06' tundra V6 Alternator Stopped & A/C Compressor Stopped EXACT same time

Hi I'm SJ. Nice to meet yall. 1st let me admit I'm no mechanic but I dont exactly suck either. Same truck for 15 years. Road hard but I've kept it up well. When ur girl on ur own. No extra money and no help. U do it the best & only way u know how. U buy a diagnostic and a manual and u do it yourself. So far I've kept it up & running to date pretty damn well if i say so myself. (almost proud alittle bit)
Like I said before I'm no mechanic but I've wore out that dang manual & all 4 tires are still rolling on today.
Now the problem, alternator less than 90 days old, a/c compressor old but never any problems before. Except the usual having to add alittle bit hear or there. Both went down the "EXACT" same moment. Alternator is good. Diagnostic tell me me nothing. Truck runs fine as long as I charge my battery. Before all went down. I noticed my headlight started diming & brightening for no reason. Not alot but just enough i noticed. Side note: all headlight, bulbs, & wiring harnesses replaced less than 6 months ago. (It was just time.) No power loss, check engine light on, but truck runs absolutely fine. Plus very good possibility fuse box may have been exposed to small amount of moisture tks to a dumbass best friend.
So I'm leaning towards a possibility of a a relay being bad. Cause it's weird for both to go down at he SAME MOMENT. What am I missing here? I'm still digging for answers. Just thought I would ask here first before this turned into some type of exploratory surgery.. I'll keep u updated. But any suggestions, advice, or answers I would love to have. Even though it runs just fine. I don't have time to start on a new learning adventure. Lol Tks for the help and for listening to my little rant... Yall have good one and be safe out there.

 

Is your power steering OK? Belt tensioner still good? Seems odd both would quit at the same time.

 

If you're having to add refrigerant to the a/c system, you have a leak somewhere. Just adding refrigerant isn't enough since a/c system require OIL also. It wouldn't surprise me if your compressor shit the bed due no lubricant.

 

What brand alternator?

 

I'm thinking less about a relay and more about a fuse, specifically you may've blown one he square fuse from the alternator that's in the fuse/relay box next to the battery. Have you checked?

A lot of times the fuses will blow because of corrosion in the battery cables - physically inside the cables. If you don't have felts on your battery, if you've ever let corrosion build up on your terminals, it happens. OFTEN. I can't stress it enoughm we see if often. Even happened to me.

And yes, what @bfunke said. If you bought a shitty store-brand alternator, I have so little faith in store brand parts, it's not funny. Denso brand or GTFO.

 

Had a similar problem on a Honda Civic ... A/C clutch relay was stuck closed. Battery kept draining and A/C compressor would hiss through pressure relief valve.

 

I have a dense alternator. I did check my fuses first but it wasn't an ideal time or place to do so. Is it still very possible to be a fuse. I'm lucky enough to have a parts truck so the a/c compressor is covered there just in case.. The battery cables, I don't believe they are the problem. That being said I haven't replaced them in quite a while. Over the past few months I have noticed more build up then i would like. i guess tomorrow is a good enough day as any to go shopping (at the parts house). Lol. Plus it don't hurt I went ahead and bought a new fuse tester, new relay tester and a new manual while i was there today. p.s. Parts house said they stopped making our manuals, all of them. They are selling the rest all off for real cheap. I think I paid around for my 30$ or 35$ for my 1st one. Now all manual they still have left are only 15.99$ if they can find u one. Just throwing info in there.. tk u gentleman. Be safe out there. This old world has gone crazy now days. Again tk u all for ur help.

 

Well, I dunno what cab type you've got b/c I don't see where you mentioned it anywhere, but if yours is anything like my AC with V8/4WD the fuse/relay box next to the battery probably looks like this.

The fuse I'd focus on first is the 140A in red here which is the alternator fuse, IIRC. BTW, it's a complete bitch to pull! But I'd also be looking at/testing all the other square fuses in here, other than the 4 next to the 140A clear-window fuse, since those 4 are spares! That means also checking the yellow one below the 140A, the red and green clear-window fuses to the south on either side of the two big relays, and all the fuses surrounding.

I'm not saying you don't have an issue with the A/C compressor. But the lack of charging to me would indicate a fail of that fuse, its contacts on the back side of the panel itself, corrosion or a break in the wiring between the battery/alternator somewhere, or heavy corrosion inside the cables.

Note: The fuse puller is the white thingy about 2" left of the purple relay seen on the right in this pic.

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