV?rlkey=8cd55m8tsifds7pg5oo0dwryx&dl=0

 

Yup that's singing all right.

Bite the bullet and get a factory rebuilt from the local dealer as well as get you a new serp belt (unless you know yours is very recent), couple hours work and you'll be golden.