OT Alternators from AutoZone?

Hi all, I have a '75 CJ5 and post regularly. I need some help with another vehicle though.

Our economy car is a '96 Sentra. The OEM alternator crapped in Jan.03. I went to Auto Zone and got a life time warrantee unit. That lasted until around Nov. 1st. I went and got another. That went three weeks and crapped. Then, I figured my battery went bad. I bought a good grade NAPA brand battery and then went and got another replacement alternator. Now today 12.17. 03 This one smoked. Is it Auto Zone units? My NAPA friend said he'd gone through about 5 AZ units before he gave up. When I installed this last unit I had 14.2 volts at both the unit and the battery terminals.

I Hope this is just a result of buying low grade equipment. I've had an alternator in the past rebuilt by an auto electric shop. That one last only a half a year. Got an Car Quest unit and It still is good 6 years later. +

60,000 miles.

Please send advice.

Paul CJ5 '75 258

hi paul, its not unusual to get a bad one, but to go through 5 (plus one that was rebuilt locally) it would make me at least suspect that something else could be wrong causing you to continually burn up alternators. have you gone over your wiring thoroughly? any possibility of getting a direct ground somewhere?

i had an alternator go out once that was $398 OEM or $48 autozone. that autozone alternator lasted me several hundred thousand miles and to this day if its something easily swapped i go for autozone parts. for things like clutch disks that require extensive effort to replace i go with either OEM or high performance aftermarket but for something like a 20 minute alternator swap i cant see paying 4 times the price.

Hey Nathan,

The direct ground thing? I don't have a battery drain. I left this car for a week at a time and still had a good start up.

ok. it just really seems odd that you would get so many consecutive bad alternators. out of curiosity, is that an internal or external regulator?

Hey, Bill, that plug was there to keep the car from catching fire. The blue oval guys were having a lot of cars burn down because of that connector.

Otherwise, you guys are making a lot of good arguments for buying OEM parts. I am 100% in favor of that. In fact, I will go a step further and suggest that you have a dealer guy look at it and repair it. At the very least, you would then have a scapegoat if it didn't work.

Jerry

Jerry, I've got one more idea that might explain this. The OEM unit if I remember had an output of 80 Amps. The AZ unit has 70 Amps. Could these 70 Amp units be just working too hard and smoking out (under sized)? Seems odd though because I don't any extra electric things like lights, big stereos, etc.

AutoZone alternators are very cheaply rebuilt units. I have had cars go through them like this.

I took an AutoZone alternator to the local rebuild 'em shop and they advised against rebuilding it. They said AutoZone uses absolutely bottom of the barrel internal parts that make it not even worth rebuilding again.

The lady suggested I go to a junkyard and get an OEM alternator (she told me a little trick to tell if they've been rebuilt already or not). I took that junkyard alternator to her and she checked it out. It checked out great and lasted..... well it's still lasting 3 years later.

Go OEM unless it's really easy to change your alternator. I think it'd do AutoZone some good to have to continuously replace their junk alternators. I wonder if it'll do any good?

Hey Clem, What you mentioned about the bottom of the barrel AZ rebuilds. That I think were the exact words my friend at NAPA used. He's was the one mentioned in the previous post that went through about 5 AZ units before giving up.

I've got this alternator change out thing down to a science. It only takes me about a half hour to change it out. Takes longer to recharge the battery. The only thing that sucks is that I now live 2 hours from the nearest AZ store. Luckily, when the replacements have crapped out I've either needed to be in Denver or Junction and I just brought the core with me.

Same thing for Canadian Tire starters. I was replacing them on my 88YJ every winter, JUST after the year long warrenty ran out. Finally went to the dealer.

Clem wrote:

70A should be enough to handle the electrical loads of a factory-equipped vehicle. Many others have stated that AZ is junk, much like most aftermarket remanufacturers, they rebuild these things at the absolute lowest cost possible. In this case, it is especially true that you "get what you pay for".

Make sure that the connector that plugs into the alternator isn't damaged. Sometimes the terminals will spread and give you a voltage drop across the connector. Other than that, you likely need to just get another alternator. I don't know specifically about Chrysler dealers, but GM gives a 12/12 warranty on their stuff. It sounds like a small warranty compared to AZ, but if it is junk, it will fail long before 12 months is up.

The OE alternator likely lasted many years, it just makes sense to replace it with OE when the time comes.

Jerry

Sorry, Paul, I forgot to answer your question. No, the dealer guys won't give you a problem with the fact that you have aftermarket parts on your vehicle. Don't be surprised, however, when they tell you that you need a new alternator. Like I said before, at the very least, they are taking responsibility for making the correct repair when they sell you an alternator. If it fails after that, you can take it back to them to figure out.

It isn't outside the realm of possibility that there is something else wrong, but it just isn't likely. The first thing that comes to mind is the ammeter, if equipped. They notoriously ruin alternators. Much more reliable is the voltmeter. If you have an ammeter on the dash, try unplugging it and see if the alternator lasts longer.

You know what? I just realized that we were talking about the Nissan. I was little confused. The advice remains the same, however.

Jerry

Nathan, It's an internal Voltage Reg.

Unless you have an antique with a generator in it, it is Very unlikely you have an ammeter.

That is an amp meter used to show the output of a generator. Vehicles today have volt meters or idiot lights.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Paul Brogren wrote:

Well, I called the dealer in Glenwood Springs and the parts person said that all he can get for me is a remanufactured unit. The new OEM units for my '96 are no longer available. I'm got a premium grade unit on hold at my local NAPA. Hopefully, much better quality than the AZ unit. Only $30 less than the dealers reman. with a lifetime warrantee instead of 12/12.

Wish me luck. Thanks, Paul

I know paul real well.

He sure is a cheap bastard. Must be that thin mountain air. He even tries to haggle with the guys down at autozone over the price of these cheap alternators he buys. I've even seen him panhandle outside the booze store, even though he had $40 in his own wallet (or purse).

Hee Hee, don't let him fool ya folks. Matt keeps a old trench coat, tin cup, sign, Tu Tu's and various pieces of drag handy in the back of his pink Wrangler. Just in case he's pinched for cash and needs a fix.