Dude you are the best this video helped me so much this was my first time working on my own car and this was just a blessing keep up the amazing work dude!
Information in this video helped me change the alternator on my 2004 Avalon. In the middle of changing the alternator I stopped and watched the video again. On the second viewing I found that I was turned the tensioning bolt in the wrong direction to create slack. I also found myself in agreement with the statement that the front bolt can be tricky to install. Thanks for the video!
A good video. In my case, I broke the alternator lock bolt when changing the alternator (serpentine) belt on my 2003 Sienna van. The remaining stud is seized in the alternator and extends into the curved slot of the adjuster bracket. Tried to remove the alternator but could not easily remove it due to the remaining stud being in the slot. Thought the van was dead in the water and heading for an expensive repair. Someone advised in Toyota Nation that the tensioner and lock bolts are not needed to hold the alternator in place and that a properly tightened pivot bolt will do the job alone (like on old vehicles). As advised, we took a steel pipe (as I did not have a long pry bar) and lifted the alternator to put the correct amount of tension on the new serpentine belt. Tightened the pivot bolt to 41 ft-lbs. My son says I went further than that as he observed I had tightened a bit more past the click sound of the torque wrench. Since the top of the lock bolt had fallen off, I removed tension bolt and metal block. The remaining stud had two threads extending past the adjuster bracket and for good measure installed a flat nut and was careful not to over tighten that. The belt is tight, hard to turn beyond 45 degrees. Took it out for a highway drive to a town half an hour away and so far the serpentine belt is holding well. If I can find someone who can drill out the lock nut stud without removing the alternator, I will simply install a bolt with lock nut/washer to further secure the alternator and rely on using a ply pry bar to lift the alternator for belt tension. If I ever have to replace the alternator, will use the pry bar method to tension the belt and install a bolt and lock washer instead of the lock bolt and tension bolt combination. Posted this on Toyota Nation.
This helped me, help my husband 😂 I took it out for him to cut the time in half since he works all day. Now it will take him less time to put new one in! Thanks so much. I also learned that his tools are so disorganized 😂 shit everywhere idk how he does it 😂
ty, i have an xle Camry 2004, i couldn't find the tensioner bolt because all the videos have 4 cylinder and its on the side, then i saw this and my Camry has the same engine as this Avalon. ty!!!!!! I was so confused
Great Video... just installed one. One thing it seems to work a lot better to start with the bottom bolt when re-installing the Alternator. I would highly recommend loosening the 12 mm bolt adjacent to the bottom bolt that allows a little slack in the bottom bracket ( it is mentioned in this video).. Follow the instruction in the video but do not put in the top bolt first.. you will be able to manipulate the unit and with a flash light can see the bottom screwed and direct it in the hole. It is also possible to remove the long belt tightening screw from the block and bottom bolt screw assembly. This make it much easier to reassemble in my opinion. It took me nearly five hours to do this job.. I could do the next one in 30 minutes. So if you start with the bottom bolt all should go smoothly.. trying to find the bottom hole and to make everything line up blind is exceedingly difficult.. good luck.
Yeah, you are right. It's nearly impossible to thread that lock bolt back in with the tensioner bolt still in the little block. I was getting frustrated and remembered your comment. I did partially install the top pivot bolt just so the alternator would line up correctly, because the bottom mounting points need to line up with the slot in the bracket down there. I just pulled up on the bottom of the alternator so it was up a little higher on the bracket so I could get my gorilla fingers in there.
Good video, thanks for the extra hints. Reminds me I've had "Installing a higher amperage alternator onto my ES300" on my to-do list for the last few years. The 100 amp alternator of this Avalon would be a nice upgrade over the stock 80 amp of my 01 ES300, however there are also 1/3MZ-FE RX300/Highlander alternators that provide 130AMP and are a drop in replacement for V6 camrys/avalon's/ES300's/330's of this era, and the install procedure is the same as in this video.
Hey when trying to put the bottom lock bolt on I can’t for the life of me get the bolt to thead straight. It wants to thread at a 45 into the alternator. Do you have any tips?
What if after installation and putting proper tension on the belt I'm getting a weird scrape/rub sound. I've checked the belt and pulleys and everything looks straight. It only occurs over 40 mph. Anything helps! This was an 04 camry v6
That's a tough one, I guess it could be something wrong with the new alternator, but that should be noticeable even when stopped if you rev the engine. If it were me, I would probably try to diagnose the noise by having someone in the car put the car in gear and with foot on the brake pedal (and parking brake applied) rev the engine a little. And/or you can turn on the headlights and the a/c to generate a load on the engine which might make it easier to find the noise... Definitely don't stand in front of the car when doing this. Best of luck figuring it out! -Dan the Fix it Man
Im getting the dreaded pulsating lights on my 03 Avalon is it true there's no fix to this? New battery, alternator added more ground wires..i pulled the AF sensor 25 amp fuse it stopped thats what people are saying there's does its a Toyota engineering fault both sensors operate at the same time draws to much current causes pulsating when the heating elements in the sensors are in operation
Possibly, yes. It would be pretty easy to test it with a voltmeter. Most auto parts stores can test it for you as long as you can get it there. Best of luck to you.
Hi. Is there any chance you would do a short video to i.d. where the bank 1 and bank 2 O2 sensor modes are on a 2004 Avalon XLS? I'm getting ODBII 135 and 155 codes along with a Christmas light display on the dash, and can only find online guidance for '03 and '05 models that don't match my car. If you can do, heartfelt thanks are in order.
You can tell by the battery light coming on and if your driving if the alternator is bad your car will slow down and the lights will be dim. Also if you jump the battery and the car only drives a tiny bit then dies you know it’s the alternator. You can tell by the voltage when you test the battery while the car is running the alternator voltage should be at 14.20 volts if it drops below 13 volts and lower your alternator is bad!
You can take your car to one of the major parts stores and they will test your alternator and battery for you for free. You can also remove the alternator and take it to the store and they can bench test it for you in the store. Also, you can take a multimeter and touch the probes to the terminals of the battery and check the voltage while the engine is running. My voltage regulator was bad and it was putting out something like 13 volts
Whoever commented saying to take the adjustment/tensioning screw out is right. I think I had to do the same thing on a Camry. When you take that bottom lock bolt out it's easy to get out, put putting it back in is a royal pain. It's hard to see down there and the alternator and the bracket has to be lined up perfectly. It was raining here so I just backed the adjustment/tension bolt all the way out until it came out of the little block. I put the new alternator in place and reinstalled the top pivot bolt enough to hold the alternator in place, I completely removed the pivot bolt bracket like he did in the video. Then I screwed the lock bolt into the tensioner block, and I lined it up with the bottom bracket and the alternator hole and threaded it in. Make sure you point the hole for the tension bolt towards the front of the car on that little block, you can just rotate it. Slip your belt over all 3 pulleys. Once I was happy that the lock bolt was threading properly, I snugged it down almost all the way. Then I reinstalled that super long tensioning bolt and snugged it down until I was happy the belt was tight. Then I snugged down the lock bolt, and reinstalled the pivot bracket at the top (like he did at the end of the video). Reinstalled the cables, and you are done. Make sure you top off the battery with your battery charger before putting the battery cables back on and you should be good to go.
Dude you are the best this video helped me so much this was my first time working on my own car and this was just a blessing keep up the amazing work dude!
Thanks. We're having to replace the alternator on my mother-in-law's Avalon today.👍
Information in this video helped me change the alternator on my 2004 Avalon. In the middle of changing the alternator I stopped and watched the video again. On the second viewing I found that I was turned the tensioning bolt in the wrong direction to create slack. I also found myself in agreement with the statement that the front bolt can be tricky to install. Thanks for the video!
Excellent video, all the detail you need to do the job, and you illustrate it's a pretty easy job. Thank you.
Good video
A good video. In my case, I broke the alternator lock bolt when changing the alternator (serpentine) belt on my 2003 Sienna van. The remaining stud is seized in the alternator and extends into the curved slot of the adjuster bracket. Tried to remove the alternator but could not easily remove it due to the remaining stud being in the slot. Thought the van was dead in the water and heading for an expensive repair. Someone advised in Toyota Nation that the tensioner and lock bolts are not needed to hold the alternator in place and that a properly tightened pivot bolt will do the job alone (like on old vehicles). As advised, we took a steel pipe (as I did not have a long pry bar) and lifted the alternator to put the correct amount of tension on the new serpentine belt. Tightened the pivot bolt to 41 ft-lbs. My son says I went further than that as he observed I had tightened a bit more past the click sound of the torque wrench. Since the top of the lock bolt had fallen off, I removed tension bolt and metal block. The remaining stud had two threads extending past the adjuster bracket and for good measure installed a flat nut and was careful not to over tighten that. The belt is tight, hard to turn beyond 45 degrees. Took it out for a highway drive to a town half an hour away and so far the serpentine belt is holding well. If I can find someone who can drill out the lock nut stud without removing the alternator, I will simply install a bolt with lock nut/washer to further secure the alternator and rely on using a ply pry bar to lift the alternator for belt tension. If I ever have to replace the alternator, will use the pry bar method to tension the belt and install a bolt and lock washer instead of the lock bolt and tension bolt combination. Posted this on Toyota Nation.
Thank you so much for teaching me how to take out my alternator, you just save me $500 for my mechanic.
Based comment.
Good for you.
Watched your video and easily changed the alternator on my grandson's 2000 Avalon. Thanks for the how to.
This helped me, help my husband 😂 I took it out for him to cut the time in half since he works all day. Now it will take him less time to put new one in! Thanks so much. I also learned that his tools are so disorganized 😂 shit everywhere idk how he does it 😂
ty, i have an xle Camry 2004, i couldn't find the tensioner bolt because all the videos have 4 cylinder and its on the side, then i saw this and my Camry has the same engine as this Avalon. ty!!!!!! I was so confused
Great Video... just installed one. One thing it seems to work a lot better to start with the bottom bolt when re-installing the Alternator. I would highly recommend loosening the 12 mm bolt adjacent to the bottom bolt that allows a little slack in the bottom bracket ( it is mentioned in this video).. Follow the instruction in the video but do not put in the top bolt first.. you will be able to manipulate the unit and with a flash light can see the bottom screwed and direct it in the hole. It is also possible to remove the long belt tightening screw from the block and bottom bolt screw assembly. This make it much easier to reassemble in my opinion. It took me nearly five hours to do this job.. I could do the next one in 30 minutes. So if you start with the bottom bolt all should go smoothly.. trying to find the bottom hole and to make everything line up blind is exceedingly difficult.. good luck.
I'm about to re put in the alternator and I will follow your advice....VERY little room to work with....
Yeah, you are right. It's nearly impossible to thread that lock bolt back in with the tensioner bolt still in the little block. I was getting frustrated and remembered your comment. I did partially install the top pivot bolt just so the alternator would line up correctly, because the bottom mounting points need to line up with the slot in the bracket down there. I just pulled up on the bottom of the alternator so it was up a little higher on the bracket so I could get my gorilla fingers in there.
I have a question do i have to swap the round part that holds the belt. If its not the same size?? My oem alternator looks smaller then the new one
Good video, thanks for the extra hints. Reminds me I've had "Installing a higher amperage alternator onto my ES300" on my to-do list for the last few years. The 100 amp alternator of this Avalon would be a nice upgrade over the stock 80 amp of my 01 ES300, however there are also 1/3MZ-FE RX300/Highlander alternators that provide 130AMP and are a drop in replacement for V6 camrys/avalon's/ES300's/330's of this era, and the install procedure is the same as in this video.
Hey when trying to put the bottom lock bolt on I can’t for the life of me get the bolt to thead straight. It wants to thread at a 45 into the alternator. Do you have any tips?
Great detail. Good view of all parts/bolts. Just what I needed.
Great video, thanks for sharing
Thank you so much. I am confident to do it now.
What if after installation and putting proper tension on the belt I'm getting a weird scrape/rub sound. I've checked the belt and pulleys and everything looks straight. It only occurs over 40 mph. Anything helps! This was an 04 camry v6
That's a tough one, I guess it could be something wrong with the new alternator, but that should be noticeable even when stopped if you rev the engine. If it were me, I would probably try to diagnose the noise by having someone in the car put the car in gear and with foot on the brake pedal (and parking brake applied) rev the engine a little. And/or you can turn on the headlights and the a/c to generate a load on the engine which might make it easier to find the noise...
Definitely don't stand in front of the car when doing this.
Best of luck figuring it out!
-Dan the Fix it Man
Hey, I can't figure out how to get the plastic tab off. Any ideas why it's not coming off?
Do not drink before you do this.
Im getting the dreaded pulsating lights on my 03 Avalon is it true there's no fix to this? New battery, alternator added more ground wires..i pulled the AF sensor 25 amp fuse it stopped thats what people are saying there's does its a Toyota engineering fault both sensors operate at the same time draws to much current causes pulsating when the heating elements in the sensors are in operation
my battery light came on today and my car stalled and had trouble starting. I feel like this is the problem, could it be it?
Possibly, yes. It would be pretty easy to test it with a voltmeter. Most auto parts stores can test it for you as long as you can get it there. Best of luck to you.
Hi. Is there any chance you would do a short video to i.d. where the bank 1 and bank 2 O2 sensor modes are on a 2004 Avalon XLS? I'm getting ODBII 135 and 155 codes along with a Christmas light display on the dash, and can only find online guidance for '03 and '05 models that don't match my car. If you can do, heartfelt thanks are in order.
Did you ever figure out what was wrong I’m in the same boat today
Thanks
Is it the same on and 03??
Yes, it’s the same.
Thx for watching!
-Dan the Fix it Man
How can u tell the alternator is going bad without the use of sn ob2 2 scanner ?
You can tell by the battery light coming on and if your driving if the alternator is bad your car will slow down and the lights will be dim. Also if you jump the battery and the car only drives a tiny bit then dies you know it’s the alternator. You can tell by the voltage when you test the battery while the car is running the alternator voltage should be at 14.20 volts if it drops below 13 volts and lower your alternator is bad!
You can take your car to one of the major parts stores and they will test your alternator and battery for you for free. You can also remove the alternator and take it to the store and they can bench test it for you in the store. Also, you can take a multimeter and touch the probes to the terminals of the battery and check the voltage while the engine is running. My voltage regulator was bad and it was putting out something like 13 volts
My battery light is staying on and the car almost died on me is this the problem?
Most likely yes, and/ or the connections might need cleaning or cables replacing.
Best of luck to you!
-Dan the Fix it Man
@@DantheFixitMan got mines done and replaced now the car runs great thanks for the video man wouldn’t of been able to do it without ya help
@@felixalicea9326 no worries, glad to hear that you got it fixed!
Take care,
-Dan the Fix it Man
cant believe they want to charge me 500 dollars to do this job. looks like i just need to get some tools and do it myself.
What year is that car
2004
Thx for watching
Whoever commented saying to take the adjustment/tensioning screw out is right. I think I had to do the same thing on a Camry. When you take that bottom lock bolt out it's easy to get out, put putting it back in is a royal pain. It's hard to see down there and the alternator and the bracket has to be lined up perfectly. It was raining here so I just backed the adjustment/tension bolt all the way out until it came out of the little block. I put the new alternator in place and reinstalled the top pivot bolt enough to hold the alternator in place, I completely removed the pivot bolt bracket like he did in the video. Then I screwed the lock bolt into the tensioner block, and I lined it up with the bottom bracket and the alternator hole and threaded it in. Make sure you point the hole for the tension bolt towards the front of the car on that little block, you can just rotate it. Slip your belt over all 3 pulleys. Once I was happy that the lock bolt was threading properly, I snugged it down almost all the way. Then I reinstalled that super long tensioning bolt and snugged it down until I was happy the belt was tight. Then I snugged down the lock bolt, and reinstalled the pivot bracket at the top (like he did at the end of the video). Reinstalled the cables, and you are done. Make sure you top off the battery with your battery charger before putting the battery cables back on and you should be good to go.