Preventively replacing my starter and alternator?

My 2010 Tundra with 168,000 miles has been the most trouble free vehicle I have ever owned. It is my everyday driver and over the years I have taken it to some pretty remote locations.

I friggin' love my truck and I want to get another 10 years out of it, and I also want to continue using it on remote camping a fishing trips.

Along those lines, I'm wondering if I should preventively start replacing parts that could leave me dead in the water if they were to fail; particularly if they were to fail in the remote backcountry.

I was wondering if I should replace my 10 year old starter and alternator?

I was also wondering, if I do replace the alternator, should I replace it with a more powerful unit like the Mechman in the link below.

I just installed a Northstar battery and it is my understanding a more powerful alternator will charge it more completely (there are other ways to do this with changing fuses as well), and possibly a dual battery and a refrigerator might be in my future.

I'm big into prevention so I'm thinking this might be a prudent thing to do.

Thanks for your help.

https://www.mechman.com/alternators...010-2012/s-series-240-amp-alt-for-toyota-5-7/

 

I don't know that I would replace anything that is not failing or has failed, but buying replacement parts cheap now so you have them on hand later is not a bad idea.

That alternator requires a slightly shorter drive belt, so you need to have one of those handy.

 

Because they both require a tad bit of work (specially the starter), I would only put on OEM parts if you want to jump the gun. Most aftermarket rebuilds are junk and wont last too long.

Pay once, cry once. Or wait til it craps out to replace. There is no magic mileage/date marker.

 

I might buy a starter, might.....but I dang sure wouldn't do that replacement unless I absolutely had to.

 

Having concerns more for the starter,; cost of repair and not diy for many. I have thought about calling around for best pricing to know where to have towed if an when the time comes.

That said, if you have the means to get them changed I would consider with oem. New oem may not be same quality of original.

Maybe call a dealership or two and ask their opinion about replacing.

Good luck!

 

I have AAA so if anything happens they can tow my ass home. I'm not sure if they can help if you're stuck in the woods somewhere.

 

Unless you're camping on the moon with no cell service, preemptive replacement of parts to insure reliability of an old vehicle is a bad idea imo. Attempting to replace parts just before they wear out will be an ineffective waste of money, because something else you didn't think of will fail and leave you marooned.

To execute this kind of preventative maintenance program, you would need to be VERY familiar with the approximate service life of ALL critical components. Even individuals in the business do not have the kind of knowledge and experience to predict failure of any given component on any given model Toyota. If your life will depend on your vehicle's reliability, you should consider getting a newer vehicle with fewer miles/years on it. If you're young enough to put up with a little inconvenience, drive it until it breaks.

 

if you have the money, plan on keeping the truck for yrs more and it helps your piece of mind, then there's nothing wrong with preemptive replacements imo. i do it for some things and it helps me worry less and i'm sure it has saved me from some headache at an inopportune time. who wants to deal with a starter or alternator issue when you're camping, boating, vacationing, etc. def not me.

for these two parts, i'd stay with oem.

 

I’ve thought about doing this as well for peace of mind. I thought I was the only crazy one lol.

 

My ‘01 Corolla commuter has 416,500 km on the original starter, I swapped in a low-mile used OE Denso alternator at 390,000 just ‘cause I found a good deal on one at Pick’n’pull. I bought the fuel pump from that car too, tossed it in with my spare tire. But I’m still running on the original.

Starters usually give a bit of a warning sign - clicks with no cranks, etc, and can most often be smacked to get another start or two out of them. If an alternator goes, and you have a good battery, you should have about an hour of run time running on bare necessities.

I’d say let’er’buck. The parts you have are proven good. New stuff can fail too.

 

I just got my new 270 amp alternator from DC Engineering for my audio build. Mechman alts reduce the pully size which is why I went with DC.

From the Mechman link OP posted:

S Series
Installation Notes:

This unit comes equipped with a smaller 1.75 inch diamter alternator pulley, and will require a slightly shorter drive belt for proper belt tension.

 

If the money is burning a hole in your pocket and it gives you peace of mind, why not? Like others said, use OEM for the Starter.

 

I think if you called them ahead of time, and let them know what you were up to, they may be able to accomodate you. Premium AAA is costly, but as long as you arn t too deep in the woods, they may be able to help.

 

I picked up a oem started last year and keep under my rear seat as a spare. Just wanted to have a oem on hand in case it failed on me and parts weren’t immediately available

I have 250k on my tundra and haven’t had any issues with starter or alternator

 

It's a gamble to buy any of these parts unless you buy them from a dealer. I've heard too many stories of "rebuilt" electrical parts being dead out of the box.
That would really suck on a 4.7 if you replaced the starter and the "new" one was bad.

 

I'd rather have the 10 year old OE starter or alternator that are still working than put aftermarket ones on it. I would however, buy them and keep in the garage for when you need them.

Just get towing added to your insurance.

 

I didn't realize there was a Premier AAA.

A few years ago my buddy required a tow and his car was a few miles up a dirt road at a trailhead.

He was a member of AAA, but they said they wouldn't leave paved roads.

Maybe they would've came if he had the Premier AAA.

 

There is an RV Premiere policy too which I have that will do special wonderful things beyond the standard for RVs!

 

My Tundra starter sounded bad the 3-4 days leading up to it failing at around 237k miles.

 

The way it sounds; removing/replacing alternator on a 5.7 sucks azz. 5 hours seems to be average time. Has anyone done it? I found a writeup here . It looks like removing the radiator reduces the time a bit, but i m tempted to let a shop do it.

 

My voltage was fluctuating according to my scan gauge, so I was sure the alternator was failing. In addition, the cruise control will not function properly when the voltage drifts.

I just had to do it. It does suck ass. Fan, fan shroud, drain the coolant so you can remove the rad hose to get the shroud out of the way. I was tempted to leave the rad in place, but I took it out so I would not accidentally damage it. I've got that T-shirt. It's only 4 more bolts to remove the rad.

Still with me? Now you get to unbolt the power steering pump from the block to get at the alternator. Those bolts and the alternator bolts are still hard to get at.

It took me 6 hours.

I have a lift and it still sucked.

I took the damn thing to Auto Zone to get the old one tested. it came back as functional. Fuqu that noise, I ordered a new one from the dealer. That much trouble I'm replacing it.

 

Mine have been trouble free for 20 yrs. I would find something else to work on.

 

This^^^. I did buy a replacement Aisin water pump NIB. Don't need it but was $25. Certainly not going to swap in when current pump is working fine and not leaking. I'm a long time believer in not fixing something that's not broke. Not logically sound imho.