keep killing altanators

[somedude_001]

about 3 years ago I killed my first alt. so I purchased a autozone unit.

A year later it went again. lifetime warranty no big deal

a year later it went again. this one I looked into a bit farther and it seems as though the voltage regulator took a crap. I was seeing 17+ volts from 2500rpm+. ok fair enough. warranty again.

so now it is bad again. under charging intermitently and overcharging above 6K (again high voltage).

so even though this one is under warranty I REALLY don't want a autozone POS in my car again. who makes quility units? should I go with a ford one? does anyone other than autozone offer a lifetime warranty?

"if your goig through them so fast there must be something wrong with the car!"

the answer is no there isn't everything checks out but the driver is broken and the throttle return spring may as well be broken as well. the car constantly sees redline and above. this last one only saw 7K of service. but it did see 7 30min sessions on a roadcourse that I raised the redline to 7500rpm (so i dind't have to shift out of second). now the car has underdrive pullies so hopefully it will last a bit longer.

cliffnotes who makes the best alt?

 

[ShiftyShoMTX]

Its those pos cheapy remanufactured ones from autozone. Mines still the factory one (167,000 knock of wood)so I cant tell you who besides the expensive ford one is good. but if you do get the ford one it will last a long time. And I have heard the napa rebuilt ones are ok but thanks word of mouth.

 

[jelloslug]

You should have your rebuilt by a local alternator rebuilder. They do much better work than any of the store bought rebuilt alternators. I went through 4 "rebuilt" alternators form NAPA before I got on that would last 2 weeks. The last one only lasted about a year and a half.

 

[SHORANGERBIRD]

-ive only replaced one, used a ford. my brother had one rebuilt. didnt last either, got a ford....

 

[HotRodKid]

one of our local forum members owns an independant napa store, and his napa > all other local parts stores ... so Alex (somedude) got one from there

lifetime warranty, and hank has promised that no matter how fast they die, alex can ALWAYS get another one, and he said this knowing full well how fast the sho units can die

 

[SHOsFAST]

You should have your rebuilt by a local alternator rebuilder. They do much better work than any of the store bought rebuilt alternators. I went through 4 "rebuilt" alternators form NAPA before I got on that would last 2 weeks. The last one only lasted about a year and a half.

I went through 4 in a week from NAPA, they are indeed crap. your just getting bad aternators man, I doubt you have something killing them... Good luck!

 

[93rev2sev]

I second the "goto a rebuilder" thing...he might be able to up the amperage from 90 to 130 also.

 

[somedude_001]

stock amp on the ATX is 120. its not the output its the RPM.

 

[yamapowered]

I always add a oversized cable from the output side of the alternator to the battery and knock on wood I get years of service from these crappy Ford alternators, 2morrow morning my alternators will smoke after posting this

 

[justin mccluske]

i went through 6 alt.in 6 weeks

 

[Eric VerValin]

I will 3rd the rebuild thing. I had the same guy rebuild my alternator, and my starter at the same time, $40 for the whole thing. Being an electrician, I can tell you alternators are very simple really, the voltage regulator really shouldnt go out, and the alternator it self is just a copper winding (never gets old), some brushes, and a bearing. If your getting crap alternators my guess is someone is just cleaning them, and blowing the 'dust' out of them, and seeing a better voltage, and calling it 'good enough for auto zone'. You can't really see the brushes unless you crack the alternator in half and take a look, but then again if you do that, you might as well spend 12 bux and rebuild it yourself.

and on the using a larger wire thing.... you will have less of a voltage drop across the cable itself going back to your battery, so it should charge better, but i can't really see that short of a cable making that big of a difference. Your biggest difference will been seen in your connection points, those are more ore less paramount.... The 'pressure type' terminals are only good when you crank the bolts down supertight. your best bet is a factory type connector, and or some dielectric grease @ all your connections. The one that makes me wonder is the plug that snaps in.. after 10 years or so you can be assured that the aluminum that is used on the female end of it are corroded, and probally creating a lot of extra heat, maybe thats why a voltage regulator might go out? At work we never use aluminum for anything with the exception of feeder wires, and even then they all have to have an anti oxidation compound on the connections itself or they overheat, and cause neato fireworks. Thats the reason they dont use aluminum in houses anymore.

Hope this helps...