Alternator choice for 2.7L

I have a 2.7L 4 cylinder with ~130k and want to put a "new" alternator in as a preventative measure as I take a 4000+ mile summer road trip each year. Both my (now ex) GF and her parents had alternator failures at about this mileage in separate Camrys so it's time for me to do something.

Is the rebuilt Denso unit still the best option? It's $135 plus core, $214 total, at Rock Auto.

 

I have an original alternator in my truck with 106k miles with a lil bearing noise. The noise went away. If i plan on doing any trips outside of an hour or two from home, ill buy a cheapie and keep it in a box for the trip and return it if it doesnt get used.

 

This maybe an option.
I see you live in TN. As do I.
We are fortunate enough to not have to deal with rust and harsh weather.
I’d honestly not worry about it. 130k isn’t really that bad, unless you’ve been in mud and water.
I’d have the battery checked and the serpentine belt checked.
They are likely to go first.

Weak batteries are hard on alternators.

 

Yeah def buy an OEM serp belt, replace your current, and keep your current wrapped up in the truck under a seat for a just in case.

 

I have never heard of replacing an alternator as preventive maintenance. Seems a bit alarmist to me. If I were going to do it I would not do a "rebuilt" unit from anywhere. Rebuilt alternators and starter have a Very High failure rate. We are talking about over 60% Failure rate.

 

Definitely get a Denso, DO NOT cheap out on an Autozone or other store off brand re-manufacture piece. Learned my lesson the hard way.

 

I totally understand this logic for "normal" use and generally follow it for my DD car with a 6+ year old battery. But if I'm 10 miles up a 4WD road, 1500+ miles from home, and break down, that's gonna be a major inconvenience. I typically go hours without seeing another person and sometimes it's only a couple of dirt bikes all day, and sometimes don't see anyone all day. This is why I want to change it out prematurely. And again, both my ex GF and her parents had failures before 150K on two ~2008 Camrys- I changed them both so I'm sure they were bad. This truck has seen many hundreds of miles of dusty dirt roads following another vehicle so it's certainly seen more abuse than their Camrys. I understand there is risk with a rebuilt vs a functioning OE alternator, but with 130K miles I'm going to take the risk.

I have a Dayco (USA) belt on it with about 50K miles so I might change it again at the same time. Battery is a top line Advance Auto and about 10 months old; changed out early for the same reason.

 

Well you sound like you already have your mind made up. I wish you well and hope the rebuilt one doesn't leave you stranded.

If you are that worried about being stranded why not just pay for the rebuilt alternator w/o core and keep it in the truck as a spare while still running on the OEM alternator.

 

Trying to bump some life back into this thread.....

To the O.P.; Did you ever acquire a new/rebuilt/replacement alternator? I'm about to replace my own with a TYC-brand 'new' manufactured (in Taiwan I believe) OEM replacement alternator. I'm also doing a belt, pulleys, tensioner & AC clutch at the same time.

Just wondering if you had looked & selected an alternator, and how the install went.

 

I have 243k on my 2005 2.7L and it's JUST now giving me issues (dimming headlights and a dash light) so I'm gonna replace it. NAPA apparently has them.

Edit: Napa is out of stock, so Toyota stealership is the only mechanic that can accommodate my immediate need for a replacement Ugh.

 

There is also an option to upgrade the alternator if you would like a more powerful one. I have not done this as I only have 62K on my truck currently and don't have any high power draw mods as of yet, but it's an option.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...r-regulator-upgrade-for-agm-batteries.701909/

 

For an update, I put a rebuilt Denso on it after my OP, and it's still ok with 70K on it; as it should be. I ate the core charge and kept the OE alternator as a "spare".

The rebuilt one definitely had new front and rear main castings; they were NOT bead blasted or wheelabrator'd used ones; and it looked to have a new pulley- at the minimum it was replated. The rectifier nonsense on the back, whatever it's called, under the cover, was used as I'm sure all of the internals. I bought a new set of brushes for my OE alternator and may someday bother to install them. But since it's a spare, probably not until the present one fails and I gain motivation.

 

SO I tested my battery and noticed it looked leaky on top (Interstate Battery from Costco). I tested the terminals while off (12.6V) and tested it while the motor was on (14.6V), then..... turned off the motor and kept the positive multimeter on the positive terminal and touched the PLASTIC part of my battery with the negative multimeter and it read 10.2V....... WTH? I dig deeper and see the metal under the battery is rusted to hell and the brackets are corroded to hell.... so this battery was cooking everything with chemicals and reading on the multimeter almost as high as actually touching the terminals.... So I replaced the battery for $125 and called it a day. I checked my vehicle log book and that Interstate battery lasted EIGHT YEARS with 44k miles. We'll see if the alternator is compromised, but I think the battery was MY problem.

 

Glad you worked it out, your alt is probably fine, and 8 years is a good run for a battery.