Alternator duct?

N8wrx

New member
Not sure where else to put this question...

I did some forums searching to see if the alternator duct was truly needed or one of those OMG we put it there for no reason OEM items. Well I did see one guy had a engine fire caused by the removal I think? So safe to say it might be needed (not sure about in my location NH as it pretty much his 90 on the hottest day of the year).

My ultimate question is that if I do indeed NEED this is there 1) a possible way to remove it? (Moving the alternator away from the turbo some how, a different more efficient alternator from a different car?, Some other less ugly/ engine bay clean way to cool the stock one) Anyone attempted anything like this? Curious to see pictures of setups if you have or opinions on what you all think. My duct has almost 200k and is well.... less than beautiful.
 

1337computing

New member
I've been running mine without it for over a year but not my DD. The duct bracket by the radiator actually put a pinhole in my rad because I didn't have it fully seated on the alternator, so it got pulled asap. When you do remove it the positive and negative terminals are exposed so if you hit it with anything metal it will spark and possibly shock you. You could rig something up to neatly cover the post.
 

mx6er2587

New member
From anecdotal evidence alone it seems like the duct is important for alternator life. People who run without them (myself included) seem to have more and more frequent alternator failures. I know I've killed two. Is it unsafe to run without it? Probably not. Is it wise to use one? Probably
 

WarTowels

Active member
N8wrx":3ptjl0ba said:
Not sure where else to put this question...

I did some forums searching to see if the alternator duct was truly needed or one of those OMG we put it there for no reason OEM items. Well I did see one guy had a engine fire caused by the removal I think? So safe to say it might be needed (not sure about in my location NH as it pretty much his 90 on the hottest day of the year).

My ultimate question is that if I do indeed NEED this is there 1) a possible way to remove it? (Moving the alternator away from the turbo some how, a different more efficient alternator from a different car?, Some other less ugly/ engine bay clean way to cool the stock one) Anyone attempted anything like this? Curious to see pictures of setups if you have or opinions on what you all think. My duct has almost 200k and is well.... less than beautiful.

Guess who has one (if you don't already) :D
 

zaluss

Member
I have one but it makes contact with the downpipe for Gen3. Needless to say, it would be a melted rubber mess if I utilized it.
 

N8wrx

New member
haha Towels!

I have one its just ehhhh. I might make something custom that just looks better to be honest. I really want to eliminate anything thats not needed to clean up the bay if possible. I figure if i cap off the connection with some rubber covers like the battery is done then I might be fine. It wont be daily driven. Not sure what route ill go with this at the moment, just looking to make some discussion on removing it and seem i have some good feedback so far. Thanks everyone! :)
 
Ran without one for years because my cars did not come with them and went through alternators on turbo and Non-turbo celicas. I have not lost an alternator since I started running one.... That being said it looks like I will need to try to re-route or custom make one up if I want one in my DD now because the Intercooler and pipe are right in the way.
A minimum is atleast keeping the heat shield part of it on there, I mean its right next to the exhaust on the head so I am sure it heat soaks plenty that way (not to mention the radiant heat), but its better than nothing.
You can clean it up real good and apply a new layer of fresh Aluminum tape to the heat-shield part to pretty it up that is what I did =D Then just clean the rubber boot up and at-least run those if not the section that spans the radiator.
Toyota engineers knew what they were doing bottom line.
 
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