Recommendation on alternator replacement.

[Corrosion]

Recommendation on alternator replacement. Looking for user experience on alternator parts.

I got a alternator that went on me. I have done some research on some parts.

I'm thinking about these parts for re manufactured:

ACDELCO 3341835A Gold; Remanufactured -2 year warranty

Carquest Premium alternator -Only because it's backed up by a lifetime limited warranty. And does have a lot of positive reviews and because there is a local shop.


New I would consider this one:

REMY 94608 Remy Gold

Denso - It's not available.


I'm just wondering if anyone has used any of these parts with their CB7 and has it lasted for more than 5 years? I wanted to buy new, but I'm not sure about REMY and if they use Japanese made parts. I think bearings last a long time. And if they made it new. Maybe they wouldn't make quality bearings that the OEM makes.

Is it possible I could just find a reputable rebuild kit for an alternator. Has anyone done that? And are they good parts? If not, has anyone used Carquest Prem alt, are they good? Or is ACDELCO 3341835A is better?

[SaddleMtnMan]

I've never personally heard of Remy, idk.

ACDELCO is an oem supplier for/subsidiary of GM, and probably fine.

I would never touch a parts store name brand alt in a million years, unless it was an absolute emergency. 3 separate Ford starters and two Subaru alternators all ending up bad made me swear off them. They have no branding and no real guarantee that they've been "rebuilt".

Rebuilding an alt is difficult at best these days, if you could even source all the internal parts. I know a local old curmudgeon who runs an auto electrical store who can rebuild them all day long for $50, but they are few and far between, they would be who I would trust to do a rebuild.

[Corrosion]

I've never personally heard of Remy, idk.

ACDELCO is an oem supplier for/subsidiary of GM, and probably fine.

I would never touch a parts store name brand alt in a million years, unless it was an absolute emergency. 3 separate Ford starters and two Subaru alternators all ending up bad made me swear off them. They have no branding and no real guarantee that they've been "rebuilt".

Rebuilding an alt is difficult at best these days, if you could even source all the internal parts. I know a local old curmudgeon who runs an auto electrical store who can rebuild them all day long for $50, but they are few and far between, they would be who I would trust to do a rebuild.

Thanks for your input. Yeah, I heard good things about ACDELCO from other forums regarding the alternator.

But I went with the Carquest Premium alternator. I did that because of the lifetime warranty. But I feel like I'm buying it for the warranty itself. There was another youtube mechanic personality. He said he got some good alternators through carquest. And it does have great reviews on advanced auto parts. When I bought it, the guy at the store said the lifetime limited warranty has now changed. It only provides one free replacement. Well, the only problem with that is if it pops in the first 30 days. They will count that as one replacement, I'm assuming. And then if the next one only lasts one year. That's the problem with the warranty. But the thing is, the way I look at it. It's a major pain ordering from rockauto and trying to get a return in the first thirty days. Rockauto will mark it as not returnable. So then I have to deal with the manufacturer itself regarding the warranty. And believe me, that's not easy. I remember I got a oil pan (there was a defect). And I remember calling the manufacturer. And they just didn't want to deal with it, and it was a big hassle. Since, I got it through amazon. It's much easier to deal with amazon. Just like it would be much easier to deal with a local shop regarding warranties.

Case in point, I have a car battery that is ready to go out on me. And that has a 3 year warranty replacement. And that didn't work out too well with the store (not a shop). They tried to claim I dropped it. Also, there is a rust spot, indentation from the car holder. I had nothing but problems with this car battery. Excess corrosion on the terminals. I clean it up, and it comes back. It's not holding a charge. And there is a possible acid leak on the battery. With warranties, I'm always prepared for a fight. To me the purpose of the warranty is that they back up their quality and it should last much longer than the warranty. I got another vehicle I use, and it has the same car brand battery. And that is still going on strong and it's been 7 years.

So what I told the part store guy regarding my carquest alternator. I said okay, I'm fine with this warranty on the alternator. But I'm at least expecting it to last 5 years.

I know profits come first, they will tell you anything you want to hear when they sell it. I was thinking the same thing about rebuilds. Even if you can find a guy that rebuilds alternators. Then I need to at least get good quality Denso or Japanese related parts, possibly. I think I'm going to keep my core. I was told Japanese bearings can last a life time. It's probably the voltage regulator, or the brushes. I did stay from the auto zone and the oreilly alternators. Oreillys is trying to do the same thing with their alternators. But they are getting really negative reviews.

[Gotz Cb7]

Personally, I've had nothing but bad experiences with reman alternators. But most of them, as Sattle stated, were "Duralast" remans from Autozone and they've failed immediately. Always end up getting new ones from NAPA after wasting money on remans trying to save a buck. Recently I got a few remans for my Mustang and after 3 failed back to back right away within days, 1 actually overcharged and cooked a brand new battery also. Ended up costing me hundreds between alternators, batteries, trying to get my full refund back from Autozone because of core charges, etc. Basically, new is the way to go.

I also have a Civic I got a reman for and at idle, it wouldn't produce over 11V. Needed rpm and still barely produced 12.5V. Also had a pretty loud whine. At least is sounded like it was working good. Ended up buying a used one off Ebay that works great. Again, all of these alternators were store brand remans. I'm sure there's good stuff out there.

[Corrosion]

Personally, I've had nothing but bad experiences with reman alternators. But most of them, as Sattle stated, were "Duralast" remans from Autozone and they've failed immediately. Always end up getting new ones from NAPA after wasting money on remans trying to save a buck. Recently I got a few remans for my Mustang and after 3 failed back to back right away within days, 1 actually overcharged and cooked a brand new battery also. Ended up costing me hundreds between alternators, batteries, trying to get my full refund back from Autozone because of core charges, etc. Basically, new is the way to go.

I also have a Civic I got a reman for and at idle, it wouldn't produce over 11V. Needed rpm and still barely produced 12.5V. Also had a pretty loud whine. At least is sounded like it was working good. Ended up buying a used one off Ebay that works great. Again, all of these alternators were store brand remans. I'm sure there's good stuff out there.

Ahhh, Duralast alt, yikes. I'm hoping because I paid more, it will last longer, better internal parts. I didn't run a test on mine yet. But it seems fine so far, I drove on the highway. I also got a new battery. ACDELCO 800 CCA. $80 from a auto shop. I paid more for the alternator and paid less for the battery. I kind of figured my alternator was on it's way out. I heard a strange noise and I thought it was from the power steering pump, 6 months ago (noise disappeared for a while, now I know it was the alternator). My first car battery that I bought from autozone lasted under 1 year. They warrantied that. My next one, I think it was a duralast gold. I think that did last 4 years. I don't know why the car industry struggles with alternators. I think at least with the 94-97 accords you can buy a denso alternator from amazon. And I just noticed the new Remy alternator is much cheaper for 94-97 accords, 128. Then the 93 accord Remy new is 190.