nlowin

Help, My 1997 ES300 is eating alternators like a stoner on doritos.
I'm going on my fifth alternator in 6 months.
The first one was the stock alternator.
It last 165000 miles and almost 20 years.
I installed the second one myself and didnt think much about the failure.
I figured that was normal for the mileage.
The third was done by a mechanic that swore he knows the ES300 backwards n forwards.
The part was warrantied but the labor cost.
He couldn't find anything else wrong.
It lasted a month.
The fourth alternator was installed by another mechanic.
He swore that the previous alternators were just cheap Oreilly parts.
He put a nipondenso alternator in.
He looked for other issues but didn't find any.
The fourth alternator is now failing slowly.
I see it failing as I have a voltage meter in the ciggie lighter.
It goes up to 13.7 on startup n down as low as 11.7 with lights and A/C (in FL).

This was the most dependable I car I'd ever owned and I've owned a lot of cars.
Other than this the car runs great.
170k miles and doesn't use a drop of oil.

Please help me make my car dependable again.

Thanks

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

I've heard new alternators will fail if the battery is not charged before installation. Do you know if the battery is healthy and charged? What happens is the contacts burn out if you use a brand new alternator to charge a dead battery.

p.s.: have you noticed any electrical issues other than the Volt meter? Are you swapping them because of the voltage reading?

nlowin

I replaced the battery as well as the alternator after the first failure. The voltage meter was added after the 4th alternator was installed. I should have mentioned the strange symptoms. The first thing I notice is that the ciggie lighter in the dash stops working. The one in the center compartment is fine. Does the ciggie cause the alternator to go out ? or vice versa? The mechanics do not believe me when I say there's a connection. But I've seen the pattern over n over. I didn't connect the dots the first time but its happened that way every time. The ciggie has been tested by two different mechanics. The voltage was down a few days ago. Then the ciggie died. I took it in and it ran at 13.7 until I left. Two miles down the road it was 12.0 and the mechanic was closed. I think they are decent mechanics. They do not see an issue with it. Also the mirror switch stops working way at the end but that's likely just very low voltage. The dash light comes on at the end but I only get a few miles at best at that stage. My current mechanic refuses to honor his warranty until I have an almost complete failure. Therefore my car is no longer allowed to be used for out of town trips. Pretty sad for a car that's driven cross country multi times.