Yuta

Hi guys,

The Autozone alternator is terrible.

I put on autozone alternator one year ago. It has life-time warranty which I though was awesome. However, now the one on my car is actually the thrid one. It seriously bothers me even when it has life-time warranty.

Do you have same experience with autozone alternators?

Who sell more reliable reman alternators?

.Grimace

I'd just buy a used one for $20 and save $100

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

If you are chugging through a component that quickly, I'd imagine it is caused by something else.

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

Nobody sells a better one locally, they are all a crap shoot. After 3 O'reilly ones, I finally gave up w/ their lifetime warranty & tried autozone. Car ran much better with no more charge lights, but then that one crapped out when it got too wet once. It's run fine ever since the 2nd autozone one 4 years ago, but who knows for how long.

All I know is if I have problems again, I'm trying a Denso reman unit. They built the original Honda ones so perhaps the parts they supply to their rebuilders are quality. Even then, who knows.

whited

Actually a similar thing happened to me with AutoZone Alts. I might of went through a few and they didn't last longer than a month, until it did.

TeamRedline89Hatch

I think anything from vatozone is hit or miss. My alternator has been just fine for almost 5 years now. My friend goes through one every time he hits 9k rpm in his crx lol.

Tyson

no, its typical of the quality of rebuilds.

i dont have any other alternatives. buying a working one from ebay may be the best shot but i havent tried that in many years so i dont know if there are any
"original" ones worth reusing.

White_EG1

I tried the get a $20 one locally. It even tested out great, put it in and got battery light right there. So I got a o reiliys one with lifetime warranty. And this is my second one. The first one had a bad bearing and failed on the same day of the install! This one now I can hear bearing noises from too, but its not throwing a light yet, but I know im gonna have to replace it AGAIN soon.


EDIT: OP did you buy autozones duralast, or another brand?

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

The first one I had from O-reilly had an out-of-round commutator. The brushes would bounce at high-rpm and the charge-warning light would flicker.

The next one from o-reilly I think had the wrong size pulley (too big?). The charge-warning light would always come on when the ELD & ECU put the system into low-charge mode (economy).

v4lu3s

lol my charging light comes on from 7200 to 8k rpm on my d16a6. I have an Advance Auto or Autozone reman that has been in for ab out 4 years now.

tamboo

one word: denso...denso...and more denso.
get one off fleabay or rockauto if necessary
mine has 175k miles on the clock.
swapped out the brush assembly at 160k (it was toast)
and motored on with no issues yet. 8)

Hellzone-1000

Ive had a Autozone alt in my D15 for years. The charge light used to go on and off "flicker" and would immediately go off after turning the lights on. Went away after cleaning battery connectors "not posts". Drove the car like that for over 50k.
Had somewhat of the same problem happen a few days ago.
Drove the car the night before to my girlfriends with lights on, all good, but dead battery next day.
Clutched it and drove it home Light flickered, like it used to. Never constant.

While i was trying to charge the battery on my charger i pulled out my voltmeter to find that 15v from charger was going to wiring, but with it connected to the posts the battery just sat at 12.5 with almost no amps.

Cleaned the posts, charged it back up and verified the alternator was juicing the battery and not just the wiring loom, back to the streets.

BLU CIVIC

I agree with everyone when it comes to quality parts.

and its "Autozone alternators are terrible"

4drEF

It's not common for the coil windings to go bad.
It's usually a failed voltage regulator or brushes.
If you have the know-how, you could just order parts and rebuild your stock one by yourself.

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

My theory:

Over the years, arcing between segments in the commutator cause wear. This wear causes the commutator to go out-of-round. Out-of-round commutator causes the brushes to bounce. Bouncing brushes cause the malfunction light to flicker. Simply installing new brushes will not fix this. They will still bounce, arc, and the wear on the comm will actually accelerate. The commutator should be machined on a lathe when replacing brushes. A proper re-manufacturer should be doing this for you (which is what you pay for).

I've raced RC cars with brushed motors for years. I would not bother replacing brushes without machining the commutator. If not, you end up with these problems, and the motors loose well over 50% of their service life.

White_EG1

8k rpm out of a a6? Care to PM me your mods?

whited

...and it's 'and it's "Autozone alternators are terrible"'

94eg!

iTrader: (2)

Lol awesome

4drEF

94eg! you make a good point.

Machining to ensure the commutator was round would be absolute best.
I think it might be overkill though.
Spinning the pulley and riding over the commutator with sand paper to knock down any debris from arcing debris seems to be good enough for what YouTube videos show.

The brushes are spring loaded so they should be staying in contact with the commutator even if it's out of round or not concentric to the shaft.

burnoutboy

iTrader: (22)

Appreciate the heads up. Glass houses and all that though. You're grammar is probably as bad as their alternators are.


EDIT: I got beat to the party though.

smilindave

Just buy a NEW alternator. I refuse to submit to that kind of stupidity. Too old to do a simple job several times due to poor quality remanufacturing. Just my .02.
Regards
Dave

Tyson

where do you RECOMMEND to buy new?

i did a search, theres not many options, but surprisingly there are some that are not listed as reman/refurb. i had no idea.

this would seem a no brainer, but never heard of the website...
AutoPartsExpress.com Alternator on sale! AutoPartsExpress.com

smilindave

Hey Tyson,
Luckily I haven't had to replace an alternator in over 10 yrs. At that time I found one at my local NAPA. This was for a D series engine. Since swapping B series engines in both cars I haven't had any issues. Since wife's car was totalled in April and haven't found a nice replacement for it (had the car for 15 yrs and wife won't have anything else). Waiting for insurance settlement for medical to start really looking. I also have a few spares for B engines. So, a long story short, I have found with unavailable items and the ability to repair what I have, I prefer to rework myself if no new are to be found.
Regards
Dave

bheinen74

I've had a Honda or 4 or 5 at any one time since 1993. I have owned over 30 honda/acura since 1993 I have had to replace one alternator in that time, It was a reman'd that someone put on a acura integra I bought. It was aftermarket garbage. I drove my first honda til 236k on the oem.

This story is same for the 40 plus Subarus I have owned and still own. OEM is good I have purchased Subies with parts store brand JUNK alternators recently installed, bought those cars for cheap took along my spare and good oem, and replaced on the spot after paying the money to the seller and getting title. Drive them home. Autozone, Napa, oreilly, ALL ARE JUNK they don't replace Voltage regulators in the rebuilds, only the brushes.. They faill they are JUNK right out the box, and yeah with lifetime JUJ warranty.

89civicdx

bought one lasted 8 months and voltage reg failed which I think killed my battery by overcharging