4 replies to this topic

[Viking22190]

Today i broke my record time of removing and replacing my alternator... It took roughly 10 mins... Y? Because as u can tell by the title, its the 7th one in 2 years... Altho 4 were defective from advanced auto.. The diodes were bad.. And just to make sure that i wasnt destroyingmine, the manager took 7 random ones from the shelves and tested them.. All failed for a bad diode... So it was'nt just me/mine. Im stil wondering why ive gone through so many in 2 years. Not sure what went wrong with mine. I tested it myself at my job. And it was only putting out 11.85 volts... Either that or it wasnt putting out any and the tester was only picking up my battery voltage... Any insight as to y this is happening... BTW they were all reman alternatots. Except the last one and the one i currently have in now. I bought the last one new for about 250.00 and it lasted. 362 days... Just 3 shortt of the 1 year warranty. So i got another new one for free. Any insight and/or help would b greatly appreciated.

P.S. I have a 2000 contour se 2.0L VCT vin Z, bi fuel engine.

[black98lx]

The 11.85v was probably battery voltage as you suspect. Without laying hands on it,I wouldn't try to guess what caused the new unit to fail. But your experience with "reman" units was what led me years ago to always seek out a local rebuilder.Most retail "reman" units recieve little more than a wash job and a box! You're in Jersey,there should be a small,"mom and pop" operation somewhere close to you! Find it.When you do,bring him your alternators & starters.he will treat you right,because he wants you to come back and to recommend him to your friends.This is how he feeds his family.Also keep in mind,that the place to test an electrical component is ON THE VEHICLE!! Not on a bench tester at Parts-O-Rama! The local guy can and will do this for you.Good luck,hope this helps.

[BuckeyeSVT]

Reman parts from a parts store is a mixed bag of reliability. I've seen people go through 6-7 alternators or starters before getting a good one. I tend to stick with Motorcraft, even though it's pricier - The quality is about the best you will get for a reman and short of a local electrical shop doing it for you they provide the best reliability (in my years of installing alternators and starters).

-Dom

[Terry Haines]

..this is my take/experience.
The original Ford unit/Motorcraft units are of very good quality. The most common fault after about 100,000 miles is worn brushes or a failed diode pack/regulator. Bearings and windings are not prone to failure. Why buy a 'parts store' unit,usually built with non oem/sub standard parts when you can reman the unit yourself. Unless the windings have burnt out there is no need.Even bearings can be replaced by a good auto electrical shop. On most all major /high miles builds I have done I always strip the alt,check bearings,brushes etc and just replace those suspect parts with genuine OEM units...Save the money on sub standard assy and reman the genuine Ford unit yourself...it's not hard.

[eliteman76]

Agreed on the local rebuilder. I found I was able to get a $78 rebuild done by a local shop, with all new parts. They reused the case and that was it, like 3+ years ago.
Recently, I have had some minor flickering, assuming this is due to the regulator going on it, but still good output with good battery.