Alternator from Autozone or Advanced ??
 

Is anybody using an alternator from either of these two places? You happy with it??

The autozone one is $169 + core charge of $69 and it has a lifetime warranty. The brand is "autozone"

Advance has a Beck&Arnley for $189 and a Bosch for $329 and core charge of $49. I did not ask about warranty on these, but suspect it's probably 1 year for the B&A and maybe 3 yrs for the Bosch.

All three are remanufactured and I suspect the Autozone one is probably a Beck&Arnley since price is so similar.

Thanks for your feedback.

Rather than buy an off the shelf rebuilt alternator for you vehicle (Porsche???). Your money would be better spent buy taking your old alternator to a local Auto Electric Shop to have the alternator rebuilt.

As a minimum they should do the following:
1. New alternator bearings
2. New Voltage regulator
3. New brushes
4. Test Output Diodes and Diode Trio, replace if needed.
5. Test Stator/armature, replace if needed.
Test report

These mass rebuilders do only the bare minimum in rebuilding an alternator.

Lee

1987 Porsche 911
2003 Nissan Pathfinder

Find out if the units are rebuilt or remanufactured. A remanufactured unit has all the parts replaced, except the case. A rebuilt unit has only the broken parts replaced.

Thanks guys. Yes this is for my 89 Carrera. I would still like to hear if anyone has bought from either of these parts stores.

Yes, I have used one with no problems. I did this on my track car since there is an AutoZone nearly everywhere. If I ever had a problem I could get one the next day just about anywhere in the country. I did have one failure and they simply gave me a new one.

Be Carefull
 

I had a prior post on the same topic a week or so ago. My '89 has a dim dash light. After reading the post responses and doing my own research I've decided on having a local shop rebuild mine with all the critical parts replaced as indicated.

If you read between the lines of the rebuilders information they replace only the parts that failed their tests. They may say they "test" 100% of the parts but they don't replace 100% of the parts. Hence the relatively high failure rate on rebuilds.

If you buy an alternator for an '89 for instance, you may still end up with a number of heat stressed diodes, etc. that were not replaced and are just waiting to fail.

I wouldn't put a lot of faith in remanufactured vs rebuilt. I'll bet there are no industry standards about what those terms mean and how they can be used .

If you don't mine going through the work of replacing the alternator a couple times, the rebuilts might work out economically. Autozone has a lifetime warranty on them.

Or you can buy a brand new unit from our host, $472:

Pelican Parts - Product Information: 911-603-120-05-M262

The issue I'm concerned with is not electrical, it's mechanical. The charging system is working fine. The mechanical issue has to do with run-out.

At the pulley I am measuring about .008" runout radially and .025" on the face (axial). I took the fan off and measured the runout on the bare alternator shaft an got .004" radial. The end of the shaft is not clean enough to take an accurate reading.

Anyway, getting into another issue here.

So OK, some decent experience using the autozone brand. I appreciate it, thanks.

Valeo vs Bosch vs Others
 

If you're going to ante up the money for a new one there are differences. A friend of mine is an E.E. and prefers the Bosch alternators to Valeo or others.

Apparently the components are more robust. Then again so is the cost.

In the end do what your budget allows and what you can live with.

I'd second taking it to a local auto electric place to have it rebuilt. I have had 2 rebuilt at a local shop in my town and was VERY pleased with the quality of work for the price. If I recall, it was around $100 for each of them, and all bearings and diodes were replaced as part of the service. I've never been too impressed with the re-manufactured parts I've purchased from Autozone or Advanced.

This of course assumes you can live with having your car out of service for a few days while they complete the repair.

I just re-read your last post and realized your issue is mechanical, so a rebuild might not solve your problem. Disregard and sorry for muddying the waters!

Where can you purchase a new Bosch unit? Isn't the original a Valeo unit, and isn't the Bosch rebuilt also a Valeo unit?

You can buy a newly rebuild unit from Porsche for $200. That's how much I paid 4 years ago for the alternator for my '87 911.

Speedracer, no worries. :)

Wavey, that's what I was wondering. My alternator is a Valeo, remanufactured by Bosch.

On the Beck & Anley brand, back when I owned a couple of Toyotas, I was buying Beck and Arnley parts and always had good experience with them, but never bought an alternator, though.

I think the biggest issue is my fan. I think I will source that first and re-take measurements, but I don't like the runout of 4 mils.

Have the rebuilding shop replace the bearings and check the shaft for run out. They should be able to check/fix that. You sure your housing isn't cracked?

I wouldn't use autozone or advanced.
You can get your original alt rebuild for $100 or so. that's what i do anyways.

New Bosch Unit
 

In checking alternators for my '89 I've seen both Bosch and Valeo. Without checking my exact part number yet I assumed that either unit would work.

I saw a new Bosch unit at Rock Auto for $546 for my car. A new Valeo unit is a little cheaper (such as from our host).

I just replaced mine in my '89 Carrera with the Bosch from Advance. At the time there was an online discount of 20% and my core charge was like $78 so it was less than $300 and had a 2 year warranty vs. 1 yr on the autozone one.

It's only been in for 2 weeks but it seems to be a high quality reman. I've never been dissapointed with bosch so hopefully it works out.

I tried getting one from autozone a while back. they said they had one in stock at the warehouse. but actually didnt and were unable to obtain one. better off taking it someplace local and having it rebuilt.

alternator shopping
 

reviving this one...any additional feedback on Bosch v. Valeo? Is the Bosch W0133-1599349 a direct replacement?

I'm new to this and need a quick fix. I've got my 1st track day (DE) on thursday so no time for a rebuild...

Thanks!

Excellent advice.....the parts stores don't do the best jobs.....