Tsunami Rebuild Fund

[TGTool]

My minor adventure over the weekend was having an alternator failure. This is a 2009 Toyota and I've had other Toyota's that ran over 200,000 miles on the originals so this was unexpected. Driving north just out of Fort Worth I saw the charge light flick on and off a couple times. I could have missed it earlier. Choosing to press on and keep an eye on it, it soon was steady on and by the outskirts of Denton other lights were showing up, gauges starting to flicker and finally it was losing power so the battery was used up too.

I'll shortcut the details of towing, police help, finding onward passage for two passengers and their luggage etc. The towing company driver very kindly put it on his cables for fifteen or twenty minutes to charge the battery so I figured I'd have a little bit of go left on Monday to get to some service without additional tow fees. There was a place a block away that could service it first thing and they checked battery (good), alternator (weak) and called around for a re-manufactured alternator. The last Delco I'd bought was maybe $80 a few years ago, so I figured this might be $200 given inflation and the furrin' component. No one but the Toyota dealer had one in stock so that was my only choice for $759 plus installation. And that wasn't even the gold plated model. The Japanese don't even believe in Vaseline?

So what's at play here? Is the Toyota alternator really almost 10 times better than a Delco? Am I making a large contribution to rebuilding Japan or what? For that price I would think it would attract third party aftermarket players like vultures.

[Black_Moons]

Tell them you will pass on the oxygen free 99% pure silver wound alternator and go with the copper version. You don't really need higher highs and more vibrant soundstage from your car stereo anyway.

[Willy]

So what's at play here? Is the Toyota alternator really almost 10 times better than a Delco?

I think we both already know the answer to that one.

A lot of things come into play here. Application range or commonality across the car makers products and the years of those products is one very major contributor to cost.
But in my experience at least Japanese OEM parts replacement has always been expensive.

I especially remember one incident from many years ago when moaning to the Nissan parts man about prices. He said he sympathized with me about the ridiculous pricing logic on some of their parts.
He then proceeded to show me that a complete, new, factory short block was actually cheaper than the carburetor that went on that particular engine.

I realize that this is not an option when away from home, but I have installed GM alternators on both Japanese and domestic vehicles for which they were not designed. It does of course entail some fabrication and a little homework. But the way I look at it is that electricity has no brand preference as long as it is supplied in adequate amounts reliably, Id rather it came from a low cost readily available source.

[Mark Hockett]

I realize that this is not an option when away from home, but I have installed GM alternators on both Japanese and domestic vehicles for which they were not designed. It does of course entail some fabrication and a little homework. But the way I look at it is that electricity has no brand preference as long as it is supplied in adequate amounts reliably, Id rather it came from a low cost readily available source.

On most modern vehicles the voltage regulation is controlled by the ECU so the older internal regulator type alternators would be difficult to adapt. I don't know why anyone would go through the trouble to adapte a Delco alt to anything anyway, they are complete crap.


BTW, my price on a new Denso alternator for the Toyota is about $350

[demerrill]

Got a NAPA parts dealer and an 'independent' (non-dealer) Toyota repair shop, or at least an independent specializing in Japanese cars, in your area ? I went through a couple of Toyota alternators in Mesa, AZ but it was about 13 years ago. Never failed to travel without at least a gallon of drinking water onboard after the first one left us stranded in the desert.

David Merrill

[DR]

That alternator price may be out of sight, but .......

A few years back in my late eighties Toyota PU the electronic ignition module went out. Something like $800 from Toyota and only a bit less after-market from the auto parts store. At the time that might have been half the value of the 200K + mileage truck.

Googling I found used modules with short term guarantees for half price.

Then I had a brain storm, what about an after market ignition system like MSD? Sure enough, one of the non-high performance models for close to a hundred bucks or so would do the job.

[Dr Stan]

So what's at play here? Is the Toyota alternator really almost 10 times better than a Delco? Am I making a large contribution to rebuilding Japan or what? For that price I would think it would attract third party aftermarket players like vultures.

I owned exactly one Toyota, an early 70's model and I too found out just how expensive repair parts are for a Toyota. Needless to say that was the last one I owned.

[Uncle O]

I would have taken the Alt to a rebuilder, or at least gave them a call.
Have one about a half a mile from me.

[Mark Hockett]

I owned exactly one Toyota, an early 70's model and I too found out just how expensive repair parts are for a Toyota. Needless to say that was the last one I owned.

And now you own a VW that has parts are way more expensive than Toyota parts, and it will require you to purchase those parts more often. In our shop even a simple oil change is $40 higher on a VW compared to a Toyota.

[TGTool]

If I had been at home I would have had several useable options. We have another vehicle so I could have gone out for parts and if it took a couple days to sort out it would have been okay. I have the hand tools and machine tools here, neither of which I had on the road. There are several parts stores in addition to the Toyota dealer. Heck, I couldn't even find a phone book hoofing it to four different businesses in Denton so I could scout parts and repair places and even motels. When you're in a strange town and you've got to find the options on limited resources (unknown miles to drive before requiring another tow) and you have others dependent on you to drag around, the window of options narrows to a pretty small slot. One thing I could have done (when I found a phone book) was to call parts stores myself to double check prices. If I really thought the service place was doubling the price of the part I could have argued that I wouldn't pay that much, but I'd have had to be prepared to drive around and try to find another shop and roll the dice on his quote. I may or may not have gotten screwed, but IIRC Tiffie's phrase is "Needs must when the devil drives".