Worth Rebuilding Alternator?

[Sherwood4Runner]

My alternator finally bit the dust tonight on the way home. Ended up having to get a tow home. I saw it coming a couple months ago when it started to make noise, but was a little late to the show dealing with it. My question now is, is it worth rebuilding the alternator vs. going out and buying a new one?

I would need to replace the brushes (easy), but I would also need to replace the bearings as they were making noise. What's involved with replacing the bearings? Do I need a shop press? At that point is it almost cheaper just to get a new or reman. alternator?

 

[shootmymime]

Get a parts store with a lifetime warranty. Ask [MENTION=92884]snivilous[/MENTION] he just did his.

 

[snivilous]

I got one from O'Reilly with lifetime warranty, no charge at all to just swap it out (which I've done). No issues with it, I would either go that route or upgrade to a CS144 or something.

 

[awpsome]

although rebuilding is cheap and easy to do it really comes down to how much work you want to do. When my alt died on my a few months back, I went down to a local alt shop and they were selling reman'd OEM alts for ~$100 with lifetime warranty.
I figure the minimal downtime with having a ready to bolt on alt with lifetime warranty for $100 was worth it to me than rebuilding. Probably a bit more expensive than rebuilding but to have my truck ready to go as soon as I got back with a quick swap was hard to beat for only $100 and lifetime warranty.

Comes down to how much "work" if any, you want to put into it.

 

[theriddler]

My alternator finally bit the dust tonight on the way home. Ended up having to get a tow home. I saw it coming a couple months ago when it started to make noise, but was a little late to the show dealing with it. My question now is, is it worth rebuilding the alternator vs. going out and buying a new one?

I would need to replace the brushes (easy), but I would also need to replace the bearings as they were making noise. What's involved with replacing the bearings? Do I need a shop press? At that point is it almost cheaper just to get a new or reman. alternator?

If you can rebuild it with QUALITY parts then that's your best bet or get a new OEM one and keep yours to rebuild in your own time. There's a reason today's part stores sell alternators for $100, they usually just have them rebuilt with crap parts from overseas. I had a electronic service store down the road from me that was awesome and the guy made sure he used the best of the best of parts, I would put his work at an OEM quality level.

Alternators are easy enough to swap, it's all in how much you want to spend and how often you want to change it I guess. When I do a repair I want it as good or better than OEM, I don't want to change an alternator every two years because it fails early. I wonder which parts store has the best alternator or do they all come from the same rebuilder? Autozone, Advance Auto, O'Reilly, NAPA, etc.

 

[KidVermicious]

My alternator finally bit the dust tonight on the way home. Ended up having to get a tow home. I saw it coming a couple months ago when it started to make noise, but was a little late to the show dealing with it. My question now is, is it worth rebuilding the alternator vs. going out and buying a new one?

I would need to replace the brushes (easy), but I would also need to replace the bearings as they were making noise. What's involved with replacing the bearings? Do I need a shop press? At that point is it almost cheaper just to get a new or reman. alternator?

Yes, rebuild it. Stay away from the parts store garbage. Find a good alternator/generator shop and get a rebuild with quality bearings (or do it yourself, but you'll likely need a press). While you're in there ask about a rewind for a little more kick.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

When the Alt on my Saturn died I had a quote from a local Mennonite reman shop for 65. I found a brand new Bosch for 90 on Amazon and bought the new one. I have the CS130 yet to rebuild.

I wonder if the 130 would fit the 3.4. I looks like the 130 is a swap for the earlier 3.0l

 

[98WhiteT4R]

I went with OEM since the original lasted almost 200k miles

 

[Sherwood4Runner]

Thanks for the input. This is the original alternator and I've gotten almost 300,000 miles out of it. I ended up ordering the Denso brush replacements today. The bearings are still good, no play or noise when handling it. The coils still look good too. Since the brushes are only 20 bucks from the dealership I figured I'd swap them in and start there. Cheap and easy.

 

[Sherwood4Runner]

Well, I popped the new brushes into the alternator and had it tested again and it still came back bad. At this point I'd just assume get a replacement. 280,000 miles is a good life for an alternator IMO. I'm picking up an reman. Denso alternator from rockauto and calling it good. There was only one shop near by that would send mine off to be rebuilt and it was going to cost 125 anyway.

 

[JayRolla]

Ive never had any luck with any denso (i know denso does oem stuff but there parts store stuff is not the same) or aftermarket alt from the parts store. I would only rebuild it completely with OEM parts or buy a new OEM. But thats just me.

 

[Sherwood4Runner]

What's done is done now. Fingers crossed I have some luck with it then

 

[nissanh]

Yes I agree

Ive never had any luck with any denso (i know denso does oem stuff but there parts store stuff is not the same) or aftermarket alt from the parts store. I would only rebuild it completely with OEM parts or buy a new OEM. But thats just me.

I too want to comment about ^^.
I bought DENSO distributor cap for my corolla and got a distributor cap made in Germany. I saw the same distributor cap for sale in regular auto parts store with a different name.

About the alternator. I rebuilt my corolla's alternator with used but OEM toyota parts and it gives 14.0 V at idle and got an aftermarket alternator (was given free for me with the purchase) and it gives 13.4 V at idle.

I think the OP's alternator needs diodes (5 diodes soldered into the main 12 V continuous power supply line). This is the part that mostly fails. Aftermarket alternators use cheap diodes, hence lower voltage.

Rebuilding Nippon Denso Alternator 00-01 56041822AA - JeepForum.com

 

[JayRolla]

What's done is done now. Fingers crossed I have some luck with it then

Yea I understand that. There was a guy few weeks back that was having low voltage issues with his alternator. He was on his 3rd from parts store when he finally bought OEM. He said all the parts store ones where giving 12.2v and the auto parts store guy said it should be 12.5v. LOL. Funny thing is it shoudl always be a good 14 to 14.5v to charge the battery. Good luck on the aftermarket one.

 

[the great him]

hey man i gots a stock OE denso alt from my runner sitting on a shelf if you want to use it in the mean time.... let me know, i work in clackamas, we could meet there. my recommendation would be to upgrade to the CS144. its the same cost as a reman that you would get from a patst store and pumps out way more power, and basically botls right in, or for the cost of a reman Denso, you can have an upgraded CS144 that cranks out a ton of power 170+amps... thats what i did. but yeah for like $120 you can have the 130amp stock CS144, and then another like $15-20 for the wire harness pigtail or you can just make your own, and about $0.60 in washers and your good to go. PM me if you want details on this. id even be willing to help you install if you wanted.

 

[Sherwood4Runner]

Edit: I just canceled my online order. Sounds overwhelmingly like this isn't the way to go.

Right! I can't believe he was only getting 12.2??! Good to know guys. I'll make sure to test it when I get it installed. New Diodes/Rectifier from an online OEM retailer are $135, so if this rebuilt alternator doesn't work out I'll return it and spring for the new Diodes. Can't believe that little part is so expensive!

 

[Sherwood4Runner]

Just saw your post Isaac. I'll PM you re: Cs144

 

[Tsfc]

Hey man

When mine bit it, I got an original from a local wrecker. I then cleaned off all the corrosion, and got brushes from a local freight truck electrical place.

It works 100 percent and is a slight upgrade with the better brushes.

If you have the spare cash I do not think you could go wrong by going the route of the chevy alternator as pointed out above!

I Rebuilt an original as it was cheap option for me (all in fifty bucks) and have not looked back.

 

[theriddler]

Ive never had any luck with any denso (i know denso does oem stuff but there parts store stuff is not the same) or aftermarket alt from the parts store. I would only rebuild it completely with OEM parts or buy a new OEM. But thats just me.

I've wondered the same thing, my '07 Civic starter just took a crap and I almost bought a Denso remanufactured one for $100 from CarID. I was torn between the Denso name and the fact that is was a reman, so I opted out and got an OEM starter off Ebay from a Civic with 50,000 miles for $50 instead.

As far as replacement parts goes, STICK WITH OEM! This goes for everything, especially alternators, starters, spark plugs, and even oil filters. There's a reason the OEM parts go for 200-300k miles, parts stores parts are absolutely not the same. If you want a cheap alternator that might work go to Autozone, if you want the best and don't want to replace it again for another 10+ years go with OEM.

 

[Sherwood4Runner]

Parts come in tomorrow. I'll post pics once it's all in. Ended up getting a custom built Cs144 made in the USA that puts out 140amps, but has a 210amp single bridge rectifier. Can't imagine I'll have any alternator issues for the rest of the life of the vehicle ha.