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Old 07-01-2017, 12:20 PM   #1
tmontague
 
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Drives: '08 2zr swapped Vios M/T
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Location: Caledonia Ont.
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Potential alternator problem

this pertains to my '02 Vibe but seeing as that forum is dead and this would also help Yaris owners I thought I'd post it here. Car has 257k km on it with original alternator.

Recently I heard a slight groaning noise from somewhere along the drive belt. I gave it a quick look over but nothing seemed to be wrong. I figured it was the idler pulley and that I'd check it with a long pry bar later this week.

2 days later (today) the dash cluster shuts off and the battery, e brake and abs light went on. The car wouldn't deliver full power when the accelerator was pressed. I checked under the hood and nothing was obviously wrong on a quick look. Thing went back to normal as soon as I was about the turn the car off. The dash did flicker occasionally when I was driving it /limping it home so that pretty much rules out a blown fuse.

No CEL's shown but I'll be hooking up my ultra gauge to check voltage tomorrow. I am thinking alternator voltage regulator is bad. I have a multimeter I will be using tomorrow as well.

My question is, does anyone have experience with this issue and have a place where they'd recommend I start looking to save me some time. I don't want my whole long weekend filled with fixing a car seeing as I rarely have more than 1 day off.

Thanks in advance, I'll post any solutions I come across.

fwiw the battery is not brand new, but I'm doubtful its the battery.
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Old 07-04-2017, 12:17 PM   #2
tmontague
 
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Fwiw, I tested the alternator using a multimeter the other day and it wouldn't charge adequately under load. The whine and the smell also pointed to a faulty alternator.

Just threw in an oem Denso from the local recyclers for $50 with unknown mileage. Works great now no more noise and charge is up to snuff

I guess the battery was slowly losing charge when we were in traffic which caused the airbag, abs and dash to lose adequate voltage causing it to shut down. That would also explain the limp mode however no cel's were thrown.
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Old 07-04-2017, 09:23 PM   #3
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Good work!
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