After riding the Scion for over half the year, putting a good amount of miles on it with the ole lady's food delivery work, the alternator finally gave up the ghost. With around 140k on the clock, the alternator did have a good run before giving out. It started with it going out for a minute then working again. On this car it doesn't have an ammeter or voltmeter, just an idiot light. Well the idiot light came on to indicate the system wasn't charging. When the light went off I figured that things might be ok, at least enough to get us back to the house. After making a stop to pick up some shit we needed for another project, starting the car up had the idiot light come back on again. The volt meter in the Bluetooth radio relay for patching a phone into the car's stereo showed the voltage at 11.2 volts. The shit wasn't charging again. This time the light didn't go off and the voltage stayed around that range. We're running off the battery now. Well by the time we made it back to the house the voltage was around 10.6v, so yep, alternator's dead and the battery held out plenty long enough to get us back to the house. After doing some checking with another voltmeter just to confirm what was coming from the alternator and what the battery was putting out it pretty much was official that the alternator was dead. The problem here was the idea that a replacement unit at auto zone was over $200. Replacement units on ebay were under $100. Of course we needed this shit ASAP otherwise the ole lady would have to use the Tracker and I would be forced to have to press another standby vehicle into service, quite possibly the S10 since its the only other vehicle with working AC. The solution was to order the ebay alternator, then go pick up a used alternator from a local salvage yard to throw on the following night. Of course we had to use the Tracker for the day but at least I didn't have to go back to my job until the following day. We did manage to get a used alternator that was removed for us and ready for us to pick up for $70. It wasn't the low pull a part junk yard price that's around $35-$40, but then again I didn't have to go hunt the yard for an exact alternator and remove it myself in the heat. In the meantime I had pulled the old alternator from the Scion since they did want a core return. Plus by pulling the old unit off, half the job was done. The removal wasn't too horrifying. Just a couple of wires that had to be removed, then a large bolt at the top of the alternator, then a smaller bolt at the bottom. The bottom bolt was a little bit of a PITA to get to but once I got a tool situated in there I was able to manipulate my hands to work the ratchet to loosen the bolt and get it out. The tensioner pulley needed a cheater bar to put enough leverage on it to hold it and allow me to pull the belt free prior to removal of the alternator. But with those few things done the unit came out, no problem. Once we got the replacement salvage yard alternator in hand, soon as we got back to the house that night I donned my head light and grabbed my tools and went to work. Doing everything in reverse I managed to get the unit in place, again, having a couple issues with that small bolt at the bottom of the alternator. Trying to get the bolt in place was problematic for a second but I did get it in. The other area where I had a problem was getting the belt back on, mainly because I had to keep the belt in place on the other pulleys while applying tension on the breaker bar on the tensioner pulley. I did manage to finally get the belt slipped around the alternator pulley and after securing the plugs I was able to fire up the car. Of course I had to put the battery charger on the battery prior to even leaving the house earlier in the day to ensure that the battery would be topped off and ready to go. After cranking the car up we immediately seen that the idiot light never came on. After putting the voltmeter on the battery I found that the voltage was 13.9 volts, showing that the alternator was indeed cranking out voltage to the battery. With the success o this little job, the ole lady gets her car back and I don't have to either use a vehicle with no AC or be pressed to put the one vehicle that does into service despite its having its own problems. At least we do have a replacement alternator that is new in box, or more accurately, newly refurbished, in box, coming from the ebay order. This unit will go on the shelf in the storage trailer so in case this old alternator craps out I can immediately swap it out without any interruption in the use of the car.
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