MngreLMatt

'99

Howdy all, I could use a little help here.

My alternator is noisy. This, only after I took it out and cleaned it when I re-did the power steering pump o-rings.

The output is great. I'm getting 12.6 with car off and 14.5 when on and about the same with all accessories on.

How hard would it be to replace the alternator bearings? I have taken out the alternator before so no sweat there. Especially if I replace my radiator at the same time as I need to do that. It might give me even more room to work down there.

I don't have a bearing puller or anything at the moment. Wanted to know if you all have any good tricks. Any help is appreciated. I've searched a lot but it doesn't seem like this is a common question.

Again, the charging and output of my system is great. I just want to pop new bearings in there to quite it down.

Thanks

Matt

dicer

You can find what you need at harbor freight, pullers, press, bearing separators.

MngreLMatt

Cool, thanks dicer. I'll check that out. From what I have seen one of the bearings comes out pretty easily and the other is a little tougher. I've even seen people take angle grinders to the old ones. Then a combo of heating a cooling the different metal prices to shrink and expand them to reassemble.

fixmiester

The reason you don't see much about bearing replacement is because they last forever, almost. Are you sure that you're not just hearing the whine it makes when it is putting out maximum amps, like just after starting up the engine? That seems to be a characteristic of these alternators, even when they are brand new, like mine. It quiets down after a few minutes of driving, unless you have a heavy load on them.

MngreLMatt

I'm not sure if that is what it is for sure. Although, to be fair, we have 3 LS's all from the 98-00 batch and none of them do this. The sound it makes...haha well let's just say if it was normal people would laugh at that engineering. Mind you, I Had valve covers and power steering fluid leaking all over the alternator for awhile. I took it off when I put new orings on the power steering pump and cleaned the alternator with some heavy duty stuff.

Anyhow, if these things last forever I'd sure like to see a Toyota/Lexus owner that this has rung true for. Maybe the thing is that most people don't bother taking it out and apart, if anything, just apart and slap a remanufactured unit or the like in there.

If I am off in what I've said please don't hesitate to correct me.

Thanks for all the help

Matt

MngreLMatt

Before I dive into anything, I'll take off the S belt tomorrow and spin the alternator by hand or something to make sure the sound is coming from there. Thinking back to what I did, I can only see it being either the alternator or the power steering pump.

MngreLMatt

The bearings where atrocious when I tore down the alternator, actually , not the pulley side bearing(the bigger one) but the smaller bearing that sits just behind the slip rings.

I decided to use little cutting discs on a dremel type tool to take off the smaller, noisier bearing. This would have worked out great but I really messed up. In my inexperience I cut too deep and hit the shaft. Long story short after finally getting it off with a hammer and flat head the shaft was mangled. Put everything back together after a little bit of sanding to try and smooth things out, it is having a rough time spinning. I think I'll have to take the new bearing off and try to smooth out the shaft a little more . I'll have to use a much more humane way to get the bearing off this time because I'd like to reuse it if possible.

Just an update. I'll have to do a full write-up when I'm done to help future newbs not have to leave there car inoperable overnight. Not a great feeling that's for sure.

More tomorrow,

Matt

dicer

Using a bearing separator and puller or a press would save goofing things up. Usually people that purchase such tools plan to use them for other projects. For the cost of a rebuilt alternator you can afford the tools. And for next time you will have them. For the non mechanical type just get the rebuilt unit, or have a shop do it.

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

Hey Matt, I really admire your efforts to keep this one going vs. buying a disposable new one.
Where in CA are you? I've got the alternator that came out of my '91 - bad slip rings and diodes so I just bought a new one. But I saved the old one and you are welcome to mine it for parts. I assume the bearings + shaft are in fine shape. PM me if you're interested.

MngreLMatt

Dicer, that's definitely what I should have done. Didn't have one and of course tried to go the easy route with the grinder. I started the project a little ill and definitely too tired to jump into something like that and needless to say my focus wasn't on point. I called the local autozone hoping they had one for rent-they didn't. Well, here's to spending the weekend figuring out what to do here.

Old, I really appreciate the offer. I remember somewhere that our cars have different alternators. That could be wrong. I thought for some reason the 95-00 or 98-00 have different alternators than the first gen's.

Thanks again guys, should have heeded your advice from the get-go dicer.

Matt

MngreLMatt

To be a little more accurate, it spins fine until I put on the top faceplate that the slip ring bearing fits into. Maybe, the shaft being just a hair larger in circumference than it was due to the metal being out of true has caused the bearing to be pushed out just far enough to not fit as perfectly into the top faceplate. Anyhow, I may just put it back into the car if I can get it to spin well enough and then deal with it until I get the correct tools to do the job all over again.