Technical I’m an unlucky SOB I guess

Take an alternator in for testing

Fail

Fine, give me one, “oh, test it please”.

Fail


Try another please


Fail


Go to the next store, same results.

I mean am I the first person in both of those stores (autozone and oriellys) that asked to test a off the shelf part?

Night off work, will try NAPA tomorrow

Mercy

 

Nope, you're not alone. Same results at a local parts store, 2 duds, third one OK. Beautiful looking rebuilds but no quality control. But what you gonna' do on a Sunday?

 

I've never had it happen in two stores but I had them test 3 before I got a good one at O'Reilly once.

 

Ya, I’m SOL I guess. Napa was closed

Thing is, I wonder how many have a similar issue, but don’t have the replacement part checked?
Shoot “ Macchine says battery bad”. Heck, from now on they will confirm the new one is good. Lol.

 

Not the first...
I got two brand new bad ones out of the box.

Try to find a fork lift or heavy machinery alt/gen rebuilder. They took my old one apart, did a complete rebuild (30 minutes) and tested it.

***If this is an OT and it is eating alternators your bad/internally shorting battery may be killing good alternators. It can also be a bad battery fuse. I have experience with this.

 

Rebuilt alternators and starters are a sham. They don't truly rebuild them they just fix why they didn't work. I've had better luck with used parts.

 

Do not get me started! I think that everything in this WORLD, since the 2020 year world reset mess, is all BROKEN.
Try to get anything done, or purchased these days. Even the simple things are harder to get accomplished, takes more time and seem to turn on you. Solution is to just smile, and have a lot more patience.

 

There are rebuild kits for some of them out there.........sadly I do remember even Pep Boys had rebuild kits for starters and alternators in the 90s. I worked at a shop that did rebuilding on one side and regular repairs on the other for a few years. I used to walk over there when it was slow and help. Everything received new bearings/bushing, new regulator/brushes, the armature was cleaned up on the lathe after a Growler test and the case was blasted and painted (the armature and inside the case got painted with red winding varnish).

 

For all the reasons stated above I've always rebuilt my own starters and alternators, luckily there are still some places around that I can buy the needed parts from.

 

I have been rebuilding my own since I worked in a rebuilding shop in 1964

 

Thing is, I don’t know if it’s bad, it’s still a Chevy V8 but OT.
I guess there’s some whiz bang thing that tells it to charge, FFS, gimme a 10 or 12 SI

I guess I was trying to make a PSA and let folks know to have what they are buying tested and not assume what they brought in is bad.

To be honest, I have no idea if I need an alternator or not. Lol

 

I say this tongue firmly in cheek, you guys think you have it bad?......picture the scene, part on your car/rod not working, source replacement part and have it shipped from USA to UK/Europe/Japan, fit new/rebuilt part.....oops, not working, start whole process again

 

With the quality of help some of these places have, I'd be inclined to believe that they just don't know how to run the tester.

I am lucky to have a good local starter and alternator rebuilder just a couple of miles from home.

 

Yep, some unlucky sob's on here. I am 84, have driven a truck over the road probably 4 million +, owned around 30 cars and have YET to buy a bad alternator, new or rebuilt. And I have bought many. The one on my car now was bought at O'Reileys in 2012, straight from the box to the car and still going strong.

Ben

 

This ^^^^
Needed a starter on a Sunday years ago, only place open was Advance. Rebuilt sounded worse than the one I was replacing. Took it right back off expecting a hassle at the store until I watched them put their rebuilt on the tester and hook it up wrong. Didn't even try to work, duh. Got one somewhere else on Monday, still on the car as far as I know.

 

....and then the deafening silence or the "you must have installed it wrong" message when you call them to complain. Like this is my first hot meal!

 

Would it be possible (not too much of an imposition) for you to do a tech article on how to rebuild one?

 

Finally some closure, my NAPA moved to a new location, and didn’t bring their tester with them, so off to the next town and another AZ, mine still tested bad, but theirs tested good.
Never felt happier to spend 180$ on a Alternator before, but sure beat taking it to the dealership.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad one either out of the box, but if mine and the ones on the shelf are all testing bad, how do I know mine is really bad?

 

Sometimes. Consider another common practice though. When you get a defective "rebuilt" or new part, say a starter or alternator and then return it for refund or exchange.

Take a Guess what they do with it.

That's right, they stick it right back in the box and put it back right on the shelf for the next sucker to come along. It's a lot easier that way.

 

If you get in some of the shop manuals and general auto repair, they will explain in detail troubleshooting tricks and how to test batteries, starting, and charging systems.

It is definitely more convenient and faster to have the $$$ specialised test gear, but it is not required in any way from a technical standpoint. It pays to learn this stuff and then monitor and stay on top of it. Then you're not at the mercy of some poor fella at the parts shop who is just trying to make it to lunch.

 

Some OT vehiles have the voltage regulator in the computer. I took my alternator off mine ,Parts store said it was bad, sold me a new one, truck still didn’t charge. Did some research, replaced the computer, problem solved. New stuff sucks!








Bones

 

Years ago I used to work on forklifts and heavy machinery. One of our big contracts was Unit Parts. It was a giant warehouse with tons of cheap labor. They had a disassembly line, a blast line and a reassembly line. They had 55 gallon buckets next to every work bench for the disassembled parts. It was crazy. They deal in volume. You are buying a warranty, that’s all. They figure if they sell it to you for $60 and they have 10 in it, then one out of 5 being bad is no big deal.

 

- bad starter off the shelf?

 

Or they send it abroad to some online buyer lol

 

I found out a long time ago that a used OEM (junkyard) part was almost always better than a new rebuilt.

 

Been there, got the t shirt. Went with a bad Alt. and they sold me one. When it didn't work took it back. The counter person put it in the box after looking at it and set it on the shelf beside the one he was giving me. Had him test it before leaving and it wasn't good so he got the one he just got from me and tried to give me it. Told him to test it. He did and not working so got my money back and went to NAPA.

 

I bought an alternator at AutoZone, it didn't work so I brought it back and asked them to test it. It failed so he grabbed me another one off the shelf. I asked him to test it before I walked out with it. He was astounded that the second one didn't work either. I looked at his set up on the tester machine and didn't want to embarrass him by telling him that he forgot to hook up the harness to the alternator. So I left and went to O'Reillys. The first one they tried worked so I installed it. Strange times we live in.

 

Happens with a lot of rebuilts... had a friend buy a long block assembly from a national auto supply chain. He spent the weekend installing it. When it fired up, it had a bad knock. Went back to the auto supply and they cheerfully
gave him another long block. Fired that up, had a lifter problem. They offered a third... he declined. Too much labor invested.

 

I would suspect the tester!! Install yours, hook a volt meter to the line from the alternator to battery and see what it reads. A one wire alternator can be hooked directly to the battery,.

Ben