Alternator Bearings

[Chip]

my 2002 ES 300 started making a noise I beleive is coming from the alternator and suspect it may have bad bearings. the car has 120K on it. What is the usual or expected life for alternator bearings on these cars and has anyone had expereince rebuilding theirs vs buying a new or a rebuilt and the costs they encountered?

thanks.

Chip?

[SRVCM]

by the time you spend all the time to remove the alt and change the bearing it may be cheaper and less time consuming to just replace the alternator. Unless you have specific knowledge or want to play around why bother? Hell who am I, if you find out the bearing size and can find it pretty cheap and have access to a bearing press it may be cheaper to just replace the bearings. Let me know what you come up with ide like to file that away for a day when I get to that point.

[lenore]

I went to Park Place Lexus in Plano Texas and ordered bearings and brushes for my RX300 Alterntor. Was less than $45 for all the parts including shipping. I was able to successfully rebuild it, of course I have done this before . My car had around 120k on it, one of the bearings was a little dry and would make a light noise while spinning it in your hand. I just did this as a preventative measure, not for any problem.

[Chip]

thanks guys but it turned out to be the water pump. it had a bad bearing that made a growling sound.

luckily I had the water pump changed when they did the cam belt at 100K so it was under waranty