Alternators suck!!!

[99RegalGS]

Yesterday I cheanged the alternator in the Cutlass. WHAT A PITA!!!!! It took me a good 6-7 hours of work. And the best part is that the NEW alternator is BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll never buy an aftermarket alternator again!! And now I'm forced to drive the 80hp tracker untill I get it off.

[slick]

Boy, that sucks. Do you get a refund on that alt then?

[digitaloutsider]

Alternators on 3.4's are fun fun fun! [dances]

[99RegalGS]

Boy, that sucks. Do you get a refund on that alt then?

When I get it out and one they test it to make sure it's bad I'll ask for a refund.

[cutlsp]

this is why you always have them test the new alternator before you walk out the door oh and it seems like what mine did.

 

about 2 years ago i had my alternator go out on the way home. i went and got it towed home. got a new alternator it started up and no problems i thought. well 2 weeks later the new one burnt up :shock: thank god for lifetime warrenty

[DiscoStudd]

In my experience with the crappy GM "CS" style alternators, I've found NAPAs alternators to have the greatest longevity. If you pay the extra 25 bucks or whatever you get the lifetime warranty to boot. I had a NAPA alternator last 4 years in my old Cavalier, and when it finally went out they gave me a new one no questions asked.

[99RegalGS]

this is why you always have them test the new alternator before you walk out the door

I didn't think I needed to. And this is the first alternator that I had bought at a store. When the alt went out on my Regal I just took it somewhere to be rebuilt. I should have done that this time. Oh well.

 

In my experience with the crappy GM "CS" style alternators, I've found NAPAs alternators to have the greatest longevity. If you pay the extra 25 bucks or whatever you get the lifetime warranty to boot. I had a NAPA alternator last 4 years in my old Cavalier, and when it finally went out they gave me a new one no questions asked.

Maybe I'll try Napa then. The one I got was a CarQuest alternator.

[phantomshado]

I've never had good luck with car quest, especially the local one, they rape you on everything. A slimjim, not the "food", the lock picker, was 14 bucks. Oh well, I made a friend buy it since I was using it to break into his car that he left running.

[DOHCRagtopguy]

Fuck all that, take it to a rebuilder. A good one will do it in a day and only charge you around $80 and put all HD stuff in there.

 

Much cheaper that way and you KNOW it's good.

[Canada]

It helps a lot if you have a hoist and air tools (big ones).

[z34_nut]

napa fucked me over last time i baught an alt. for my 3.4...

 

 

what happened is they gave me an alt. with a smaller diameter pully... and i didn't think anything of it really, moslty cause i was pissed the the first one went, so i just kinda threw it in there.

 

later that night all i heard was KABOOM!!! and peices of the alt seriously went every-where, cause obviously it was spinning waaay to fast with the smaller pully.

 

anyway good thing i baught the lifetime warrenty one , they gave me the right one with a big opps, but they said they would have given me the right one even if i didn't get the warrenty.

 

point is third time i did it, it took 2.5-3 hours. not bad really.

[bigbill23se]

DiscoStudd wrote:

In my experience with the crappy GM "CS" style alternators, I've found NAPAs alternators to have the greatest longevity. If you pay the extra 25 bucks or whatever you get the lifetime warranty to boot. I had a NAPA alternator last 4 years in my old Cavalier, and when it finally went out they gave me a new one no questions asked.

 

 

napa does make a good product. very reliable a little more oney but its well worth it!! all stuff like that from napa is pretty good and reliable

[supreme_style21]

In most cases with them, you get what you pay for. My work sells 2 different types of alternators. Ones a 'white box' item.. basically no-name junk.. but its cheap. The other brand name alternator is obviously more expensive, but comes with a lifetime warranty. The brand name is brand new guts on the inside. The cheaper one .. well whatever was wrong was fixed, and the rest of the components are used. People want cheap, so we sell it. We specifically tell them the differences just so they know it'll probably fail shortly after being put in the car.

[99RegalGS]

Fuck all that, take it to a rebuilder. A good one will do it in a day and only charge you around $80 and put all HD stuff in there.

 

Much cheaper that way and you KNOW it's good.

I'll probably do that If I can get my old alternator back.

 

It helps a lot if you have a hoist and air tools (big ones).

Oh I had air tools after about 2 hours.

 

what happened is they gave me an alt. with a smaller diameter pully.

Actually the alt I got had a larger pulley. lol

 

In most cases with them, you get what you pay for. My work sells 2 different types of alternators. Ones a 'white box' item.. basically no-name junk.. but its cheap. The other brand name alternator is obviously more expensive, but comes with a lifetime warranty. The brand name is brand new guts on the inside. The cheaper one .. well whatever was wrong was fixed, and the rest of the components are used. People want cheap, so we sell it. We specifically tell them the differences just so they know it'll probably fail shortly after being put in the car.

The alt I got was $120 and I hope it was the better one. lol

 

I'm going to pull if off tomorrow and hopefully everything goes well...

[Brian P]

In most cases with them, you get what you pay for. My work sells 2 different types of alternators. Ones a 'white box' item.. basically no-name junk.. but its cheap. The other brand name alternator is obviously more expensive, but comes with a lifetime warranty. The brand name is brand new guts on the inside. The cheaper one .. well whatever was wrong was fixed, and the rest of the components are used. People want cheap, so we sell it. We specifically tell them the differences just so they know it'll probably fail shortly after being put in the car.

 

....pep boys?

[supreme_style21]

In most cases with them, you get what you pay for. My work sells 2 different types of alternators. Ones a 'white box' item.. basically no-name junk.. but its cheap. The other brand name alternator is obviously more expensive, but comes with a lifetime warranty. The brand name is brand new guts on the inside. The cheaper one .. well whatever was wrong was fixed, and the rest of the components are used. People want cheap, so we sell it. We specifically tell them the differences just so they know it'll probably fail shortly after being put in the car.

 

....pep boys?

 

Nope.. CSK Auto.

 

And for that price, it outta be the lifetime one.

[digitaloutsider]

As said before, there are three types of alternators.

 

Rebuilt = Problem fixed, that's it.

Remanufactuered = New internals in an old housing. Few parts actually reused.

New = Obvious.

 

I usually always get a Reman. AC Delco. No major problems with 'em.

[supreme_style21]

As said before, there are three types of alternators.

 

Rebuilt = Problem fixed, that's it.

Remanufactuered = New internals in an old housing. Few parts actually reused.

New = Obvious.

 

I usually always get a Reman. AC Delco. No major problems with 'em.

 

I wish the general public would understand that. No matter how clearly we explain it, they don't get it. And when this cheap shitty alternator goes out, they get pissed at us. Fuck.. if you wanna be a cheapass and buy junk, live with it.

 

There are the occassional alternators that go out the door bad. Its part of being human.

[Smoke1991]

I forgot where i bought my alt from, but i paid about 50 bucks for it, for my 3.1, it was a remanufactured one, and it came with a lifetime warranty. i did pay my friend who now works at Benz to install it for me for 40 bucks, plus a ride out to where my car craped out. But anyway. Not one problem with it yet, and i beat the living shit outa my car.

 

ALso Brain, havent had a chance to get down there so you guys can fix my car, been busy trying to get stuff settled out, ive been taking a train into brooklyn at my job site for the past few weeks, almost done with this machine install, and ill get my car fixed.

[midnight rider]

i alaways get the lifetime alt. and make them test them at the store when i buy before I go thru the trouble of putting it on only to discover its shit. I've avoided problems 4 times by making them test it before i left.

[99RegalGS]

Today when I get my new alternator it will be tested before I leave.

 

Now the fun begins.

[White93z34]

haha i must be asking for trouble, i put in a used reman alt in my car! 18,000 miles and no problems so far.

[Lumina_z34]

I just put a new AC delco alt in my 3.4 today it took 6 hours and gave me many cuts and scrapes on my hands which were all filled with dirt oil and grease.

[WhiteOut]

There are the occassional alternators that go out the door bad. Its part of being human.

 

Umm...actually thats called bad quality control. I work in QC for a company that makes drugs and if I let the occassional bad batch go out I'd not only get my ass chewed, but charges could be pressed. So if we can get something as complicated as drug formulations right, I should hope some morron could test an alternator to make sure it works before it gets sold.

[Brian P]

I bought a spare used alternator off egay and keep it in my trunk. Takes 4 minutes to install if it should ever fail.