Buy a Denso or OEM Honda alternator if you want to do the job once. The cheap Chinese-made brands and auto-parts store brands will die within a year or two. Ask me how I know!
The alternator itself can get bad only if the bearings are shot. If you don't have play on the shaft, and it spins freely then the alternating part of the alternator is fine. What can get pretty bad are the diode rectifier bridge.
If you have the V6 4.3 it's one of the more dependable motors GM ever made. The factory alt is rated at 105 amps. Should be enough for your needs.
I went through 3 OEM Denso's before going with an OE (Land Rover stamped) Denso. Presto! No more charging light.
Good job OP. I had the battery light turning on/off for months and figured it was the alternator(newish battery). Was about to purchase a reman Denso for $160, but glad I found a video of Timmy the Toolman on youtube before purchasing and went this route. Pretty easy and straightforward.
Go for a Denso alternator if they have it.
My ‘09 highlander needed one about a year ago around 150k and my local shop put in a reman Denso for way less than a new Denso. Good warranty on it, too.
I believe the OEM for the alternator is Denso. If you can get one of those it’ll probably go another 230k
I just got a Denso remanufactured alternator from RockAuto for a 2009 Camry. Straight out of the box, the pulley was extremely hard to spin. It seems to get very stiff in one spot, get past that spot and spin fairly easily, then after I assume a full revolution it gets extremely stiff again. It also seems a bit loud/odd to me
Had an appetite for alternators, as they put it behind the rear cylinder head and tried to keep it cool with some little rubber/plastic air duct. Failboat. We sold the car with its third alternator, each failure attributed to failure of the rear bearings.
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