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toycoach

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On the way home to NC from Tn, the alternator on our 1986 Coachman motorhome, 2.4L, EFC, auto gave out on us. Having tried doing some research on which alternator to order for replacement but none on the auto parts stores has any info. The only help was Advance states the 1986 Toyota pickup only calls for one 70 amp alternator. Any way to tell which alternator I need short of pulling the old one off which I don't want to do until I have the replacement in hand. Also the brake light came on when the charge light came on???? From reading on this forum, this is a difficult job. The alternator is in a tight place to get out once it is removed. Any thoughts.

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I have replaced mine twice and if you know what to do it's not that hard. I had a problem mostly the first time cause I just didn't know how to go about it. Pretty sure the stock alternator is 60 amps. Bought my last one at Orielly's. Guess I did get a 70 amp model. All the better.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/ULT1/14668/01468.oap?year=1986&make=Toyota&model=Pickup&vi=1277412&ck=Search_01468_1277412_2572&pt=01468&ppt=C0330

First one I replaced I bought an expensive one and it only lasted 4 years. I also thought it had a limited lifetime warranty but didn't. If anything goes wrong with the new one at least there's always an Orielly nearby

Got mine out by removing the fan cowl, radiator hose and transmission return line on that side. Still have to do a couple of twists but it comes out and goes back in. This is assuming you have power steering and automatic transmission like I do. trucks with no power steering it comes out the top with no problem

Linda S

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Absolutely. Not rocket science, just nuts and bolts and getting the belt tight again. I am not a mechanic. Just a very cheap person who would rather not pay someone hundreds of dollars for something I know I can stumble through and not make too much of a mess of. Always afraid of the "oh we found something else wrong" thing too when I know there was nothing else wrong when I took it in.

Linda S

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if the context of this topic is a 4 banger toy home, i have changed mine like 5 times and can tell you (and so will jde) that I am no mechanic. I can change one blindfolded drunk with kids throwing stuff at me (and have). on my 22re i didnt even need to remove the fan shroud. yes the unit for the truck of same year make is the same unit you will want. you will want regular wrenches to do the job as well as socket wrenches. you will go underneath and back the mounting bolts out, piece of cake, there are 2 of them. make sure before you take it off that you pull at the belt to feel the tension, thats the same tension you should try to make it feel like when you put it back. if you use the same belt then align the tension slide to the same grease mark where its clean/dirty - where it was before and you will be fine, if its a newer belt it may torque down in a different spot slightly. once you have the alternator unbolted, take a breath, put on a mechanics gloves and grab it and jiggle it spin it move it around... it will come out... and the new one will go in the same way the old came out so try to remember that positioning.

you will most likely need to re-adjust the belt in a month or two as it stretches out.

Have fun

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forgot to mention that its a GREAT time to install a new belt ... and would advise doing so. they are cheap and then you can put the old one in a drawer in case of a china quality issue on the new belt.

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On the way home to NC from Tn, the alternator on our 1986 Coachman motorhome, 2.4L, EFC, auto gave out on us. Having tried doing some research on which alternator to order for replacement but none on the auto parts stores has any info. The only help was Advance states the 1986 Toyota pickup only calls for one 70 amp alternator. Any way to tell which alternator I need short of pulling the old one off which I don't want to do until I have the replacement in hand. Also the brake light came on when the charge light came on???? From reading on this forum, this is a difficult job. The alternator is in a tight place to get out once it is removed. Any thoughts.

Sounds to me like the parts people behind the counter don't know what they are talking about. The 60 amp regulator became pretty much standard on cab & chassis trucks with 2.4 engines in 1985 and was used up through 1991. NAPA # would be a 8283 alternator like these catalog pages show.

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post-6578-0-45400500-1423857280_thumb.jp

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Absolutely. Not rocket science, just nuts and bolts and getting the belt tight again. I am not a mechanic. Just a very cheap person who would rather not pay someone hundreds of dollars for something I know I can stumble through and not make too much of a mess of. Always afraid of the "oh we found something else wrong" thing too when I know there was nothing else wrong when I took it in.

Linda S

Op, you want to feel how tight the belt is on right now and get a feel for it, take pictures, videos before taking anything off,

research what torque you need to apply for which bolt if unsure, get a feel for how tight these are when taking them off.

setting the proper tension on the belt is the only thing that I have to check few times, good luck!

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agree with totem saw one taken out of box they hand spun it made a big banging noise he said this is going back where it came from . and too tight of belt can cause early failure of the alternater or other things.

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Does anybody take alternators, starters to an electrical shop and have them repaired anymore? On my last motor home I took the starter in and a shop rebuilt it. JIm SW FL

When I was the shop foreman in a John Deere dealership late 1980s - we were still sending some starters to a local shop instead of doing them ourselves. Our diesel starters did not survive having the armature cut very well, so our policy was for new armatures only. The guy in that shop was rebuilding diesel starters with new armatures cheaper then we could do "in house." That was before a person could seek out cheap parts on the Internet. Now? Why would anyone bother? Most alternators and starters can be bought brand new cheaper then a rebuild costs. Nice thing about new is - you don't have to trade in your old one. You can later fix it if you want and keep as a spare. I just put a brand new starter in my diesel John Deere 300B backhoe and it cost me $89 shipped to my door. No tax, no trade-in core, and no shipping charges. Did the same for my diesel Ford truck. I can buy a factory rebuilt starter for my 1988 Toyota for $36 (with trade-in) or $57 outright. I don't any starter shops will do as cheap. The point is moot though, at least where I live. All the starter/generator shops I knew of went out of business.

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The shops are rarer than hen's teeth but there are still a few around. Cars are so dependable today other than my motor home I have not replaced a starter or alternator in ????? years. I had my 98 Windstar 14 years with 197K mi with original starter and alternator!

It has to be at least 20 years since I replaced a car alternator or starter! JIm SW FL

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The shops are rarer than hen's teeth but there are still a few around. Cars are so dependable today other than my motor home I have not replaced a starter or alternator in ????? years. I had my 98 Windstar 14 years with 197K mi with original starter and alternator!

It has to be at least 20 years since I replaced a car alternator or starter! JIm SW FL

I just put a starter and an alternator in my 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan with 170,000 miles on it.

Starter was getting so that sometimes it would just "click" instead of start. A rebuilt NAPA starter was $150 outright or $104 with exchange. A brand new Nippo Denso was only $82 when I got on-line. For that price, I figured it wasn't worth the bother to tear down the old starter and try to fix.

The alternator ended up having nothing wrong with it. The charge light would come on now and then. With 170,000 miles I figured it was due for at least new bearings and brushes. NAPA wanted $180 plus $50 core-charge for a rebuilt 160 amp alternator. I got a brand-new Denso clone rated at 160 amp for $99 - shipped to my door with no shipping charges and no sales tax. Put it in and the charge light still comes on once in awhile. I found out the alternator has no stand-alone or internal regulator. It's done by a chip in the vehicle computer. But it was due anyway since the bearings would of dried out pretty soon.

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One set of starter contacts in my 97 Tacoma and the same alternator it came with at 285,000 miles. Check with battery shops they often do rebuilding.

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I assume most people realize that miles on a vehicle can have little to do with how long a starter lasts,. I vehicle with 50K miles can have a starter that's been used more then a vehicle with 200K miles. It's more about how many times it gets started per day.

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True but during the time you own it a vehicle with more miles will be started more often in order to get that far.

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My point was this. One vehicle with 200K miles might be driven and started only twice a day for 400 miles of driving. One use of the starter for every 200 miles, let's say.

Another vehicle, maybe in an urban area, might get started 6-10 times a day and only rack up 5 miles total. More then one use of the starter for every one mile. My mom's car was like that. She lived in an urban area and never drove more then a mile at a time. By the time she had 70,000 miles on her car - it was a piece of junk and just about everything was worn out. Even the door hinges. To the converse, my 1994 Ford F250 has near 300,000 miles on it and is still, pretty much, like new. It pulled a 5th wheel horse-trailer all around the USA for most of its miles.

Regardless, a starter is a starter. Either it works well or it does not. I had a fleet of 80s Subarus with Nippo Denso GR starters as I recall When they started to "click" instead of "start" I usually just had to file off the contacts in the starter. But when my 2000 Impreza had a broken solenoid and a loose drive on a Mitsubishi starter - just the solenoid was $40 and was not easy to replace. I got a brand new complete Chinese clone starter for $85. Money well spent in my opinion.

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My Chinook appears to have an original starter and alternator.

At night when the lights are on, the charge light is just very dimly lit. But so dim I wonder if it's actually light leaking in from other instrument cluster illumination, and not the actual charge light lighting up.

Either way...seems to be doing good! Once you start replacing them, though, it's a regular thing. We've gotten into this in other threads, but the remans are just not as good, mostly because they don't "rebuild" anything. The just test a couple parts, replace what doesn't pass the test, clean it up and ship it out.

Luckily they're both easy to replace (on R-series engines). But that doesn't mean they always go out at convenient times...

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, but the remans are just not as good, mostly because they don't "rebuild" anything. The just test a couple parts, replace what doesn't pass the test, clean it up and ship it out.

That is not true. Having worked in a shop that rebuilt AC compressors,fuel injection pumps, alternators,and starters - it's not really true for any of them. The closest is for diesel fuel injection pumps. On them, other then seals, parts only get replaced "as needed." There is NO renewal process.

Starters get pulled apart. Starter drive always replaced with new in a direct-drive non-Bendix type starter.. Armature shaft bushings also put in new and lubed. Sometimes with undersize bushings if the armature has to be reground on the shaft ends. Armature commutator resurfaced and with gas-engines - undercut (not undercut with diesels). Solenoid contacts renewed. Brushes, brush-holders and springs, renewed. Field coils sometimes renewed. Parts are usually aftermarket and sometimes inferior to OEM. Not always though.

Alternators always get ball-bearings replaced with new. Rectifiers only as needed unless the ones in it are inferior and due for an upgrade. Brushes are new and slip-ring on rotor must be like new or its renewed. On many units with internal regulators - like Delco 10SIs and 12SIs - putting in a new regulator and new diode-trio is standard procedure.

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In that shop, or all shops?

Either way, you know better than me.

I just know any reman'd starter I bought for a 20 year old vehicle, replacing the original, would be replaced again at some point during the time I owned the truck. Usually 5 years or so.

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In that shop, or all shops?

Either way, you know better than me.

I just know any reman'd starter I bought for a 20 year old vehicle, replacing the original, would be replaced again at some point during the time I owned the truck. Usually 5 years or so.

I agree with that the quality is lacking on many rebuilt's. A lot of that stuff is sent overseas for a reman and not really done by some one that cares or knows what is bad or what can be reused.

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All depends on who is doing it. Some places sell rebuilds in different quality levels. You can get a choice of aftermarket parts, OEM parts, or superior parts. You can go to a place like NAPA and have a choice of a rebuilt starter for $65 or $195 - both rebuilt and both for the same vehicle. One has a 3 month warranty and the other a lifetime warranty. Sometimes you get what you pay for, sometimes not. If i cannot rebuild an alternator or starter myself for $50 or less, I usually just buy a brand-new Chinese clone. I've had zero problems with them.

I bought a bunch of "factory close-out" rebuilt starters from Rock Auto a few months ago. All direct-drive MT Delcos for V8 Chevys. All rebuilt, old-stock, in sealed boxes and I paid $14 each. I stripped several just to rob parts out of them. All had new bushings and aftermarket drives, solenoid caps and contacts. One had brand new field coils and another a brand new armature.

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easy to replace on the 20 R with out power stearing there are TWO types of starters for the 20r the gear reduction and there is also a fully convential type . on three of the 4 20rs I have had i put on the much more reliable convential starter will last just a bout forever .direct drive. MONTANA yours should have an external box voltage regulater on a fender well under the hood.

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on the topic of alternator/starter repair, i have a shop near me about a mile away, old ma & pa guy; ex military. Hes cheap and my father in law swears by him. I have yet to try him but soon will.. i just bought another vw tdi and will get its stuff redone along with my "brand new" alternator from my dodge that died one day after warranty.

One thing i know about diesels.. starter is everything a bad one will cripple you.

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two shops here in my town good ones been around a long time and very busy. some years ago I had a dodge van with a high output alternator was like 200 for a reman I got it rebuilt for 67 $. and a good job . most times I prefer that the local guys want to do a good job because they want a good rep. the big mass rebuilder don't pay attention to quality control. the people don't want to work on Monday or Friday and don't care about quality. I spent 40 years on a production floor I have had to put up with people I would of fired in less then one minute.

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  • 2 years later...

Recently had to replace my alternator on our '85 Rogue. It has the 22RE motor with manual transmission and no power steering. I wanted to post a global "thank you" for this thread. Everything I needed to know about this repair was gleaned through the thoughtful responses posted here. You are a wonderful group of people that unselfishly devote your time to assist others.

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On 2/13/2015 at 10:14 AM, toycoach said:

On the way home to NC from Tn, the alternator on our 1986 Coachman motorhome, 2.4L, EFC, auto gave out on us. Having tried doing some research on which alternator to order for replacement but none on the auto parts stores has any info. The only help was Advance states the 1986 Toyota pickup only calls for one 70 amp alternator. Any way to tell which alternator I need short of pulling the old one off which I don't want to do until I have the replacement in hand. Also the brake light came on when the charge light came on???? From reading on this forum, this is a difficult job. The alternator is in a tight place to get out once it is removed. Any thoughts.

Unless you have every option available it has the 70 amp really is only a 65 at best, mine won't come out through the bottom but removing the power steering pump will let you get it out or at least moving out of your way, do not short positive to ground it is a ecu killer on our models mine is a 86 odysee I think still can't get confirmation of model, 22.5 ft options were added I checked UK alternators are different then the California sold models and others in the states, originally who knows which alternator it was so many swapped parts but the 90 amp and 115 amp made through different years are bigger then the average 70 won't fit original bracket. And I have all the options but electric door and windows my 70 has no issues even being strained with additional lighting to the point it melted didnt short original fuses. Get a new one rebuilds are garbage unless they come with a lifetime warranty or have a experienced re builder replace nearly everything in your old one its worth the hefty price the strain these things take, and make sure your battery holds a charge no less then 12.25 for more then two days or that itself can fry it if it has dead or corroded plates this causes intermittent shorts extremely hard on the alternator trying to hold a charge running at 13.5 volts running nearly full capacity everything on, mine was bought new several years ago no issues its been beaten to hell was bought for 250$ through a Toyota retailer. Stay away from the gell cell batteries they are overpriced junk never had a good one last my duralast is ten years old no issues, gm batteries just as good. They are cheap to rebuild if you know how to do it and can find quality parts. Best to get a new one thought why worry about junk parts stores or other issues especially if its your home.

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