Alternator replacement under extended warranty

Had a whine that started a few months ago on my truck that I thought was the power steering pump. Sounded exactly like a ps pump and the fluid was dirty. Flushed the ps system, still there.
Got out the wood stick and started looking for the source and found out its the alternator. It's still charging fine but the bearings are on the way out.
I'm at 92k miles so factory warranty is gone but I'm still under the "platinum" extended warranty.
The service advisor at my dealer couldn't verify if they would cover until it was submitted so, has anyone had any luck having their alternator replaced under warranty, or for that matter, an extended warranty?
If it wasn't such a royal pain on these trucks I'd just do it myself but good lord it looks like a painful job working through the wheel well.

 

See attached under electrical. It's covered under the platinum warranty. Don't let the dealer tell you different.

 

It will be covered under Platinum warranty for sure. Technically they don't cover the noise by itself as it has to not be charging at spec but if you have a good advisor he/she will take care of it as all we have to do is submit a claim online. We don't have to call them in anymore.

 

My concern is at the moment, it is just noise. I will verify voltage ranges today but I've not noticed any issues on the dash gauge or on obd fusion while running.
At first it would make the noise on cold start then go away after it warmed up, now it just stays so the bearings are working their way to failure.
With my luck, they'll deny it and I'll either be on a work trip or my exteneded will expire when it locks up or stops charging.

 

What?

 

Put your ear to a piece of broomstick or rubber hose and you can trace pretty much where the noise is coming from.

 

Have also done that ^^^ with a loooong screwdriver. I now (and have for years) have a mechanics stethoscope.

 

I'll be darned. Only 9:30am and I've learned something new already today. I've heard of using a stethoscope but not aware of the stick trick.

 

Sadly it's common with these alternators-the bearings are going out. Easy to use a mechanics stethoscope-highly recommended for everyone's tool box-to find the source. If you let it go it will start to sound like a knock or tapping along with the whine. I don't know why they can't put better bearings and grease in these.

 

No, sometime they went with cheaper bearings. That's what fails most of the time in the 2.5 gen. Problem is it's not worth rebuilding unless you are capable and have bearing presses, etc.

 

Don't need Brg press ,just need 6303 and 6202w brgs for most applications , ....retired from Alternator, Starter repair.

 

Talked an advisor in person today when I took my wife's car in for an oil change.
He had no hesitation in saying it would be covered so I went ahead and made an appointment for next week. He said they usually had alternators and tensioners on hand since they've had quite a few with one or the other have failed bearings.

 

I saw a couple of tear downs on what appeared to be similar alternators and they used presses. How hard is it really to swap the bearings out only? Simple hand tools suffice?

 

Mark the 2 Hsgs with a pin punch so as Not to reassemble in the wrong position. Remove the rear Plastic cover, Remove the brusholder assembly (2 Philips screws) being careful not to damage brushes. Remove the 4- 8mm thru bolts and carefully separate the 2 half's by tapping on the Drive End 'DE'. being careful to separate the front (DE) "pulley end" from Slip Ring End (SRE) leaving the 'stator' attached to the SRE end. Once separated you may need a small Brg puller to remove the SRE brg or a piece of Brass to tap brg off the shaft ,use a deep socket or a piece of tubing the same size as the inner race to tap the new brg back on the shaft . For the DE use an impact gun and socket to remove pulley nut , depending on weathering the pulley and DE hsg should come off fairly easy. Remove the 4 brg retainer screws and retainer ,tap old brg out and tap new brg in. Reassemble in making sure pin punches line up and be careful with the brushes,. You'll have to push the brushes into the holder and insert a pin or small drill bit in the hole to keep the brushes in place until Alt is together, install brusholder , remove pin and install plastic cover. Install pulley and nut with impact gun. There you go nothing to it ,no more brg whine..

 

Awesome! Thank you so much. I am going to give this a shot. Are there any brand of bearings that are better than most?

 

Your local Brg shop would have more insight on this.

 

Update

Had my dealer appointment. Sat there for 2 hours for them to tell me there's nothing wrong with it.

The tech claimed he didn't hear anything and everything looked good. I asked to speak with the technician who looked at it and of course, he was "on lunch".

I've taken a few sound audio recordings where you can clearly hear a whining sound that isn't right. I will try to upload them so you guys can give your thoughts but it still to me seems like the alternator based off location and using the stick stethoscope.

One odd thing though, is the sound is clearer(louder) inside the truck and standing at the passenger door outside of the truck, than it is right at the engine bay.

I'm planning to narrow down exactly what it is this weekend, then take it back. If they continue to say I'm find I'll take the damn thing in there every day

 

That stinks. Did you get a mechanics stethoscope?

 

Another update.

I did get a stethoscope and checked, noise is in the alternator. I took a video from outside the truck, inside the cab, and one with the belt off showing the noise is gone with the belt off.
I took it in and made sure to get the advisor I normally use. Showed him the videos and he said he definitely hears it. He said the tensioners are usually the issue but he said I sounded like I knew what I was doing so he'd push the tech to focus on the alternator.
Got a call a few hours later and he confirmed that it's the alternator. The issue is, the warranty department rejected the repair due to my warranty being expired. The dealer has my expiration date as 2024, Toyota warranty shows 2022.
The advisor claimed he tried to get the GM to ok the repair anyway since they'd told me several times my warranty was still in, but he would only approve a tensioner, not an alternator.
I headed down to pick up my truck and ask some questions to figure out who screwed up. The advisor pulled up my purchase paperwork and showed me the warranty sheet. Turns out, the finance guy entered the wrong start date for coverage on the initial paperwork that was submitted to warranty, but entered it correctly in their system.
The advisor printed everything out and took it to the finance dept to see about getting the info corrected with warranty to get my alternator replaced.

I guess it's a good thing the alternator is still charging and hasn't completely bit the dust or locked up.

 

Whining bearing has nothing to do with the charging. Charging is a function of voltage regulator, reluctant rings, rectifier, etc.

I can bet with high confidence that's the rear bearing on its way out. But it's not as critical as the front one (just compare the sizes), it can whine and then growl for years until it really seizes.

 

Absolutely. But you do want to get the best possible bearings for the repair. Look for the original designation on the bearing, it usually says it is for high temp, high speed, low friction application. Replacing with a generic bearing won't do any good, it will fail soon. So get an appropriate bearing and add extra bearing grease

 

My Dad taught me this back in the 60s (before mechanics stethoscopes were available). He showed me that folding the era lobe in and placing a dowel against it and touching a place on the engine (or accessory) you can get a direct transmission of sounds. Worked great, just had to be careful not to get tangled up in the V-belt.

Dan