Yaris alternator issue? - Advice needed

[badtrev]

Hi. Let me start by saying that my knowledge of car mechanics is quite limited. The issue is with my mother-in-law's 2008 Yaris, which we have semi inherited since she moved in with us and doesn't drive anymore. It's an automatic.

Some background. The car was bought brand new in 2008 and has just now passed 25000km. It has had at least one major service every year. But there have been stretches where it has been standing for a while. The most recent was this year for about six weeks between June and July. Then at the end of July we drove it from Durban to Cape Town. Recently I've noticed that when the car is idling, when stopped at a robot for example, after driving for a bit, the car starts shuddering and is about to cut out. Then yesterday the battery light came on while driving, then went out again after we stopped at the garage and restarted the car. Driving on a bit further, there was almost no power unless the accelerator was all the way down.

The car is going to be serviced on Monday. I'm just looking for possible causes, so I can tell if those guys are not going to rip me off. From my googling, it seems that it might be an issue with the alternator. Any ideas will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Colin62]

The alternator shouldn't affect the power, it only provides electricity to power the electronics etc and to charge the battery. If the alternator dies, the car will still run normally for a while until the battery dies, and then it will stop.

 

[Fox1]

Yeah it's likely the alternator. Had a similar issue on the Corolla. Be careful that when you are not accelerating it runs on battery power and this can run your battery down so don't go to the garage in peak traffic.

You could just get a new one direct from Bosch service center, ask your service agent to sort it out which might be the most costly option or call out an auto-electrician that will pull off the alternator and recon it at the workshop. Shop around and see which option suites you best.

You can start by taking it to Battery Centre to have the battery and alternator tested.

 

[badtrev]

Great. Thanks. Approximately what is the cost of an alternator if it needs replacing? Also is it the sort of part that can break down due to the car not being driven much?

 

[Fox1]

Great. Thanks. Approximately what is the cost of an alternator if it needs replacing? Also is it the sort of part that can break down due to the car not being driven much?

Not sure about the cost. The Corolla is about R500 to recon. Brand new alternator from Bosch was about R1k. You can get those from most spares shops.

Yes the bearing starts to slack when the car is standing for extremely long periods. That's also the cause of the water pump going and many don't pick that up which leads to a blown head gasket.