Toyota Repair: URGENT 4Runner Charging System Trouble

Question
I am stumped and genuinely need some help. I have a 2005 Toyota 4Runner Sport 4WD V8 Automatic with approximately 155,000 miles. In the last week or so, the charge indicator light on the dash has been intermittent and then beginning this past Thursday, it began to remain constantly illuminated.

I began by cleaning the battery posts and cables, checked grounds and wires, reconnected the battery and started her up. She seemed all good but, as she approached operating temp., the MPG, OAT, Clock display went dark, radio and heat were inoperable and shortly thereafter the tach dropped to zero, the dash lit up like a Christmas tree and she began to sputter and then shut down. An attempted restart resulted in nothing unless I once again disconnected and reconnected the negative batt cable.

I'm in a very precarious situation in life right now and desperately need this vehicle operable but, my situatio is so dire that I simply can't toss a bunch of money at this right now. I've done a great del of research and have received an immense amount of advice such as toss a brush kit in and hope for the best since it's cheaper than replacing the alternator. However, this morning an alternator shop said I was pissing in the wind as it may be the regulator or rectifier bridge.

Needless to say, I am stumped and incredibly stressed at this point and desperately need some professional guidance. I apologize for the length of this but, I would genuinely appreciate any insight that you can provide. Thanks for your time!

Answer
Hello, it does seem like the alternator is not charging the battery back up, the first thing to do is to verify this, you can do this yourself if you have a voltmeter, just check the voltage while the engine is running, should be close to 14 volts, if not replace the alternator, most autoparts stores like autozone also offer to check the charging system at no charge. Once it is determined that the alternator is not charging, replace it with remanufactured part from the parts store or buy one online, the voltage regulator and the rectifiers etc re built into the alternator and are not availblr separately, you may be able to get brushes for it but you are taking a chance that replacing them will not fix the problem and to do so requires disassembly of the alternator which you would probably have to do yourself since most shops do not repair alternators