What to do with old/useless auto parts?

Hi group,

I have a dead alternator I am trying to get rid of. Can I just throw it in the trash and let my garbage service pick it up or do I need to take it to some specialized place to have it properly disposed??

Regards,

Panda

Reply to
Loony Panda
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When you take it down to its component parts, an alternator is pot-metal or steel (the shell) some more steel (the shaft) soft iron (the core of the rotor and the cores of the stator coils) and copper (the windings, of course) plus the bearings (probably either steel ball or roller bearings, maybe brass bushings) and an insignificant amount of whatever they used to make the type of diodes in it wrapped in either high-temperature plastic or ceramic, a couple of chunks of carbon (the brushes) possibly a bit more miscellaneous plastic for bearing seals, and some sort of epoxy, plastic, or enamel coating on the copper wire of the windings.

In other words, it's essentially inert scrap metal that nobody but the most totally anal tree-hugger type is going to think twice about if it goes into the normal trash stream. Nothing hazardous (or at least, nothing in any meaningful amount, and what little there is is almost certainly encased in a hunk of either ceramic or plastic that's likely to outlast the human race unless deliberately broken open) involved to require "special handling".

HOWEVER... You *MIGHT* be able to get somebody that does alternator rebuilding to give you a few bucks for it as a core. (but don't expect much more than

5-10 dollars, if that, unless it's some incredibly rare type)

Or, more likely, you can pay a rebuild shop (local or "mail-it-off" - your option) to repair it for you, and have a spare on hand if/when the one that replaced it takes a dump on you - chances are high that the reason it died to begin with was nothing more than the diode trio, brushes, or bearings giving up the ghost - All pretty trivial to fix -

*IF* you've got the gear, replacement parts, and mechanical/electronic know-how to do the deed yourself, and definitely trivial for an actual rebuild shop.
Reply to
Don Bruder

That's a useful core... I'm surprised you didn't have to turn it in when you bought whatever you replaced it with. I'd either a) hold on to it or b) give it to your local alternator shop - they might be able to do something with it, whereas if you threw it in the trash it'd just be thrown in the landfill. There's nothing hazardous in it by the way.

Heck, if it's either a) an old '60s Prestolite or b) a Delco 10SI or

12SI and you're close to me, I might just offer to swing by and take it off your hands!

nate

(chea^H^H^H^Hfrugal bastard)

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Another suggestion is to sell it on ebay.... someone who knows how to rebuild them might be willing to buy it and make it useable...

Good Luck...

Fwed

Reply to
fweddybear

Most auto parts stores will take anything with some core value off your hands. They probably won't give you anything for them because they don't get anything except on returns of cores on the stuff they buy, but their supplier will happily take them off their hands. I've gotten rid of a number of things, especially batteries, that way.

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry Foster

Take the old alternator down to the local auto parts store. They'll take it... they will have it re-built.

Professor

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Reply to
Professor

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