07 yaris bad alternator

[Yaris_guy]

So I had the wife take the 07 yaris in to the dealership today. The car's making weird noises again, sounds like the waterpump which the dealership replaced almost exactly a year ago is going bad again. Turns out it's the alternator and not the waterpump. So Toyota replaced the alternator belt once in Dec of 2010. The belt snapped off in Jan of this year. I had the car towed to the dealership to have the belt replaced for free. Now the alternator is bad and they want $600 to fix it. The wife had the car in with the same dealership a few weeks ago for an oil change and she told them to check the car and they said that everything was fine. I don't know what's going on with them but everything doesn't seem to add up. Are there any correlation with them messing up the belt and the alternator going bad. The guy there basically said that had not effect on the alternator. Any ideas on how I should go about this. We're actually going out of town for the July 4th weekend but now we don't have a car to drive. I'll probably end up replacing the alternator myself but just wanted some input. I'd rather spend $600 on some new clubs.

[thebarber]

the belt snapping won't affect the alternator....since installing my s/c and getting all the installation kinks out, ive broken three belts....

the bigger issue with snapping the serpentine belt is that if you drive on it, the water pump isnt running to cool the engine.

i had to replace my alterator in the spring because the ground post broke.....i bought a used one from a wrecker for $125CAD with a deposit (ill get back 20 if i bring my broken alternator)

it took me about an hour or hour and a half to swap them myself...

[mazilla]

the belt snapping won't affect the alternator....since installing my s/c and getting all the installation kinks out, ive broken three belts....

the bigger issue with snapping the serpentine belt is that if you drive on it, the water pump isnt running to cool the engine.

i had to replace my alterator in the spring because the ground post broke.....i bought a used one from a wrecker for $125CAD with a deposit (ill get back 20 if i bring my broken alternator)

it took me about an hour or hour and a half to swap them myself...



OP I have an extra if you need it. 45.00+ shipping

I paid 45.00 for one from a local wrecker and had it rewound to avoid down time. This is my factory alternator which I now have left over.


Shoot me a PM if you're interested...if you can't find a cheaper one locally.

[Yaris_guy]

I guess I'll be doing this myself over the weekend then. Wanted to go golfing but we'll see. Mazilla thanks for the offer but I kind of need it asap. Most of the ones I've found online are $100+ any ideas where I might be able to find a cheap replacement? Junkyard? If I can't find a used one where can I buy one in store? I checked the autozone site but it seems they don't carry it.

[CTScott]

Try car-parts.com (http://car-part.com/). It's an online registry for junkyards, and you can sort by proximity to a zip code.

Try to find an 09 or newer one if possible. There is a potential issue with 08 and older ones with corrosion of the voltage regulator within the alternator.

[Yaris_guy]

Thanks guys.

[Yaris_guy]

Is it a good idea to buy a used alternator? I checked the site and it says the mileage is listed at 100,000 miles, should that mean anything?

[CTScott]

Is it a good idea to buy a used alternator? I checked the site and it says the mileage is listed at 100,000 miles, should that mean anything?

A used one is fine if it's in good shape. I would check for bearing noise or slop. Ideally you'd like to get one off of a lower mileage car. For example, there's a 2008 Yaris with less than 4000 miles in a junkyard by me, that I've grabbed a lot of parts from.

[Yaris_guy]

So I started to take the alternator off yesterday. The alternator I bought has a damaged pulley, that supposedly had two at the junkyard but they couldn't find the other one so I just bought this one instead. I got the alternator out but I can't take the pulleys off to swap in the old undamaged pulley with the new damaged one. Any suggestions on how this is supposed to be done?

[Klink10]

It's tough I know. What I and a few others did was hit the nut holding the pulley with a good size air gun with an impact socket. I wrapped the wheel with a old bit of rubber tire tube and set it in a vise (not to tight) and zapped it. Nut came off and pulley was un-damaged. On install, I just put new pulley on, hit the threads with a little Loctite, hand secured the nut and zapped it once with the airgun while holding it with my hand vs the vise. No problems yet and done 3+ years ago. Hope this helps and good luck.

[Yaris_guy]

Well I don't have an impact wrench. Is there any tools I can get from autozone or other auto parts store that might help take off the pulley. If not then I think I'm just going to take it to a shop and have them take it off and put the good pulley back on. Hopefully they don't charge too much. Thanks though.

[CTScott]

Well I don't have an impact wrench. Is there any tools I can get from autozone or other auto parts store that might help take off the pulley. If not then I think I'm just going to take it to a shop and have them take it off and put the good pulley back on. Hopefully they don't charge too much. Thanks though.

The end of the shaft is basically a 10 mm bolt. You can hole the shat with a 10mm socket or box wrench and then use and offset wrench on the nut.

[mazilla]

The end of the shaft is basically a 10 mm bolt. You can hole the shat with a 10mm socket or box wrench and then use and offset wrench on the nut.


Maybe...didn't work for me. I had to vise it or risk stripping the end of the bolt. Sucker would not budge, even with a 24 hour "PB breaker" soak.

[Yaris_guy]

Yeah I tried the box wrench with a 10mm socket and it didn't work for me. I had the wife take it to the shop and at first they said $10 to take the pulleys off and switch them but it literally took them 2 mins so they ended up saying it was free. I got the alternator back in and the belt back on. How tight is too tight for the belt. I feel as though the belt is just as tight or maybe a little bit tighter then when I took it off. There is some deflection when you press on it but it's not a lot. Also the belt is between the pulleys but when you run the car you can tell the belt is not perfectly align. Maybe off just a smidge at certain point. Is that ok or bad? Should I readjust? I took a video but I'm at work right now so I can't post it til later.

[Yaris_guy]

So I've been doing a little research. I read that having the belt too tight can wear out the bearings in the alternator. So it could have been the dealership having the belt too tight or would it just have been due to natural wear and tear? The car has about 70,000 miles on it.

[Bluevitz-rs]

Mine is just tight enough that there a little chip every once in a while when i start it, but never when I'm driving. And it doesn't feel very tight. I can almost twist it half way around. Less tension also means less drag.

Edit: The way I test to make sure it's tight enough is turn every electrical item on in you car. lights, wipers, rear defrost, full fan, hazard light, brake lights, and if it doesn't squeel it's tight enough.

[thebarber]

you want about 1/2" of play in the belt when you push on the long span of it at the top of the serpentine setup

[Yaris_guy]

So I got the video up.

Youtube.com/watch?v=orSDcdyg6w4

Sorry it's sideways. The engine sounds horrible too, anyone have any idea on what I should check?

[Bluevitz-rs]

not available yet......

[Yaris_guy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orSDcdyg6W4

[mazilla]

Looks fine to me. I don't hear anything that would be cause for alarm...of course I am sitting in front of the TV watching a movie in surround sound. :)

[Yaris_guy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab86c42cLy4

I should clarify I'm just worried that the belt needs to be perfectly aligned. I also uploaded another video so you can hear the engine noise. The video is still processing but should be done soon if you guys can check it out on the same channel can give me your feedback.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJUQIKHxJd8

Video is up. Should the engine sound like this?

[mazilla]

When was the last time you did an oil change, and what oil are you using?

[Yaris_guy]

Oil change was done about three weeks ago at a Toyota dealership. I'm not sure what kind of oil they used.

[marcus]

bad alternator eh..i got the exact same noise but like i just posted where these alternators should be a recall coz as of today toyota toronto has 137 including me as back order..