Rolla Sportivo Alternator Bearing

[star69]

Hey,

I've had my Tivo for about 3 years now, and about 12 months ago it started making a strange noise. After much searching with CRC and a screwdriver I managed to figure out it was a crack in an alternator bearing. Performance wasn't hampered, but the noise when you're outside the car, or have the bonnet open was quite worrying (I thought it was a belt to start with). Anyway, I replaced the bearings with genuine Toyota bearings and everything was fine again.

Just last week it happened again - it started with a noise that I thought was the belts which can happen as it starts to get a bit colder, but after a little inspection I found again it was a cracked bearing in the alternator.

My questions - has anyone else experienced this? Is it a common problem? What did you do to fix it in your car?

Any advice would be great please, as I don't want to have to replace bearings once a year..

(I have searched the forums and didn't find anything)

[Kenji]

I don't think it's a common problem, like you said, you've searched the whole forums and have found nothing mentioned of it.

It's kinda weird for you to have it happen twice. But that could be just luck, like how I manage to do my ankle quite often playing bball.

[supertownace]

i think you have an alternator housing alignment issue.

if after doing two sets of bearings in a relatively short time then its not the bearings. the bearings used in most alternators are a common size/part.....eg...6202...6203 are common bearing numbers. these bearings cost between $10 and $20 each as a rough ballpark figure.

also check to see if your rotor is bent. it does happen but its not common. the rotor is the bit that spins. sometimes you will get an uneven wear pattern on the slip rings....have a close look there also. another place to inspect is where the bearings fit inside both housings. what you will need to look for is a wavy or rippled pattern where the bearings sit in the housings. this is called "fretting" this is where the bearings spin inside the housing. also...if the bearings just drop into place (they should fit with slight thumb pressure or a GENTLE tap with a SMALL hammer) then the housing is worn...put a little blue loctite where the bearings go inside the housings when you reassemble it.....or replace the housings.

hope this helps

cheers

[star69]

i think you have an alternator housing alignment issue.

if after doing two sets of bearings in a relatively short time then its not the bearings. the bearings used in most alternators are a common size/part.....eg...6202...6203 are common bearing numbers. these bearings cost between $10 and $20 each as a rough ballpark figure.

also check to see if your rotor is bent. it does happen but its not common. the rotor is the bit that spins. sometimes you will get an uneven wear pattern on the slip rings....have a close look there also. another place to inspect is where the bearings fit inside both housings. what you will need to look for is a wavy or rippled pattern where the bearings sit in the housings. this is called "fretting" this is where the bearings spin inside the housing. also...if the bearings just drop into place (they should fit with slight thumb pressure or a GENTLE tap with a SMALL hammer) then the housing is worn...put a little blue loctite where the bearings go inside the housings when you reassemble it.....or replace the housings.

hope this helps

cheers

Thanks very much for your advise, I will give these things a shot tomorrow and let you know how I go.