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Best place to buy a new alternator?

Search for a local place that rebuilds them?

I have a place nearby that rebuilds starters and alternators and gives a 3 year warranty. It's usually a lot less than buying a replacement.

Otherwise, RockAuto.
 
AutoZone, Advance Auto and other chains will sell rebuilt and new; some with a lifetime warranty.

nice thing about locals; is that you may pay sales tax; but you also have near instantaneous replacement.
 
Personally, with an electronic part such as this, I would only buy it at napa.

It will probably be 10-15% more expensive but it is pretty much always worth the extra cost unless you're planning on selling the vehicle.

If it's a 'named' part (IE moog, brembo, etc etc) then amazon or advance is just fine.
 
brainhulk said:
do they sell them in bulk?
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About the size of a roast beef.

The alternator failure is a common problem in seventh gen civics so replacements are fairly easy to find. Most big box autoparts stores will have them. They're a couple hundred bucks. You can save money getting a rebuild as well, which is what I did. Haven't had any issues knock on wood. Just asked my guy to pick one up for me. It's good having a mechanic that specializes in older Hondas.
 
I don't have the time to wait for a shop to rebuild my alternator unless it takes them less than a couple hours and they can do it on a Saturday. I have to do all my autowork whenever I decide to visit my parents over a weekend.

I think I might go to an AutoZone and just buy an alternator there?

Also, I have a sixth generation civic. 7th gen starts in 2001.
 
TridenT said:
I don't have the time to wait for a shop to rebuild my alternator unless it takes them less than a couple hours and they can do it on a Saturday. I have to do all my autowork whenever I decide to visit my parents over a weekend.

I think I might go to an AutoZone and just buy an alternator there?

Also, I have a sixth generation civic. 7th gen starts in 2001.
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I have an autozone alternator in my car. It's a rebuilt unit, but carries a lifetime warranty. It's not been great -- the first one only lasted about a year -- but the lifetime warranty transferred to the replacement. On my car I can swap the alternator in 5-10 minutes, so I don't really mind that I'm probably going to have to do that every few years.

If you're curious, you can probably find a rebuild kit and rebuild it yourself. I did this with my starter motor last weekend, and it was pretty easy and worked great.

edit: I bought the kit from Rebuilder in a Box. It looks like they have alternator and starter kits for lots of different things.
 
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LTC8K6 said:
How did you determine that you need an alternator?
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Replaced a battery(that was supposedly bad...) and still have pulses in my lights at about 120 times a minute. The airbag system shuts off occasionally because there is not enough juice given constantly(SRS light comes on and off and pulses)... That's alternator failure or voltage regulator failure, but I'm going to go with alternator. Replacing the voltage regulator happens at the same time the voltage regulator anyway... (Built-in, I believe?)
 
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LTC8K6 said:
Sounds like a diode is gone.
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Either way, it sounds like full alternator replacement since I'm not likely going to be able to replace diodes easily. Is there a test that a shop can do without having to charge me to see if it's really my alternator? The people at O'Reilly's did a test and said everything was fine... I can't remember what they test for the alternator, but it obviously wasn't that extensive.
 
JulesMaximus said:
I'd go with an OEM Honda part if you're planning on keeping the car.
Click to expand...

Just one that is as close to the original part as possible is what you're saying?

EagleKeeper said:
Most shops that will sell you one will also test the old one.
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Alright.

I think I might go buy the alternator at NAPA. They have an employee discount this upcoming Saturday (2nd Saturdays). I'm going to be buying a bunch of shit from them. I'll probably go into Oregon to do it all since it'll be cheaper without sales tax. (Save myself $30 or so in the end with all the stuff I'm buying)
 
TridenT said:
I've been driving it quite a bit since it has had this issue(at least a few months). I'm not too worried about it. I don't have much of an option anyway.
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Not an alternator then as your car would be completely dead within a few minutes of driving it with a dead alternator. Voltage regulator maybe, although I know nothing of how that is implemented in your vehicle. Might want to check, could be cheaper for you to fix, or might not be worth it.
 
Demo24 said:
Not an alternator then as your car would be completely dead within a few minutes of driving it with a dead alternator. Voltage regulator maybe, although I know nothing of how that is implemented in your vehicle. Might want to check, could be cheaper for you to fix, or might not be worth it.
Click to expand...

I think that in the 70-80's, many voltage regulators were no longer a seperate unit but built into the alternator units.

  1. If the battery was dying; after 5-6 starts, he would be in trouble.
  2. If the alternator was dead; the battery will no charge, and see #1
  3. If the regulator is shot or a wiring short, the battery level will discharge when not in use and then while driving get charged back up to normal.
 
What exactly are the symptoms to make you think the alternator is going?
 
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