Buy Rebuilt Alternator or Repair

My alternator went in my '96 Bonnie a couple of months ago. I priced a remanufactured one from my local dealer at around $300 (Canadian). Someone recommended a some-what local shop who rebuilds them, so I gave them a call. I got a totally rebuilt alternator, a 1-year warranty (the same as the Dealer), and I only paid $150. This is a family owned shop, and they even threw my old alternator on the tester to make certain it was bad, and provided me with a printout of the new alternator to show it was good. The things looks and works like a top, and like I said, cost half as much.

On a car that old, I'd certainly go for the $80 model over the $170 one. Or check a local shop that does rebuilding and have your done if the price is $80 or less.

Im with you, 80 Knight... I have rebuilt them myself, but prefer to patronize my local alternator/starter shop. This team gives me a good warranty, and have a vested interest in my application working and lasting. Cost is as good as, if not better than, the FLAPS>

I would get mine rebuilt at a local shop or buy an AutoZone or Pepboys, make sure you get the lifetime guarantee, because the cheaper ones don't seem to last very long. On that old of car I would not get a new Delco unit.

I don't know who rebuilds Pep Boys but I have had 3 of the "1 year guarantee" Autozone alts last 13 or 14 months.

It'll probably cost you close to the $170 to get it rebuilt properly at a good shop, but if you have a good parts store (NAPA or independent) nearby you can probably buy a kit and do it yourself, they are not real hard to do but having air tools helps to get the pulley off. I'm a bit leery of the cheap parts store remans, although I have one and it appears to work OK (the one on my car I had gone through by a good local shop though)

good luck

nate

Pricing for this kind of work varies greatly by locale, but where I live, we pay right around $60 for a complete rebuild of GM alternators, with one year warranty.

Most alternators are rebuilt in Mexico including NAPA.Same crummy parts are used by all. Makes it hard to get anything dependable anymore.

About the same here, Mike. I had the local shop rebuild an ECS unit for one wire application and it was about that price. (I swapped the Bosch on my old John Deere and retrofitted the ECS. The ECS was a s***ty alternator, but in a tractor application where it can stay in open air it runs cool and has lasted well.)

I can vouch for the truth of your statement - I am just outside of Washington, D.C. and every now and then I'll get reminded that things really are more expensive here.

nate