Hi all,
My friend's 2012 Toyota Camry SE (160K Miles) is due for an alternator replacement. Looking online, OEM cost is roughly $500+, a remanufactured one is about $300 (includes 12 month warranty or 12,000 miles), and one from an online auto parts store (rock auto) is around $160-$300. Which one should I opt out for? I did read a few discussion post on this and it seemed like it all varies for different parts. Would like to have some insight too on which aftermarket brands are good too (example; akebono is great for brake pads and so forth). Thanks IA
Best Regards,
Lofi
What do you mean by “due”?
Alternator's getting weak and not charging the battery efficiently. Start-up takes longer than normal, and dimming of headlights. Figured it's time for a replacement before they're left stranded somewhere. They're not wanting to drive it till it busts.
ok dimming lights probably means it's done, but have they actually measure the output voltage, or had it tested with a professional tester? It's a free service.
Also you haven't ruled out things like bad cable connections. I would check those before jumping to empty my wallet.
If you really want it to last, then I would spring for the OEM one. After all, it did last 11 years right?
I used a multimeter to check the voltage. Battery is 1.5 yrs old from Costco and was reading 12V while engine was off. While cranked on/driving around, battery voltage reading was fluctuating between 13.0-13.4 volts. Connections looked fine as far as I could tell but they didn't have it professionally tested. I'll recommend the testing and go from there. Thanks for your insight!
How old is the battery? Have you tested it?
Battery is a 1.5 yrs old from Costco. It looked OK to me. 12V while engine's off.
Battery is a 1.5 yrs old from Costco. It looked OK to me. 12V while engine's off.
That hardly qualifies as testing. It needs to be load tested. Although a battery that new should be OK there are sometimes premature failures, and a bad alternator can kill the battery as well.