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F&*King car. Should I get a good or crappy alternator?

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No Lifer
Apparently the alternator on my 93 sentra is about to die. THe car is essentially undrivable. Car has 157k miles. My question is:

1) Is it worth paying $180 for a nissan alternator vs. $80 for a duralast one from autozone? I mean personally I don't see the point in dumping $100 into it, but the mechanic said that the duralast ones are crappy (they have a lifetime warranty I guess but that won't cover replacement if it dies right away!).
 
Being a Mechanic I can tell you to get the one from AutoZone.

The Alt. on your car is easy to get to, and the one from Autozone has a warrenty. Also the Jap. Alt.'s are built good. The american ones are a little less as there is more parts out there and a lot of people use lower quality parts to build them.

But if you are worried have them test the Alt. before you buy it, they will do that. I ask them to do that on cars that put their starter or Alt. in a hard place.
 
service on those things is like 😱


some guy wanted $400 to fix mine on my 91 capri. I was like bump that so i did it myself.
 
The Duralast Gold is a great alternator. The guys with various GM's and the CS130 alternator that seems to die every year or two in the southern states swear by them.

Factory wanted $180, I paid $100 or so for the Duralast Gold. My original factory one was a $300 job and only lasted 1k miles outside the warranty 8 months later. I did it myself the second time, their two hour job took me 45mins...bastards!

 
I know they sell some of them w/ a lifetime warranty. My friend has gone through 3 on his Mustang within the past 1.5 years. Heck, it was only a $35 alternator😛
 
He is not a nissan mechanic.

He said that in most cars changing the alternator is easy like a one hour job but in this particular vehicle it's a royal, royal pain in the ass, and that's why it costs so much in labor. marlin1975 Are you sure it's an easy job, and what would I do to do it? I don't have much in the way of tools beyond a ratchet set!
 
Alternators are one of those things that I would buy remanufactured. Certainly wouldn't pay 180 bucks if I could avoid it.

Anything Nissan is horribly overpriced. The wholesale value of their alternator probably equals that of the 80 dollar alternator.

Had to buy a headlight for a '94 Maxima back in the day. Lens had a hole in it so had to replace the whole thing. It was sold as part of an assembly, not just the headlight. Nissan guy tells me something like 260 bucks. That was back in the day when I would cuss people in public. Let the guy have it. Later when I cooled off and realized that if I wanted the headlight assembly I was gonna' have to pay, I was too embarrassed to go back to that dealer and ended up driving 60 miles to another dealership, just adding to the expense.
 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
He is not a nissan mechanic.

He said that in most cars changing the alternator is easy like a one hour job but in this particular vehicle it's a royal, royal pain in the ass, and that's why it costs so much in labor. marlin1975 Are you sure it's an easy job, and what would I do to do it? I don't have much in the way of tools beyond a ratchet set!
Click to expand...

How about this, it is NOT as easy as putting one on a Chevy truck, BUT not as hard as putting one on a Z34.

Easy way to tell if you can do it is let the car cool off, then look at where the Alt. is. The take you tools and put a socket or wrench on every bolt that will be needed to take it off. It you can get to all of them and put them back in then go for it. Don't forget to Check/Replace the belt.
But if not just buy thr Alt. from Autozone and have a freind or someone you trust do it, get a price up front and buy the belt if needed yourself

 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
He is not a nissan mechanic.

He said that in most cars changing the alternator is easy like a one hour job but in this particular vehicle it's a royal, royal pain in the ass, and that's why it costs so much in labor. marlin1975 Are you sure it's an easy job, and what would I do to do it? I don't have much in the way of tools beyond a ratchet set!
Click to expand...

Skoorb: Hit a library on the way home. Get a chiltons or haynes manual and see where it is located and how complicated. You might be able to DIY.

I paid $150 for my birthday present: a new alt for my integra. The alt was located on the right side of the engine all the way down, lower than the crankshaft.

My mechanics spent 3 hours doing it and had to put it on the lift and work upwards to get it installed right. $180 does not seem too unreasonable.

BTW: I got dealer pricing on the rebuilt alt and he skimmed the labor bill a bit for me, so it was a hot deal.

-PAB
 
Originally posted by: PlasticJesus
Alternators are one of those things that I would buy remanufactured. Certainly wouldn't pay 180 bucks if I could avoid it.

Anything Nissan is horribly overpriced. The wholesale value of their alternator probably equals that of the 80 dollar alternator.

Had to buy a headlight for a '94 Maxima back in the day. Lens had a hole in it so had to replace the whole thing. It was sold as part of an assembly, not just the headlight. Nissan guy tells me something like 260 bucks. That was back in the day when I would cuss people in public. Let the guy have it. Later when I cooled off and realized that if I wanted the headlight assembly I was gonna' have to pay, I was too embarrassed to go back to that dealer and ended up driving 60 miles to another dealership, just adding to the expense.
Click to expand...

On another note, Autozone here just started carrying replacement parts like this. Headlight and tail light parts, and some others.

 
I HATE to pay for something that I can do myself, but the guy at least told my wife that they had one mechanic replacing an alternator on a sentra of this year and after an hour or two he gave up in frustration and let another mechanic do it, so perhaps it's not my place to replace (excuse the pun) the damn thing...

Another problem is I'm borrowing a co-worker's car tonight. I NEED this car fixed tomorrow, and since I have no garage I'd have to take some time off in the morning to replace it, and I just don't know about that if I'm not able to pull it off. I wish I had a manual with a picture on me here to check out where the alt is!

If I did it myself I'd go with the autozone job and replace it if I had to, but if I'm paying somebody else $150 in labor I don't want to be paying that if the alternator goes out soon after. Argh, what an annoying decision cause I lose either way!
 
I think american engine engineering (forgive the alliteration) is better than the Japanese with the concepts of a car-b-que.

5.7L 350 chevy- you can cram a decent sized 20 pound turkey in there to cook on a long drive
1.6L DOHC honda- if you're lucky: 2 cornish game hens.

Also: Your dipstick can be used to cook shish-kabobs. Just make sure you get all the 10w-30 off.

😀

-PAB
 
Originally posted by: SkoorbI just don't know about that if I'm not able to pull it off. I wish I had a manual with a picture on me here to check out where the alt is!
Click to expand...

You can buy the Haynes Repair Guide for your car from Auto Zone for like $10-$15 and it should show you were it is and how to replace it for that matter.

You could go down there and just peruse the guide before buying it and see if you think it'll be something you can handle.

A friend of ours replaced ours with a Duralast one and it didn't take that long, that could depend on the car though.

 
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