This's the 3rd or 4th alternator I've changed in the past 2 years. What gives? Are rebuilt alternators a hit or miss deal? or is there something else going on? Suggetions, comments, inputs will be well recieved! Thanx.
Jae
btw, this's a 93 SE 5sp. I suppose VE and VG alternators are diff?

 

yup.. reman alternators are a hit and miss deal. I had to stand there at the store and watch them test three of them before I found one I was pleased with.

and yes, VE and VG alternators are different. slightly different mounting points.

 

im on my 3rd, im surprised its still going

 

I just replaced mine with a lifetime warranty one from Autozone. I guess at least I won't ever have to buy another one, but still could be going thru the hassle of replacing it now and then. My sister put one on the car about a year ago, and that one just died. I'm sure it was a reman..

 

Matt93SE, assuming mounting points are the same, are the internals interswappable? Cuz I'm wondering maybe they put VG internals into a VE housing...or make the VE output to VG specs.

We just replaced the alternator 4days ago. Good thing I got lifetime on them. Autozone tested the bad one and sure enuf, it was dead. Exchanged w/a new one and had it tested...flying colors. But Like I said, I've only had it in there for 4days and not even 300miles! What gives?

broncoguy, yeah, lifetime is a savior. The bad thing for me is, the store I bought it from is 120miles away. I guess I'll have them ship the new one and I'll ship the core back.

Jae

 

Aftermarket parts from Pep Boys, Autozone, VIP, etc are junk! My neighbor has an 89 Buick Park Ave, and his starter went. So he went to Autozone and bought one with a LIFETIME WARRANTY, and he has had his car towed 3 times and 3 starters! WTF! He had his car checked for another possible problem and found nothing except that their starters a junk. I told him myself to go with the OEM starter from GM and it will most likely last for another 100k, like the original did. Alot of people think they're saving money when they go buy aftermarket parts and find out in the long run that they costed half the money, but at the same time lasted half the time. What's the sense? I gave my neighbor sh@* and he said it was only $100. with a LIFETIME WARRANTY. I said to him did Autozone pay for your tow 3 times, did Autozone pay for your labor changing starters 3 times, did Autozone pay for your 3 days missed work? NO. I said you would have saved yourself alot of aggravation by paying a little more and getting the one from GM. My Max is a 93 SE with 184k with the original starter, alternator and water pump! To me that says go with factory parts, they cost more, but they last twice as long as aftermarket parts that you supposedly save money by buying.
I have replaced parts on my Max with only Nissan original parts. Save yourself time, money and aggravation and go with OEM.

 

there's a big difference between certain parts, and the suppliers that some stores get.
starters and alternators are hit and miss, and some of the ones that are remanned they fix one thing and ship it back out.
Once I find a good one at the parts store, I usually don't have any problems with them afterwards, but there's always that change yours was rebuilt on a friday or something.

engine parts, sensors, etc I'll go OEM. alternators and starters are easy enough to change that I'll buy whatever aftermarket one has a warranty. water pump is a $#!)#@( to change, so I'll buy OEM when it's time to change there.

 

As was previously stated most cheap rebuilts are just that cheap rebuilts. They only replace the one part that failed w/o testing the rest. I would highly recommend either a brand new one ($150) or a reman from nissan, Bosch, Denso or another nationwide company. not some autozone junk. Even with a lifetime warranty they ain't worth a darn!

 

I hear what you guys are saying about OEM, and you have a point. Most of the time, you get what you pay for. Usually, though, the dealer parts are so much more expensive that I can't justify it. Plus, dealer parts houses aren't open the kind of hours that I usually need to do the work (like the other night at 10pm when my alternator failed). I tend to go with what Matt said- maybe for the more critical things, I will go OEM, but other stuff, I'll save the money. Besides, even when an OEM part fails, it can leave you stranded. My max used to belong to my sister, and the original (160K) alternator failed on her on a trip through Oregon in the middle of the night. Anyways, to each his own....I can see the merits of both sides.