Alternator Question/Mechanic Help

Elijah

Yeah. I'm in for a battery that lasted 3 weeks. An alternator that was the wrong one and took a day of work to get in and back out. Auto zone. There were two options for my truck and they chose #1 without asking for more information. They took care of it all except my time invested. The last time I took my own battery tester. 

Elijah

For informational purposes my alternator issue started with the battery being drained. After jumping it off all the gauges and relays started dropping out after two miles or so of driving. 

poster

OEM not an option? I went through so many alternators, starters and batteries on one of my older trucks. Switched back to OEM from the dealer and no more issues. I was quite suprised that the costs were not much more than aftermarket as well. 

WeberWho

poster said:

OEM not an option? I went through so many alternators, starters and batteries on one of my older trucks. Switched back to OEM from the dealer and no more issues. I was quite suprised that the costs were not much more than aftermarket as well. 

I should have called the dealer and at least asked about an alternator. My hunch is that they would have had to order an alternator in. (I have a previous generation Ford Ranger which they stopped producing in 2011.) The dealer did find me a clutch master cylinder out of Texas or Missouri earlier this summer. So it's possible. I unfortunately don't have the time to wait for an alternator to be shipped in. That would have been nice though. 

Ozzie_Isaac

WeberWho said:

The 5th alternator was the charm. Back in business. 

Nice!!  Next time buy everyone they have, keep installing till one works, then return all the others.

Botch

poster said:

OEM not an option? I went through so many alternators, starters and batteries on one of my older trucks. Switched back to OEM from the dealer and no more issues. I was quite surprised that the costs were not much more than aftermarket as well. 

That happened to me earlier this year.  NAPA sold me a battery for my 2009 Tacoma (replacing the original battery!) but the posts weren't right, cables wouldn't reach.  Then I couldn't get the hood open, don't know if the cable snapped or what.  Ended up taking the new battery back, and having the truck towed to the dealer to get the hood open, and then replace the battery.  Turns out the OEM battery was only $15 more than the NAPA.  
If the new OEM batt lasts another 14 years, it'll be $15 well-spent.    

WeberWho

Ozzie_Isaac said:

WeberWho said:

The 5th alternator was the charm. Back in business. 

Nice!!  Next time buy everyone they have, keep installing till one works, then return all the others.

I like the thought. Since O'Reilly's threw in the towel that left me with AutoZone and Napa. Napa was a day plus out before they could get an alternator in and I apparently purchased the last two alternators from AutoZone within 2 hours from me. When I found out the bearings were bad on the alternator last night I had the one AutoZone deliver the last available alternator down to my local AutoZone store down the road. I brought my bad alternator into my local AutoZone this morning and the employee threw a fit that I didn't have the cardboard box with it. (I was handed the alternator without a box from the other AutoZone) He then goes, "So you ordered a new alternator from one of our other stores, had it delivered here, and you expect us to swap it with this one?" I told him that's exactly what I did. He was less than impressed. He was being a complete douche. To the point that he completely stopped talking to me. Which put a smile on my face as I knew I was going to go have him bench test the alternator before leaving. So he gets me swapped out and hands me my receipt. Let's just say he wasn't pleased when I asked him to test the alternator. It made my day. He didn't respond for 3-4 seconds but realized he probably couldn't say no. So he looks over at his other employee and says, "Do you want to test this?" The other employee was more than happy to help out. Life is way too short to be pissy and upset all day long. I don't get it. Kill them with kindness as my wife says. 

Dobie

Find another parts source, your time is never warranted.
I don’t turn any wrenches anymore except for batteries but NAPA was always the better choice. 

Happy New Years and hope you have better luck next year. 

MaskedMarvel

Around here it’s NAPA if you want what the pros use. I know the guys at the desk by this point. Good place to use on the reg, and they typically have inside info on the best way to go about the job. 

Aaaaaand then I did the heater coil, baffles, and evaporator. NAPA was so much more, I checked Amazon. 

I’ve gotten headlights from Amazon before and they were completely wrong, even though the site said they fit. 

All the parts for the heater core replacement job were exactly right and way cheaper. Amazing. 

Sometimes - worth a try. Watch out for Amazon’s return policies - those headlights were a son of a **** to get my money back. 

1997 F150

WeberWho

MaskedMarvel said:

Around here it’s NAPA if you want what the pros use. I know the guys at the desk by this point. Good place to use on the reg, and they typically have inside info on the best way to go about the job. 

Aaaaaand then I did the heater coil, baffles, and evaporator. NAPA was so much more, I checked Amazon. 

I’ve gotten headlights from Amazon before and they were completely wrong, even though the site said they fit. 

All the parts for the heater core replacement job were exactly right and way cheaper. Amazing. 

Sometimes - worth a try. Watch out for Amazon’s return policies - those headlights were a son of a **** to get my money back. 

1997 F150

I did a little research and it's pretty much exactly what I thought. Reman Duralast (AutoZone) and reman Napa alternators all come from the same factory down in Mexico. All AutoZone and Napa do is slap their stickers on the box and pretend there's a difference. 

fishlessman

WeberWho said:

The 5th alternator was the charm. Back in business. 

Similar experience with my 89 ford f350 last week. Only good thing is AutoZone covered the drop offs with the business account. The last one we took the pulley off the original and swapped it out, then unbolted the sections and rotated it to get the wiring to line up. It only took 3 days......the paperwork will be a problem with billing I'm sure