I installed the rebuilt one my self in may about the tenth or so. I have a kenwood mono amp with subs in parallel drawing 21 amps with 230 watts X 1. Did I kill the first alternator, which I think was the OEM, with my stereo. Crutchfield says take 40% of your alternator current and that's your reserve. OEM is 110 amps. that leaves me 44 amps for whatever right? Is this true? Or is it wrong and am I becoming a serial alternator killer? Had a little fender bender about a week ago. Well, the front bumper cover is broken. But I see no bending of rebar or anything. The accident couldn't have caused the alternator to finally quit a week later somehow, could it? No way. Please somebody just tell me I bought a crappy alternator. It was 139 after core but I bought it from a reputable place. It started out as one store but has branched to five or six so they had to be doing something right. Classmate says you can blame the store for what a rebuilt alternator does. I guess not. I just did not want to pay 300 bucks for an alternator. Now I have to pay Nissan to get this one taken off then run to the store and run back to Nissan with the new one since this sucker is still under warranty. I guess I could do it again myself but I don't feel like going through that again. Any feedback is appreciated.

 

A bad ground can kill an alternator. So can a lot of other things. The kenwood has 60 amps of fusing, correct me if I am wrong. But a small amp like that is not a likely alternator killer unless it is wired incorrectly. It is possible that the accident loosened some wiring and that has strained the alternator. Also over- or under-tightened belts, or out of alignment idler pulley or alternator.

 

The kenwood I have (KAC 719) has one 30 amp fuse and the manual says it draws 21 amps at rated power (150 W X 1 at 4 ohms and 230 W X 1 at 2 ohms). How likely is it that the wiring was loosened and caused the alternator to die? Do the pulley and alternator have to be laser-aligned or something? I've observed it with the car running and it seems to run smoothly to my novice eyes. I tightened the belt to about a quarter inch of play as the Haynes manual says. Do you think it's more likely that I screwed something up with one of the things you mentioned than it is likely that the alternator was just garbage? I hope I get a good alternator this time. I will try to get my money back if I can, but more likely they will only give me another one. I am scared to pay them more for a better one that may end up failing too. Oh yeah, the ground was screwed down tight with good contact. So what do you think?

 

Okay, I guess it's the 929 that is 230 X 2 at 2 ohms I was thinking of. When I said you might have a bad ground it could be any ground in the car. A headlight ground, defroster ground, whatever. These can be real hard to find and you might want to enlist an expert in car electrical systems. If you got the alt from a reputable shop it should be guaranteed for some period of time. Get in touch with them asap. They may want to check out your car for "leaks".

The belts would likely squeal it they weren't aligned correctly. Sounds like that isn't your problem.

 

Well, I put it on yesterday and things seem to be fine. I wish I could measure the current it puts out somehow. I went to autozone (for the test and the test only!) and he told me it was putting out right at 14V. It's supposed to be a 125 amp alternator. It was not written anywhere on the alternator, though. So I guess I'll have to take the store's word for it.

Will the dealer have these experts to check out if I have a "leak"? How much do you think that would cost me? I was thinking the same thing. Actually, the guy at the place where I got this one said I should have it checked out too, but I had been thinking about it myself, too.

 

I'll tell you that you got a crappy alternator because you probably
did. Ever see Chris Farley talk about warranties in "Tommy Boy"?
I used to work at Checker and it didn't matter if the people were
buying the 2-year or lifetime warranty version of the alternators,
the fact is that they'd be using the warranty - they blow. You can
get lots of good stuff at a good price at AZ or Checker/Shucks/Kragen
but alternators don't qualify.

Joaquin

 

Pull out the handy yellow pages and go to the automotive section. Look far any auto elctrical shops. I wouldn't go to the dealer except as a last resort. Because dealers rip you off once for outrageous hourly rates and twice for bad advice.