2007 Toyota 4Stunner

[Senor_Taylor]

Well, when I was with Jason, I asked him to give me his opinion on the loud whirring squeal it made when revving. It sounded like a bearing trying to reach escape velocity, but he did some poking around with a screwdriver, called a chant to whatever layer of hell he draws his mechanic powers from, and deduced it was the alternator, but NOT the bearing. "When should I replace it?" inquired me, misty eyed and innocent. "Eh, whenever it blows up" - torts Jason.

Then the alternator blew up.

Honestly, it's true. I think I drove it 2 days after we did all of this work, then parked the 4Runner for a while to drive the Miata. Zach and I headed out there to load up an old TV and the battery was 100% flat. We jump it with his Miata, take the cables off, and it stalls after a minute or two. We try again, and again, and again, and it's the same thing. When it was running, something seemed "off" about the idle and I realized it didn't have that high pitch squeal anymore and it all made sense. The diode that was heading towards the light and giving its best death squall had finally given up the ghost. I guess trying to charge and 100% flat battery finally did it.

Seeing as my baby only gets the best parts, I ordered a reman Denso OEM alternator and waited a week to get it. Zach help me put it on in the dark last night and I can say without a doubt, it was harder than I thought it would be. If I had tackled this a year or two ago without my impact to take sway bar off, I definitely would be on here crying about how I could get the alternator off. In the end, it only took 3 hours and a possible hole in my radiator. 5/10 with Rice.

For now, the 4Runner has a trip to VIR next week. A trip to Myrtle a couple weeks after, and possibly towing the Chariot of Victory to Catlett for an Rally event in September before I do anything else to it. Still pricing an exhaust manifold and then she'll be perfect. (Until the mods start)