Don’t buy one from Autozone. I went through 4 or 5 of their junk alternators on a Frontier I used to have. Lifetime warranty but I was having to replace every 6 months to a year. And it’s a PITA on that truck.
we dont have those here in canada for that matter ahah, i will probably get flamed for this but i dont even like supporting local part stores, in the past ive bought starters and alternators that the store would say " we've never had problems with" and then getting a problematic product within a few months. secondly, its not like im evening paying a good price by supporting local, its always some junk china stuff thats marked up 200%. i only like buying non electrical stuff from part sources or oem but even then its always 200% marked upDon’t buy one from Autozone. I went through 4 or 5 of their junk alternators on a Frontier I used to have. Lifetime warranty but I was having to replace every 6 months to a year. And it’s a PITA on that truck.
its not that bad just want the car to be reliable, dont even want to do it again, i guess thats the benefit of paying more for delco or oem, but rn im leaning towards the remy new, good price and people seem to like themHow easy is it to replace? I just changed one in my Fiat and it was a pain. Disconnect the strut from the knuckle so you can get the axle out of the knuckle. Access alt from under car and bolts by feel. Lifetime warranty is no bonus if you have to change it every 6 months. I might go with the MAGNETI MARELLI on that list. I'd rather have a rebuilt OEM part than some reverse engineered new Chinese part.
If its a Denso reman leave it in the store, they are sketchy with their rebuilding process.sadly its gonna cost me almost double, i feel like if I want to spend in the $200 range then Delco should be good enough/similar to denso eh?
Keep in mind the brand of reman is wholly unimportant. The rebuilder in Mexico stuffs the same inferior voltage regulators in it whether it says "Bosch" or anything.
Like AutoMechanic said above, 1st find someone locally if you can; they still exist. After that, get a new one and not rebuilt from a known good manufacturer.
I buy parts from reputable suppliers and rebuild them myself as I got tired of replacing the Auto Parts stores ones every few years under warranty. here's a good parts source, Romaine Electric:
Honestly $220cad for a new AC Delco sounds good. Last time I checked, that's $154 US roughly.wow thanks a ton for the good info! so in my case, would you undoubtdly go with delco new for $220 cad or would you choose the remy $150? obvs quality wise the delco is gonna be better but is it worth being 1.5x more?
sadly here in canada and being in a small city dont got many options
I put an Ultima on my friends Lexus and it lasted 4 hours and quit so I had to do that job over it’s 5 hours to get it off and 5 to get it on it sucked. Never again will I buy one there they were the only ones who had it.Honestly $220cad for a new AC Delco sounds good. Last time I checked, that's $154 US roughly.
We have to pay $120 for an el-cheapo reman from local parts stores so I'd take that deal.
About five or six years ago, the alternator is one our cars failed. Fair enough, 250k miles on it (Lexus). She insisted the car run the next day so I was forced to go to O'Reillys and buy their store brand "Ultima." It failed about a year later, and that replacement failed about four months ago. So let's recap:
Original Denso alternator: 1 alternator in 13 years, 250k miles.
Major auto store rebuild: 3 alternators in five years, 70k miles.
And to drive this point home: a few months after her alternator failed, the one in my SUV did, too. I got the rebuild parts from Romaine electric linked above, rebuilt it myself. It's humming along fine now. It cost less than1/2 to rebuild it myself vs a store rebuild, also. So to answer your question, I don't think the AC Delco unit is 150% better than a rebuild or weird brand - it's probably more like 400% better.
Honestly $220cad for a new AC Delco sounds good. Last time I checked, that's $154 US roughly.
We have to pay $120 for an el-cheapo reman from local parts stores so I'd take that deal.
About five or six years ago, the alternator is one our cars failed. Fair enough, 250k miles on it (Lexus). She insisted the car run the next day so I was forced to go to O'Reillys and buy their store brand "Ultima." It failed about a year later, and that replacement failed about four months ago. So let's recap:
Original Denso alternator: 1 alternator in 13 years, 250k miles.
Major auto store rebuild: 3 alternators in five years, 70k miles, and fingers crossed I'm not replacing it again in a year or two.
And to drive this point home: a few months after her alternator failed, the one in my SUV did, too. I got the rebuild parts from Romaine electric linked above, rebuilt it myself. It's humming along fine now. It cost less than1/2 to rebuild it myself vs a store rebuild, also. So to answer your question, I don't think the AC Delco unit is 150% better than a rebuild or weird brand - it's probably more like 400% better
Exactly, it's a hassle every time. The car dies somewhere - the last time there was no warning light at all - charge battery, limp home, go to store to have it tested, hours pulling it out/installing, return core, etc.I put an Ultima on my friends Lexus and it lasted 4 hours and quit so I had to do that job over it’s 5 hours to get it off and 5 to get it on it sucked. Never again will I buy one there they were the only ones who had it.
ahah sounds good! out of the higher priced options i have ac delco and pure energy, and i feel like pure energy is just overpriced china junk so ac delco takes the win
Yeah I ended up loaning them one of my cars and ordering a quality one from RockAuto and they didn’t have another one in stock anyway so they were like well you will have to wait because we have to test this one then send it back to the company who re done it so it wasn’t worth the wait I just got my money back.Exactly, it's a hassle every time. The car dies somewhere - the last time there was no warning light at all - charge battery, limp home, go to store to have it tested, hours pulling it out/installing, return core, etc.
I've already decided if it fails again, forget the free replacement and I'll just use the stator/rotor/housing and rebuild the thing myself.
Keep in mind the brand of reman is wholly unimportant. The rebuilder in Mexico stuffs the same inferior voltage regulators in it whether it says "Bosch" or anything.
Like AutoMechanic said above, 1st find someone locally if you can; they still exist. After that, get a new one and not rebuilt from a known good manufacturer.
I buy parts from reputable suppliers and rebuild them myself as I got tired of replacing the Auto Parts stores ones every few years under warranty. here's a good parts source, Romaine Electric:
Keep in mind the brand of reman is wholly unimportant. The rebuilder in Mexico stuffs the same inferior voltage regulators in it whether it says "Bosch" or anything.
Like AutoMechanic said above, 1st find someone locally if you can; they still exist. After that, get a new one and not rebuilt from a known good manufacturer.
I buy parts from reputable suppliers and rebuild them myself as I got tired of replacing the Auto Parts stores ones every few years under warranty. here's a good parts source, Romaine Electric:
Not all bosch remans are factory certified; and I didn't mean to tar "Bosch" themselves. It's possible to get Bosch, Denso, etc. remans that aren't done by them. What I was trying to stress was to go with the vendor over the underlying material. That's what I was referring to. For example, "Angus Beef" doesn't imply it's gong to taste great. Depends upon whether Jack in the Box cooked it, or Smith & Wollensky's.
And a lot of the rebuilding is done in Mexico, you can find the details on the boxes and paperwork.