FYI - Beware of AutoZone reman'd alternators!!!!!

[resq302]

I recently had a potentially bad experience with a reman'd alternator that I had gotten from AutoZone by me on 3/29/07.  Last Friday, I heard a growling noise coming from my alternator, similar to a bearing noise.  I was checking it out as my father raised the engine speed to where the noise was normally heard and all of a sudden I saw sparks coming out in the area of the positive stud in the back of the alternator.

Recently, MoparJohn, had a similar incident while we were out in Gettysburg.  Only his totally fried and burned up some wiring.  Luckily we were able to get it repaired and no one was hurt in the incident other than Tennessee who had some minor surgery to wiring with a quick transplant of an alternator.  John's alternator was not that old either.

Just figured I would give a heads up to everyone else who might have purchased an altnernator lately so they do not suffer the same potential fate as we did.  I was lucky enough to be right there when it started sparking.  Who knows what it could have led to.....

[moparsons]

Awhile back, I had a car burn down due to an alternator from Advance. It was a firebird I'd put a lot of money into. My insurance wouldn't cover it either. It was toast from the fire wall forward. I went round and round with the store, and they basically said I couldn't prove anything. A few months later, when the alternator went out on my 68 plymouth, I decided to take advantage of the lifetime warranty on the previous alternator.    You should have seen the kid's face when I dropped the big charred chunk of metal on the counter and handed him the receipt.

[Ghoste]

I had one from Advance a few years ago that went bad within about two months but I've never heard about them shooting sparks or burning up like that. 

[no318]

We "let the smoke out" of a fuseable link when we turned the key on.  Brand new out of the box reman. alt. for a buddies GTX.  YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.  Cheap is usually CHEAP when it comes to reman.  There is a list of cheap reman parts that l will NOT install for customers: ignition modules, elec. fuel pumps, computers, and alternators.  It does NO good to replace a bad part with a part that may or may not be bad either out of the box or in the next 30 days.  It isn't worth it to me.

[resq302]

The problem is that most places, EVEN DEALERSHIPS, are selling and installing remanufactured things.  A perfect example was my 2005 Hemi Ram quad cab 4x4.  That POS grenaded a power steering pump and the dealership installed a reman'd one.  According to the warranty stipulations, they are allowed to replace it with a new or remanufactured part at their discression.  Needless to say, I grenaded 3 more power steering pumps along with a long list of other problems that nightmare had.

Usually if I have the option of buying a new part versus a reman'd part, I go with the new part.  The problem is, the majority of the serviceable parts on our old cars are no longer being made.  As it was, I picked up an alternator (single pulley) from a local auto parts store to have as a spare just in case the one I rebuilt takes a dump.  Granted, I paid twice what Autozone charged, but I also doubt that this one will fry or spark like the other one did.

[bandit67]

From what I have been told the big auto stores usually carry  the same part in one year warranty or lifetime. The difference is that when cores are brought in, the various parts are checked , if they pass they are reused in the one year. The lifetimes have certain components they are always changed.  Out of the thousands sold there are bound to be many that self destruct.

[Chatt69chgr]

I learned my lesson on "lifetime" alternators a long time ago.  It lasted two months.  After replacing four, I gave up and threw it in the garbage and bought one at NAPA.  Never had a problem with it and I had the car several years after that.

If you have a new car and something like the alternator goes then the best thing to do is have that one rebuilt by a local place in your town that specializes in that.  If you don't want to do that at that time, at least save it to be rebuilt later and get a crappy core at the junkyard to turn in.  Unfortunately, most of these places don't have good rebuilt parts.  They are cheap parts because that is generally what the stupid public wants.  They want that junkheap to last 6 more months until they can find another junkheap so that is what drives the market.

[70sixpkrt]

What would be the part # for an alternator for a 70 charger with a 440 from Napa?

[snicker]

I have gone through two reman. alternators from Autozone and both have had that exact same problem. The positive stud gets loose and sparks come out. It just happened on the second one so now I am going to buy a nicer alternator. Any recommendations?

[Ghoste]

The best thing I've found so far is an auto electric guy in my hometown. He rebuilt the Advance one I smoked a while back.  He's been in the business for years and is as familiar with the old stuff as the new.  There is usually someone like him in every town so I'd look into that first.

[Chatt69chgr]

Another alternative is AC Delco reman alternators.  They are good but real hard to find.

[Mike DC]

 
There is no such thing as a decent replacement part for something like that.  It's not a matter of spending the money, they just don't exist.

There's not much you can do.




Sooner or later the bigwigs in the old-car hobby will get sick enough of installing their alternators with Velcro and they'll demand a source for something decent.  Once that is done, we just have to give it about ten more years for them to start making something other than the '69 Camaro application. 

 

[The70RT]

Those discount auto part alternators and starters are junk. Look for the Mexico stamp on them. A buddy of mine was putting on a starter and ended up changing the nose on it (because they give you the wrong one most of the time) and when he took it apart it had been blasted and painted on the outside and the inside looked like junk not to mention the sand inside it  I just get a kit and redo it myself, at least you know what you got then.