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Freaken alternator blew out again

S

steppinthrax

Diamond Member
I had an alternator go bad in my Nissan Altima. After replacing it with a new one I starting hearing a buzzing noise occasionally when I rise the RPM over 2K. It came and went. Finally after a week of use the alternator blew out.

WTF.


I'm hoping it was just a bad alternator that I got. It's a reman. It has a LLT warranty from Autozone so I'm fine......
 
edit: forgot to add, IF the battery being drained is linked to the buzzing of the alternator of course it would happen as soon as you use it. The battery needs to be charged now, the alternator is getting full load put on it.

I've fried a 200amp alt this way once, it even melted part of the case inside......

Anyways

First you bought it from Autozone. I have never had good luck with their brand crap along with Advance/Kragen/Schucks.

Why did the orginal alt die?

Are all the conenctions cleaned and in good shape, no intermittent issues? Also how well is it grounded?
 
Buzzing like mechanical noise or buzzing like electrical hum? Installed and tightened incorrectly with the shaft at an angle?

They aren't weak but the electronics (diode, regulator) are fragile; they aren't designed to provide peak output for sustained periods of time (ie: driving around with a dead battery).
 
Originally posted by: exdeath
Buzzing like mechanical noise or buzzing like electrical hum? Installed and tightened incorrectly with the shaft at an angle?

They aren't weak but the electronics (diode, regulator) are fragile; they aren't designed to provide peak output for sustained periods of time (ie: driving around with a dead battery).
Click to expand...

It was buzzing like a mechnical noise. Almost like the inner fan was rubbing against the insides????
 
Originally posted by: mooseracing
edit: forgot to add, IF the battery being drained is linked to the buzzing of the alternator of course it would happen as soon as you use it. The battery needs to be charged now, the alternator is getting full load put on it.

I've fried a 200amp alt this way once, it even melted part of the case inside......

Anyways

First you bought it from Autozone. I have never had good luck with their brand crap along with Advance/Kragen/Schucks.

Why did the orginal alt die?

Are all the conenctions cleaned and in good shape, no intermittent issues? Also how well is it grounded?
Click to expand...

The original alternator had around 134K miles on it and came with the car. So it just so happens it wore out I imagine. I bought a lot of parts from autozone and advance auto. I like them because of their lifetime warranties. When I sold my old car it sold higher then normal because almost everything including the brake pads had lifetime warrantes on them.

The only time I had an autozone part break on me was a heater core went bad once and was under warranty.
 
Originally posted by: steppinthrax
Originally posted by: mooseracing
edit: forgot to add, IF the battery being drained is linked to the buzzing of the alternator of course it would happen as soon as you use it. The battery needs to be charged now, the alternator is getting full load put on it.

I've fried a 200amp alt this way once, it even melted part of the case inside......

Anyways

First you bought it from Autozone. I have never had good luck with their brand crap along with Advance/Kragen/Schucks.

Why did the orginal alt die?

Are all the conenctions cleaned and in good shape, no intermittent issues? Also how well is it grounded?
Click to expand...

The original alternator had around 134K miles on it and came with the car. So it just so happens it wore out I imagine. I bought a lot of parts from autozone and advance auto. I like them because of their lifetime warranties. When I sold my old car it sold higher then normal because almost everything including the brake pads had lifetime warrantes on them.

The only time I had an autozone part break on me was a heater core went bad once and was under warranty.
Click to expand...


You do know the warrenties are void when you sell the car. I use to be an auto tech and also worked for both ADV and AZ.
 
Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Originally posted by: steppinthrax
Originally posted by: mooseracing
edit: forgot to add, IF the battery being drained is linked to the buzzing of the alternator of course it would happen as soon as you use it. The battery needs to be charged now, the alternator is getting full load put on it.

I've fried a 200amp alt this way once, it even melted part of the case inside......

Anyways

First you bought it from Autozone. I have never had good luck with their brand crap along with Advance/Kragen/Schucks.

Why did the orginal alt die?

Are all the conenctions cleaned and in good shape, no intermittent issues? Also how well is it grounded?
Click to expand...

The original alternator had around 134K miles on it and came with the car. So it just so happens it wore out I imagine. I bought a lot of parts from autozone and advance auto. I like them because of their lifetime warranties. When I sold my old car it sold higher then normal because almost everything including the brake pads had lifetime warrantes on them.

The only time I had an autozone part break on me was a heater core went bad once and was under warranty.
Click to expand...


You do know the warrenties are void when you sell the car. I use to be an auto tech and also worked for both ADV and AZ.
Click to expand...


When I sold the car to the guy I informed him that the warranties are non-transferable but the autozones around my area ask just for the phone number the parts are registered in. I gave him my old phone number. They don't verify past that. At least that is how it's done in my area....
 
OK

I just got a new alternator (exchange from old one). I put it in and had them fully deep charge the battery. They tested the battery and verified it to be good as well. I'll keep you guys up to date.
 
When I got a new (reman from AZ) alternator, there was a note in the box demanding that you change the battery to a new one when installing the part or it would die and the warranty would be void.

I of course completely disregarded this note and promptly fried the new alternator, they replaced it for free, and I bought a new battery the second time around.

Worked great ever since.
 
Lifetime warranties are great and everything but I would rather spend the big bucks for a quality part w/ little to no warranty (beside teh usualy 30 day thing) and not have to replace the stinkin thing. I had replaced an alt 3 times before I got one to last more than 6 months, and yes I charged the battery, even trickle charged it because I had time. Now I'm on an alt that has been beat to death for 3yrs that I built myself.

My time is worth more than that warranty. Its just been my past experiences that I have had issues with their name brand things.

I'll go there and buy Castrol Oil, Raybestos brake parts, Fel Pro gaskets....Anything but their name and that includes their tools when I need one in an emergency situation. Except this one time i needed to cut down a 7/8" wrench to get it to fit, so of course I chose their duracrap brand fist.
 
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