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Location:
Sydney, northshore
Registered:
June 2004
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Diagnosing a dead alternator (MA61 / 5mge)
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Sat, 07 August 2004 00:14
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Hey I'm hoping someone can confirm what I'm suspecting is wrong with my MkII:
It had a new battery put in when I bought the car 2 months ago, and drove fine for one month. Two weeks ago it started becoming hard to start, so I'd disconnect the battery earth terminal every time I parked it, thinking something was draining current while it was off.
This seemed to fix the problem, and I removed the stereo (for other reasons) and then went back to leaving the battery connected while parked. No problems, I figured the stereo was badly wired or somethin...
Then yesterday I had to drive a long way in peak hour traffic - noticed it was idling roughly and the instrument cluster was slightly dimming like it was struggling to get enough electrical power. I stopped soon after to buy a few beers, and when I went to restart it...No power.
Left it parked with battery disconnected for 5 hours, went back and it *just* turned over - drove it for 25 minutes (thinking alternator would be recharging the battery) and then im taking a corner with the revs at about 1200rpm and it just dies completely, no power. Not a chance of restarting, had to park and walk.
NOW..
This would point to a malfunctioning alternator, yes?
What alternators can I use on a 5MGE? Are 7M series alternators a direct swap? Any others?
Any ideas of cost of new ones (if Toyota even carry them!) or are there any places that are likely to do recoonditioned ones?
Thoughts and recommendations highly appreciated!
Damien.
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