The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

ThePiper · Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2025 17:58 Post subject: Alternator - warning lights

Hi all.

My original alternator failed at the start last year so I bought a new one from
roughtrax. Not a genuine part. When it arrived it was a pain to fit as the bracket was maybe 1 or 2mm wider than the bracket on the engine. I assumed it was just a poor aftermarket part fit but with a little touch of the grinder, I got it fitted and all was well.

Fast forward 8 months or so and although the car was driving fine, the dash lights all came on at once. A quick search on here said it was likely the alternator or wiring, however when I stopped and checked with a multimeter it was charging fine. That said, by the time I restarted it to do the test, the lights were off also. For the next 2 months all was back to normal.

Now it has started again but it’s intermittent - happened twice in two days. Driving along and all the lights come on. If I stop and restart they’re off and it’s fine for a day. Today it happened again just as I was getting home so without stopping the engine, I grabbed the multimeter and noticed it wasn’t charging. I turned the car off, restarted and it was then fine.. When I looked at the connections I noticed the cover on the live cable (it looks like Bakelite) had almost melted through where the bolt/connection meets it. I removed it, poked it with a screwdriver and it crumbled. The connection has built up that white calcium stuff too. From what I see the connections are tight but I’ll give them a clean and closer check this weekend when I have time. The earth on the inner wing seems fine and clean - but is there others I could check?

What confuses me is that it comes and goes. And simply restarting the engine clears it seemingly. Could it be a dodgy alternator that is failing but if so, why would it come and go. I’ll check all I can on the weekend but thought I’d post to ask if anyone has any opinions that may help.

Thanks
Ryan

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RADIOTWO · ****** Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 821 Location: GLOSSOP

ThePiper · Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2025 23:33 Post subject:

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

The old alternator was barely pushing 12.5v with the engine running and less with lights on etc. Changing to the new one (without doing anything else) changed that and it was up to 14.2 or thereabouts when tested.

Last night I braved the cold and spent some time cleaning up all the battery terminals with some sandpaper and WD. I gave the same treatment to all the earth connections I could find before I froze - the two on the inner wings and the one from the driver side battery that connects to the engine block. I also checked and cleaned up the connections on the alternator itself. So far so good and I drove about 50 miles today without warning lights or issues. It'll take time to trust if that's done the trick though given the intermittent nature of it prior. Fingers crossed it'll be fine and I've ordered a new cover to replace the alternator wire cover which melted. I'll keep an eye on the new one to see if there's any effects of excesss heat on that too just in case.

Thanks again for the reply. If the issue reoccurs, I'll post here again just in case anyone else is having the same issue down the line.

Cheers
Ryan