alternator lasts less than 2 months

[moparjohn]

Yep. you heard it.  I replaced an alternator in March or April, it let go at Gettysburg at the TDC meet, I got another this time at NAPA instead of Autozone, it let go today.  Same problem on all 3 the power lead bolt that comes out the back is loose and the alt. short circuts. Anyone buy an alt. latley that lasts?? I don't want to go though this again, roadside fix ups are a pain even if you have the parts. The car is a 69 w/ the 2 belt A/C pulley.  I highly recomend a spare fuse/link and such if these are the only ones we can get. John

[deputycrawford]

     John, nice to hear from you again. My teenage daughter, Jessie, says hello also. You are her favorite at the Charger meets. Sorry to hear you are having problems. I had one rebuilt by a Chrysler nut that rebuilds starters and alternators for a living. He did a heck of a job, and mine has lasted four years. I hope you find the right guy this time or send me one to be rebuilt. He even has cores laying around and will just send you one. He even steel shot blasts the shell so it looks brand new for quite a long time. He's cheap to Chrysler nuts also. He just likes to see more of them on the road. He considers it doing his part.Let me know.

[Rolling_Thunder]

i purchased mine from a local swap meet...      100A conversion and it has lasted 6 years now...     Sinse its not in my car I put it in my boss's Bird...     makes driving at night alot nicer. 

sorry to hear about your troubles...

[BrianShaughnessy]

My powermaster is about 5 years old now.   

[2Gunz]

Are your sure your not just putting the nut on to tight?

Also make sure something isnt banging into it.

3 of all the same problem seems really fishy.

[JR]

I must have gone thru 10 of the parts store reman in 5 years when  I was daily driving my car. I had one or two do what you describe. I don't know how to make the stupid things work, I'm looking for an aftermarket replacement, or probably running a GM or Toyota one wire alt.

I think the problem with the original alternators if finding a quality rebuilt one. There all 40 plus years old now and have been rebuilt countless times. I don't have good luck with them either.

[70charginglizard]

Yep. you heard it.  I replaced an alternator in March or April, it let go at Gettysburg at the TDC meet, I got another this time at NAPA instead of Autozone, it let go today.  Same problem on all 3 the power lead bolt that comes out the back is loose and the alt. short circuts. Anyone buy an alt. latley that lasts?? I don't want to go though this again, roadside fix ups are a pain even if you have the parts. The car is a 69 w/ the 2 belt A/C pulley.  I highly recomend a spare fuse/link and such if these are the only ones we can get. John

The sugestion I got from Shucks on this problem was on your next new one to place some lock tight on that stud for the power.

thanks....that will help. Not!

I actually got another one from them (shucks) and it was having problems the same day I put it on. I tried swaping the voltage regulator with the extra one I had and found that it wasn't it so I took the new alternator off and brought it in and they put it on there tester at tell me it's fine. I tell them it's not fine it's got to be bad because my alternator gage is all over the place so they tell me to bring the car in with the alternator installed and when I do this they finally admit with it installed on the car that the alternator is bad because it's overcharging the system. So I finally get a replacement and low and behold. It works this time. Of coarse I had to prove myself to these bastards before they'd do it. Lessons learned though I guess. 

[resq302]

John,

I had a similar problem like you.  I was fine tuning my engine trying to adjust the distributor curve and I noticed that the back of my alternator stud was sparking a little.  I checked the tightness of the wire and found it to be loose which was causing it to spark since it was not a good solid contact.   I think that might be the problem that you are having also.  When I pulled the wire off, I noticed that there was no lock washer to hold the nut and wire tight to the alternator stud.  I put a split ring lock washer on there and so far (knock on wood) haven't had any problems. I think I caught mine before it started sparking too bad and really causing an amp draw that would make the fuseable link blow.  Either way, I have the spares that I ordered for you and they will be on their way to you on Monday morning.

Has anyone else had this problem?

[A34]

I saw at the Mopar Nationals, a company is now offering a restoration service for alternators. They are RPM Restoration Parts, but I believe it is more for concourse stuff than daily driver stuff. You might want to check with them. www.rpmrestoparts.com.