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Now i tried searching "upgrade alternator" ...and that brought up pretty much every single thread ever made here.
Finally got stranded after these years in sweltering baking heat on the highway, after over 180K miles the start solenoid clicked and the gauges when crazy, the poor Yellow Top Optima had run the car all day long with no charge and the gauge pod doesn't have an amp gauge!
Now I know i'm a member of the maxima.org forums so a 110amp alternator is out of the question, there will be more accessories mods that will add the electrical load. I don't need no neighborhood banging stereo 250amp alternator.
However I am having a hell of time finding a 125 - 140 amp QUALITY NAME BRAND alternator like Hitachi or Bosch. Carquest said 125amp but, gave me a 110amp and their site only shows 110 amp, so i'm gonna have to take it back and i highly doubt they will have a 125amp but, i'll check again anyways.
That still doesn't fix the no warning. Has anyone installed volt/amp meter to their alternator's output?
you will not going to find a higher amp alternator, only OEM spec. What kind of stuff are you running off in the car such as accessories and etc. because OEM alternator only handles whatever stock equipment that runs off it, such as power seat, heated seat, Radio, A/C unit but if you're throwing in something that have a high AMP draw then you need a capacitor keep the alternator from overworking the electrical load. Otherwise, alternator do fail due to age, wear and tear, so you just have to get it tested see if alternator really quit.
There are higher amperage alternators available for the Maxima. They are made by specialty manufacturers and rather pricey. Google search found these and more.
That's one of the problems 200+ is way too much. 130 tops would be plenty. eBay has 125amp alts but they don't list brands probably because they don't have one.
Gonna try stereo shop.
I will be adding rear heated seats, upgrading the headunit, no and add more electric accessories on top of that. Use inverters from time to time Also new speakers and or amp may be possible in the distant future but, any stupid *** bass box or anything to that extreme.
I had 2 Autobone alternators die on me, at first i was thinking it was the car killing them until i purchased a Denso alternator and haven't had a issue in a few years.
Remembering my comment here, I am now checking in 5 days after alternator change to report that I changed my alternator today. Was driving on lunch, came to a light, got a 2 second squeal that went away, but the battery & brake light came on. Pulled into gas station, belt gone. At this point I'm thinking I must have overtightened the tensioner. Autozone wasn't far, so I rode there on the battery, bought a new belt, rode the battery back to work. After work, change the belt in the parking lot. Start my car up and suddenly get smoke coming from under the hood. Turn the car off. Pop hood. Smoke coming from new new belt, which I witness pop right before my eyes. Battery back to autozone. Buy new tools. (Work is 2.5 h before home). Get in there, spin the compressor, smooth. Spin the tensioner, smooth. Obviously not the crank or the power steering. Alternator, stuck like a rock. You know, I almost wished it was the compressor, because then I could have just bought the bypass belt and gone home, but nope, I got the bone, Autobone. Bought the rest of the stuff I needed to do the job in the parking lot, and that was what I did. 4am, leave house, 6:30am, get to work, 5:30pm leave work, 9:00pm leave Autobone, 11:30pm, post on the .org.
I know we can't prevent every problem but since I learned about getting your own alternator rebuilt instead of gambling with an off the shelf model, I have been very pleased.
Take your unit to an electrical shop and pay them to go through it and my personal belief is we are far better off. I don't know alternators but the ones at AutoZone aren't worth my money by the sounds of it.
Autozone is hit or miss on their quality. Not everything is bad. I've gotten more good parts than bad from them. But I always save my receipt.
Yeah, I agree Dennis as being a former AutoZone employee not everything is bad, but I feel that when I spend my money it shouldn't be a gamble. Also I think that you can end up with a bad part from any parts store, however two bad in a row? crazy. One thing I can say I've had the best luck with Napa, but I've herd stories about them too so IDK.
Remembering my comment here, I am now checking in 5 days after alternator change to report that I changed my alternator today. Was driving on lunch, came to a light, got a 2 second squeal that went away, but the battery & brake light came on. Pulled into gas station, belt gone. At this point I'm thinking I must have overtightened the tensioner. Autozone wasn't far, so I rode there on the battery, bought a new belt, rode the battery back to work. After work, change the belt in the parking lot. Start my car up and suddenly get smoke coming from under the hood. Turn the car off. Pop hood. Smoke coming from new new belt, which I witness pop right before my eyes. Battery back to autozone. Buy new tools. (Work is 2.5 h before home). Get in there, spin the compressor, smooth. Spin the tensioner, smooth. Obviously not the crank or the power steering. Alternator, stuck like a rock. You know, I almost wished it was the compressor, because then I could have just bought the bypass belt and gone home, but nope, I got the bone, Autobone. Bought the rest of the stuff I needed to do the job in the parking lot, and that was what I did. 4am, leave house, 6:30am, get to work, 5:30pm leave work, 9:00pm leave Autobone, 11:30pm, post on the .org.
2.5 hour commute? Damn, I thought my 1.5 hour commute was bad when I lived in NY, I take my hat off to you man. In that situation I would have been Livid and would have shot an email to Autozone corporate just to voice my experience, normally that's good for some coupons or something.
So Turns out after the local alternator shop whent out of business they opened back up under a different name, Haven't had a chance to see it yet but, what once i got my bad alternator pulled it turned out be a cheap crappy *** sloppy reman. They took it and rebuilt it to a 118amp. better than nothing. it it lasts a while a i might buy a 125amp form flea bay and take it to them for stress testing and inspection.
having my old crappy alt rebuilt to 118 amps cost my like $80 USD after tax where the 110amp Bosch was $180 from autozone. Sent my dad to pick it up from them, said the rebuild the whole thing, new bearing and the whole 9 yards.
EDIT:any one put a little digital amperage read out in their dash? A little warning would be nice.
I recently had mine die on me, had 190k kms on it. Unfortunately i needed the car that day and had to shell serious $$$ to get some crappy reman put in. Long story short, the damn thing howls like ive got a pack of wolves living in my bay, what gives? its cause its cheaply made or something else?
I recently had mine die on me, had 190k kms on it. Unfortunately i needed the car that day and had to shell serious $$$ to get some crappy reman put in. Long story short, the damn thing howls like ive got a pack of wolves living in my bay, what gives? its cause its cheaply made or something else?
this a way too often repeated story. Re-man alternator has a problem right out of the box or shortly thereafter. Sloppy re-build process, no real testing.
sad to say my alternator crapped out and i have to deal with this in the near future (this weekend). im disappointed there are still no reliable options for purchase on these things.
most car parts come from china. it's so bad we bought a brake lathe so we can machine brand new out of box brake rotors because they only end mill them china, they do not "true" them or fine machine them.
same things goes with alternators, and A/C compressors and suspension parts etc etc. even the name brand stuff is just shell companies re branding Chinese garbage.
For the time and money any time i need to replace an alternator or starter with new i may just take it to my local guys for stress testing and inspection before i even install it! In fact i think i'm may buy one of those 125 AMP alts and take it to them for inspection and testing.
I do want to install an amp meter, that way when it starts dipping or shows nill, i know i'm battery power with a bad alternator.
something like this small enough to fit the blank spots for the optional dash switches.
this a way too often repeated story. Re-man alternator has a problem right out of the box or shortly thereafter. Sloppy re-build process, no real testing.
Take it back and demand another one.
Really? I've never had to buy an alternator so didnt know what the heck was going on. Man now to remove and put another one will just be more $$$ and they're probably going to say, well is it functioning? which it is so i dont know, also what if they give me another one and its the same? Its just too much hassle having to deal with it.
A normal alternator does not make noise. The bearing is probably bad therefore the alternator is bad.
If you took the car to a regular, licensed repair shop, you have a warranty and they will replace it and not charge you anything. This is assuming that you did not buy the alternator at some store and then take it to them to install.
2.5 hour commute? Damn, I thought my 1.5 hour commute was bad when I lived in NY, I take my hat off to you man. In that situation I would have been Livid and would have shot an email to Autozone corporate just to voice my experience, normally that's good for some coupons or something.
I am a chemical engineering student at WSU in Pullman, WA. Unfortunately there is not a lot of work in the immediate area, closest is paper industry 1h min, but that's not my bag. Instead went for an internship in the automotive/areospace materials industry 2.5 h away. As I am on a 12 mo lease it was either double book apts or drive. As I love to spend time with Maxine and didn't want to haul my pets back and forth twice a week, I opted for the latter. It's for 3 months, suck it up and deal while beefing up my resume and making contacts. Some may have trouble finding work after school, I will not.
Autobone district manager gave me $50 cash refund on the alternator and took the return on all the tools. Settled. On day 9 of #2, not sure what the breath easy point is with their stuff haha
A normal alternator does not make noise. The bearing is probably bad therefore the alternator is bad.
If you took the car to a regular, licensed repair shop, you have a warranty and they will replace it and not charge you anything. This is assuming that you did not buy the alternator at some store and then take it to them to install.
lol yea thats what i did, bought it at canadian tire and got it installed by a local mechanic hence why im saying to go back to the mechanic, tell him to remove it, take it to the store, get a replacement, bring it back to mechanic, just too much hassle, its under warranty, if it dies, ill go through the steps mentioned lol
07-06-2017, 09:57 PM
