Loading…
5
Got a $40 junkyard alternator for my 2003 Corolla and it died in 3 days, then a guy at O'Reilly in Reno told me one thing to check
Last week I was pretty proud of myself for pulling an alternator off a wrecked Corolla at Pick-n-Pull for $40 instead of paying $180 for a reman. I bolted it on in my driveway, fired it up, and the battery light went off so I thought I was golden. Three days later the car died at a stoplight on McCarran and I had to push it into a gas station lot. A guy at the O'Reilly on Wells looked at the pulleys and pointed out the junkyard unit had a worn brush and the bearings were shot. He sold me a $6 brush kit and showed me how to swap them instead of buying new. I got 8 more months out of that alternator before it finally quit for real. How do you guys check junkyard alternators before you buy them, or do you just roll the dice like I did?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
oscarmurphy3d ago
That fix-it-yourself lesson at the parts store is the same one I keep seeing everywhere, the cheap used part gets you in the door but the real save comes from someone showing you what to look at. Your mileage may vary, but I always spin the pulley by hand and listen for grinding before I hand over my cash.
7