1993 Camry- Alternator noise?

[brianjrealtor]

getting some "sqeulling' from the alternator....

it still works great and cranks out the proper electricity for specs..(surprisingly, this is the original alternator and has 290K miles on it!!!)

How much longer do I have before this one goes out now that i noticed the noise? I assume the bearing is going out...

Is there a cheap fix for this?- spray with lube? change the bearing?


any thoughts??
Brian

[uibalnme]

Are you sure it's the alternator, or is it the belt slipping? If it's the alt, the easiest, and most reliable fix is to replace it. If you're going to open it up to replace the bearings, you may as well replace the brushes. At that point you're rebuilding the alt. You can just get a re-manufactured alternator, and swap it out in 15mins. which is exactly what I did a few weeks ago.

[brianjrealtor]

Originally Posted by uibalnme

Are you sure it's the alternator, or is it the belt slipping? If it's the alt, the easiest, and most reliable fix is to replace it. If you're going to open it up to replace the bearings, you may as well replace the brushes. At that point you're rebuilding the alt. You can just get a re-manufactured alternator, and swap it out in 15mins. which is exactly what I did a few weeks ago.

how long do I have before it conks out? a few weeks? month or two?

???

[uibalnme]

Hard to say. Mine let go at 173K. Yours is already at 290K. If it really is the alternator, why wait until it dies. I'd just replace it now.