Well my 86 accord LX is having some electrical issues, I had the alternator replaced about 8 months ago and recently it went out so I took the time to replace it and within two days it was as if the alternator had gone out again. But the thing is I went and had it checked while still on the car and the guy who checked it says that he thinks there might be a short somewhere killing my alternators. Any ideas would be really appreciated. Thanks

Vince

 

If it was an auto parts store, I wouldn't go JUST by his word... My brother bought a couple of A/C Compressors from one store and they kept breaking because the parts were junk. Might not be though, just a thought.

 

Yeah, try an alternator from Honda (they do rebuilt ones @ hondaautomotiveparts.com) and make sure you get the belt tension right.

I don't know how a short would kill your alternator...the 'brains' of the alternator, the voltage regulator, is inside the alternator itself, so if a short or something wants to suck all the power from the alternator, the regulator should keep anything from getting damaged...as I understand it .

 

I recently had a customer insist that insisted I install an aftermarket alternator in his '92 Teg. I spent a lot of time explaining to him that we did not warranty the labor on aftermarket parts installation and that it only carried a 90 day parts warranty through the supplier not my parts department.

He was back the next week with zero output, had to pay labor. The 2nd one made it 13 days. The 3rd one made it almost a month. He finally decided to shell out for the Acura alt. and I haven't heard from him since.

Moral of the story is a lot of the aftermarket electrical stuff like alternators and distributors are absolute junk right out of the box. You can get a Honda/Acura reman for most applications that will wok much better.