Rebuilt Alternators

["Thomas J. Harais" <tharais@domain.elided>]

February 17, 1998

Allan:

I'd agree with your analysis of rebuilt 

When I was a high school kid, we always bought rebuilts from a local
supply house and got a couple of years out of them.

Now, I seldom get a year out of one. I wouldn't care because they are
cheap for the IH and I can replace it in about ten minutes. But, on my
Honda, the alternator is mounted underneath the motor. It takes several
hours to replace.

It once was, if you bought from Kragen, Checker or Grand Auto, you got a
cheap part. To save money, but get quality, you went to a NAPA outlet.
If you had a local performance shop, you would pay more but get better
reliability than anyone. Dealers carried new parts, but the cost was
several times what a rebuilt was.

Now days, my experience has been that all the rebuilts are crap and, I
don't want them unless they are easy to do removal and replacements on.
Hence, I find myself going to the dealer and buying new, even though I
pay a premium. Hey, if the first one went 100,000 miles (water pump,
power steering pump, alternator), the second one probably will too. My
experience: New costs three times what rebuilt costs, but they last
three to five times as long at least, and I don't have to use my time
and energy replacing them. In addition, there is a "peace of mind"
factor.

But, that is why I write. What do you do about alternators? My NAPA
rebuilt on my Honda went out after two years. Facing another all day
project to replace it, I called every supplier, dealer and jobber I
knew. NO ONE had new alternators. Even the Honda dealers told me they
used rebuilts and that new alternators were impossible to come by.

So, do you have any suggestions for my future reference?

Tom Harais
tharais@domain.elided