Hello if anybody could help me please.
I have 96 rav4 2 ltr petrol that I like very much but have been having a few problems with lately.
this problem started when I started my rav the starter was staying spinning while engine running and when unplugged the alternator it seemed ok and didn’t do that again but did notice it wasn’t charging correctly and the alternator was getting very hot" so hot spit would sizzle on it after only a few mins of running".
Disconnect the alternator and it cools down again. I bought a new alternator from America and was surprisingly cheap as a new one from England was £220.00 and from a manufacturing company who makes them in the us was about £85.00 and that’s including delivery $105.00 and some more $ for postage with warranty and they sent as a sample so I can claim the import tax what was about £25.00 back.
anyway I fitted the new alternator all fine and noticed it still gets steaming hot very fast after five mins of running.
The only thing I could think of to cause that much load to make it that hot was the starter maybe shorting out so I started the car then disconnected the feeds to the starter.
it still gets very hot very quick and cools down as soon as you disconnect it and seems to cause a lot of drag on the engine as soon as its plugged in and I doubt there is anything else on the car that could use this much current to make it run under such a load and it doesn’t flatten the battery for a long time running without it plugged in so I guess the load isn’t there when its not plugged in. im thinking its possibly something telling the alternator to be on maximum charge all the time so is there a relay somewhere that is like a regulator that is stuck on full. Please help im baffled and also it has got a leak that fills the driver’s side foot well I cannot find where it comes from if this is a common fault as well. Could water be in a relay under the driver’s side foot well somewhere and cause the alternator problem?

About 8 years ago (when i was in the trade) we had a celica come in, it had a problem when you started the car, the started motor would keep running, the customer had left it like this for a few weeks and when it came in to be fixed the alternator had also packed up, in the case of the celica it was a faulty ignition switch (the electrical bit) which was shorting out, after replacing that and the alternator it was as good as new.
I'm not saying its your cure, but the ignition switch could be a good place to start looking .

sounds like a short across the starter motor or the relay/motor sticking, (thisis built into starter motor )recommend you change the starter motor. the regulator is built into the alternator and should be good.sort it soon have known wiring to catch fire due to to high current running through it. thats how an electric heater works.

its deffo not the starter as i started the car and disconected the big power cable to the starter and the wire to the soleniod and it still got hot i think next step is check the ignition switch ,,,i have managed to fix the leak and a relay had got water in it and rusty so ive put a new one in to check that and it hasnt solved the problem. back to the drawing board.

apparently according to toyota on the model of rav4 i have the alternators do get very hot and the later ones have something else added to it to stop the problem. does anybody know what this is so maybe i can modify mine.