1987 Toyota Corolla LE from North America - Comments

Thank you all - I thought I was fighting a rare problem I caused myself! I have a 1991 Corolla that my daughter-in-law ran out of oil and spun a bearing. I replaced the engine with a used 1500cc engine from Japan (bought over i-net) and it's been running good for several thousand miles.

The alternator light and the brake light have started coming on together, first occasionally, now constantly. Until yesterday, no other problems, but I needed a jump to get it going yesterday after work. The lights were off on the way home, except when the RPMs dropped at idle. It started fine this morning, but the lights were on again. I don't know what it'll do after work today.

At least now I have a place to start - sounds like I need to check the battery (it sat, charged, in my garage for 3 years... then started the current motor and has seemed to be fine) then the alternator and finally look for an intermittent short. I'll add to this post after I fix (hopefully) the problem. In the old days we used to have to polarize the alternators - or was it generators... who knows. Anyway - thank you all!

Mike - Bristol, VA

I think this is the answer you are looking for..

Http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3828/is_199905/ai_n8827808.

Foreign service

Motor, May 1999 by Marinucci, Dan

Joint venture NUMMI cars can give you diagnostic fits if you're unfamiliar with the different alternators and terminal arrangements used. Dan explains.

There are three basic lessons to be learned from this month's column. First, "foreign" cars aren't always, well...foreign. Second, alternators aren't always what they appear to be. Third, the reputation of your electrical supplier affects your ability to fix a vehicle correctly the first time without creating frustrating new problems.

The first lesson concerns this month's topic car, the popular Toyota Corolla. Any technician can identify a Corolla. But in our experience, few techs realize that the typical Corolla they see was built in Fremont, California. The factory there, a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors called NUMMI (New United Motors Manufacturing, Inc.), has been building Corollas since the mid-1980s. Chevrolet also sold Fremont-built Corollas, first as the Nova and later as the Prizm.

In the early '90s, NUMMI began boosting the domestic content of its product by installing Delco CS-series alternators on some Corollas and Prizms. Alert technicians eventually discovered that within a given model year, some NUMMI-built cars had the traditional Nippondenso (ND) alternator, while others had the Delco CS-series. The photos below show both setups in actual vehicles (the Delco CS is on the left).

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What's more, eagle-eyed techs noticed details such as the short jumper wiring harness NUMMI used to adapt the CS to the Toyota alternator harness. Although the alternator casting said "Delco" and looked like a Delco, it carried a Toyota-like decal identifying its terminals with common Nippondenso markings-S, IG and L. We'll explain these terminals in a moment.

Alas, foreign-car techs also learned about the CS alternator's checkered service record-- something their domestic counterparts and the remanufacturing industry already knew. Regular MOTOR readers probably remember that my colleague, Mike Dale, discussed both the CS-series design and its replacement (the CS 130D) in his July '95 Eye On Electronics column. Coincidentally, some Ohio-built Honda products are equipped with the CS 130D, also, but that's a topic for another time.

Something you probably don't know is that a CS-series alternator built for a NUMMI car has a unique, specific voltage regulator that makes it work like a common ND design with terminals S, IG and L. Electrically, the CS series alternator and the Nippondenso are very different. The biggest difference is that the regulator in the popular CS controls the hot side of the field circuit (commonly called a "B" circuit design). Meanwhile, the Nippondenso regulator controls the ground side (commonly called the "A" circuit).

Major remanufacturers offer both Delco CS and ND replacements for Corollas and Prizms. If you prefer to replace the Delco with the ND, just discard the jumper harness and plug the regular harness connector into the alternator. You can replace the ND with the appropriate Delco, but you must install the jumper harness to complete the conversion.

For your information, the Toyota parts network offered replacement Delco alternators only for a short time after the CS-series units first appeared on its NUMMI-built cars. Then it superceded the Delco with the ND, which is the only alternator currently offered for these cars.

Conversion Confusion.

Several customers recently brought NUMMI-built cars to a competent tech we know. Other shops had already worked on these cars, which were all equipped with the Delco CS. Although the alternators seemed to work fine, the charge indicator lights did not (the indicator lights wouldn't turn on with the ignition switch).

The tech soon found that replacing the Delco units with ND alternators solved the problem. This made him wonder if it was possible to replace an ND unit with a CS. As we already explained, it's very possible-provided that the CS has the NUMMI-specific voltage regulator in it.

Our sources in the remanufacturing business said that the likely cause of this alternator light problem was that the other shops installed reman or rebuilt Delco alternators equipped with the wrong voltage regulators. They went on to say that it's not uncommon for an uninformed rebuilder to see a NUMMI-type Delco CS and mistakenly assume that it takes a conventional CS voltage regulator!

Troubleshooting Tips.

Let's assume a NUMMI-built Corolla or Prizm has the correct alternator. If so, it should work like a common Japanese car with an S-IG-L terminal Nippondenso alternator. First, the S (Sense) terminal should be battery voltage under all conditions. Second, the L (Lamp) terminal should ground the alternator light, turning on the light with the key on/engine off or when the alternator isn't charging with the engine running. If the alternator charges properly with the engine running, L ungrounds the alternator light, turning it off.

The ND alternator initially sources its field current directly from the battery through the alternator output terminal (B+). When the engine starts and the alternator begins charging, the alternator output circuit sends current out to the battery through B+ and internally to the field circuit.

You will have to go to the web page for the rest of the article.

I just bought a 1993 Toyota Corolla auto trans, but it moves off very slow. I've got the tranny check and it's good. The computer is not sending power to the tranny, so no power is going to the shift solenoid. I've changed 2 computers and still have the problem, it stays in high gear and starts off slow, but speeds up and never changes. The computer don't send a signal to the tranny because the tranny is not getting power to the shift solenoid. I don't if I explained it right. If anybody has any ideas about this, please help help me. Thanks.

My e-mail is rightoussaint@yahoo.com

I have a 1997 Toyota Corolla with 162,000 miles. As most readers have commented, a very reliable car. Recently, the battery light comes on intermittently. When the light comes on, the headlights get brighter and the vent fan inside the car speeds up. I replaced the alternator and battery. I have checked battery terminals and wiring and three ground connections to the engine and chassis. I noticed the hot wire coming off the alternator terminal had about two inches of insulation burnt off it, but the wire seems to be in fairly good shape. I still have the problem with the battery light coming on intemittently. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mark.