Autozone engines

Yes. Marketing is a job that requires you to put a positive spin on whatever product or service keeps you in grocery money, and to heckle and laugh off any suggestion that it might not quite be everything you say it is.

That's what my favourite mechanic told me.

My Integra's alternator recently failed. Since Acura dealer replacements (our first choice) were unavailable, with an indeterminate backorder date, he installed a NAPA/UAP remanufactured alternator.

My mechanic contends he's seen fewer "comebacks" with those compared to remans from other sources, and he reckons NAPA/UAP probably exercises somewhat better quality control over their remans.

He did strongly warn me to keep a sharp eye out for problems, especially signs of overcharging. Failure could happen at any time, anywhere, under any conditions.

Some years ago, the rear brake calipers on my '92 Integra failed (pistons seized). Dealer "remanufactured" calipers were installed as replacements. I had the privilege of studying these calipers before they were installed.

Maybe it was my inexperience, but these things looked brand-new. I could find no evidence that the housings had been rusted, cleaned, or re-machined. The housings had been plated with that yellow zinc coating you find on many new parts. In fact, the entire assembly (that was visible to the naked eye) looked quite new indeed.

Is it possible that the calipers were in fact new, and not actually remanufactured, or did I miss something?

Certainly. I bought many, many brand-new parts in "remanufactured"-labelled boxes over dealer parts counters. Water pumps, brake calipers and master cylinders, starters and so forth.

But, that was years ago, and at dealers -- not at parts stores.

Very possible. Often a manufacturer cannot get cores for a given part, and finds he can buy new import parts cheaper than cores. This has been going on as long as I remember. Later on they branch it off into a "Gold Line" or somesuch. Currently the big rebuilders are trying to introduce a line of low-priced new Asian product alongside their domestic remans.

A technician's biggest fear is a comeback, because he has to do the same work a 2nd time for free. So he is not going to take a chance on a reman, however good, when he can sell you a new unit instead and minimize his exposure. As a consumer making your own choices you may be willing to take that small risk for the considerable savings involved. You mitigate that risk further by choosing reputable auto supply stores and being a good customer to them so they take care of you should you have a problem.

"You pays your money and you takes your chances"

A couple of weeks ago my John Deere Bosch alternator finally gave up the ghost and I went to a local alternator and starter shop to have it tested. I discussed the issue of rebuild reliability with the owner, and his position is that rebuilds, per se, can be every bit as reliable as the OEM (or better), BUT a lot of rebuilders only do a halfway job. Many parts are assumed to be good and are not replaced in commercial rebuilds. A lot is left to chance.

That encourages me a bit.

He solved my problem by rebuilding a CS130 to a one wire configuration, and I ditched the Bosch. We'll see how it holds up.

As someone who previously rebuilt alternators for a living, I'll give you my perspective.

Rebuilds can be as good or sometimes even better than OEM units. This assumes that the person doing the rebuilding cares about quality over making a ton of money (there are some really cheap parts out there) and actually takes the time to do it right.

At my shop, I found that people often didn't want to pay the price to have the job done right, though. I used to replace bearings whether the unit needed it or not because I didn't want a unit coming back because I didn't put a new bearing in it. 99% of the time, when someone brought a unit back to me, it was because they didn't install it right or they had another problem .. like a dead battery or something. There were some that came back (I will admit to making mistakes), but they were rare and I'd always admit to my mistakes when I made them.

That said ... for your John Deere application, I'd never install a CS130 alternator. These alternators are prone to rectifier and rear bearing failure ... even if the rebuilder used the "iceberg" rear housing and the "wide" rear bearing. Add the "one wire" regulator, and you are asking for failures all over the place.

Bosch alternators (at least with the older ones) only needed brushes or regulators to work again. In my 5+ years rebuilding mostly foreign units, only one older Bosch alternator needed a single diode (though it got all new ones) and only one suffered a catastrophic failure (car owner ruined it by shorting the battery out). On the other hand, I have had hundreds of CS121 and 130 alternator catastrophic failures ... usually due to the rear bearing failure.

I don't know how old your Deere is, but I'd have asked to have the Bosch unit rebuilt ... even at twice the price of the CS alternator.

"La la la la la, I can't hear you!!!" is a common response when I say the same thing about the Crap Suck series Delphi POS alternator. It's like the 80's Ford Escort of engine accessories.

I still can't hear you. I have a lifetime warranty on mine, so I just get a free one every 3 years! :)

Toyota MDT in MO

It's just my opinion and your mileage may vary ... I can't imagine anyone giving you a free alternator every 3 years, but if they will, then I say go for it.

Yeah, nothing's ever really free. The person getting the free alternator has to spend their time changing it, on whatever schedule the alterator chooses whether convenient or not, not to mention that alternators tend to fail away from home so there's the tow bill, or the fun of changing it in the parking lot at the movie theater after the date partner got a lift home from a friend, etc. Oh joy.

I rebuild my own alternators but I use parts and advice from an independant local rebuilder and as a result I've had far better reliability results than from any parts store.

JazzMan

My reply was an atttempt at good-natured sarcasm. I'm agreeing with you while trying to make you laugh, in other words. You have to read into the response a little to catch the drift I suppose, but it seemed pretty obvious to me at the time.

To explain without humor, I don't expect a CS alternator rebuild to last much more than three years. They're already a crap designed alternator by the master of 3/36 engineering, Delco/Delphi. And, yes, actually, if one were to purchase a chain store rebuild with a lifetime warranty, they could return their legitimately failed unit as many times as they wanted for a replacement. I don't enjoy swapping parts that much, however.

Toyota MDT in MO

This John was built in the 70s. It is an 820 3 cylinder diesel, European made. Apparently the Bosch was toast and it would have cost a lot to rebuild. Since this diesel application requires little charging current (just enough to keep the battery up) and since the alternator sits in cool air, I am hopeful it will last a while.

The CS130 was used because of the physical size. I had to redo the brackets a bit even so, but a larger alternator would have been hard to fit.

If it screws up, then we'll try something different.

I agree the CS alternators are crap. On a previous car, I must have replaced or had rebuilt 6-8 of the damn things. I even bought one or two dealership 'new' of the CS's, and they dont come cheap.

Too much heat, too much current draw, etc...Its an old story.

On the John Deere, I have no glow plugs or anything else to draw current except the starter motor. Actually, I have been running it for the better part of a year with no functioning alternator at all. I just put the charger on the battery every couple of weeks.

Hopefully it'll work out for you ... I certainly wouldn't wish anything less on you ...

In theory, even if you "only" got an 80 amp CS130, it should be more than adequate for the job. If it's out in the open and with plenty of airflow, it should be okay ... barring a rear bearing failure (this can be helped with a plastic retainer and wide bearing).

Personally, if it holds up for the entire season (or however long you use it), I'd take it off and back to wherever you got it for a rear bearing change ... need it or not... especially if you can see rust building up on it.

While I was rebuilding them, I found a place that would sell me rectifiers that had Bosch press fit diodes in them (as opposed to Motorola or some other button type diodes). They were a bit more expensive, but I never had one come back because of rectifier failure. If I were to get back into the business again, I would definitely use those rectifiers again.

Thanks, Walter. It is an exercise in experimentation. Now that I am retired, I can consider the aesthetics a bit more. If this doesn't work, I'll enjoy looking for another solution.

I have to admit, I did a pretty stupid thing in this project. The deep discharge battery I was using suddenly started blowing the breakers in my battery charger. I used this opportunity to mount the new alternator, and went to look for a new battery.

Just by chance, I opened the battery on the way into the parts store, and found it was dry of water. Topped it up and put the charger on again. It is taking a charge and not blowing the breakers.

Should know tomorrow whether this was a waste of time, or whether I bought myself a few more months of battery.

Best regard