My 86 pickup with a 22r has the charge and brake lamps on the dash lit up like a Pollish church on Christmas. I have 14 volts at the battery and the master cylinder is full of fluid. This is not an SR5 truck, but I think the PO swapped in an SR5 cluster at some point, because it has a tach and a temp gauge. The oil pressure gauge does not seem to work and the fuel gauge may not be reading correctly. Any ideas of what to look for? I'm really chomping at the bit to get this truck back on the road very soon, so any advice would help out greatly. Thanks.

Whenever the charging system has a malfunction, the "brake" warning light comes on as well as the "charge" light on Toyotas. Don't know why they did that. I suspect you have an alternator malfunction. If the previous owner swapped in an SR-5 instrument cluster and did not change the oil pressure SWITCH to an oil pressure SENDER, it can ruin your gauge, I hear. I upgraded to the SR-5 cluster in my base model 86 4Runner and changed the switch to a sender and all was well. I notice that the fuel gauge holds its reading even after the ignition is turned off.

for what its worth, every time i have had the charge and the brake light on its been the alternator..

x2

If it's the original stock alternator.....
KEEP IT.

All you need to do is replace the contacts.

1 phillips screw on the back of the alt, and a $15 set of contacts will do you for another 100,000 miles <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

You mean "brushes" not contacts

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/alternator_brushes/

And if you're handy with a soldering gun and if you have an auto electric shop nearby that rebuilds starters and alternators, you can buy a pair of alternator brushes for about $2 and fix it cheap 'n easy. I agree that the stock alternator is best, and unless it's overheated or abused [in which case the rectifier assembly could be burned up] they just need a set of brushes to go another 100K.

Yep, sorry for any confusion. I've done 3 Alternator "brushes" and approx 6 starter "contacts".
My rig, only once each. The rest is family and friends.

Sorry for the hijack, but might be related.

When you guys say to keep the stock alternator, does this mean aftermarket high output alternators are inferior? Can the stock alternator handle high powered amped sound systems? My sound system is pretty mediocre - not that tasking.

I've been having problems with the stock alternator going bad (I went through 2 already in 1 year - should have done the brushes). I went ahead and bought high output alt and now the output is too low at idle (I have to turn off stereo at stop-and-go traffic - totally mickey mouse). Battery is good (red top), maybe something else is wrong with my charging system?

I also shredded another fan belt 2 days ago (that's twice in a year) and blew out the radiator. I've heard that burned out fan belts heat up the grease on the alt bearings and messes them up. Might just put back the stock alt after I do the brushes. What you guys think? This is all very stressful, especially during the holidays (sob).

Likely.



No.



I'd look at the brushes, wiring, then voltage regulator in that order.



Check the alignment of the pulleys. Check that they are in the same plane and also not twisted in relationship to each other.

Seeing you have the stock alternator I'd check it's brushes and replace them if needed. Then I'd install it. You would likely then have proper charging for no radio operation. Until you can figure out why, and correct, it's fan belt shredding problem I'd keep a set of spares in the truck.