Re: “Time to take it to AutoZone.”
This post is the probable conclusion to my Garage Sale alternator saga - unless someone wants to continue it for some reason.
I went to AutoZone and asked them to test it. They asked for the make, model and year of the vehicle it went to. I told them I didn't know and they said that without that, they can't test it. They explained that running the belt too fast could damage my alternator. I almost told them, "Aw, go ahead. I don't care." but didn't.
I returned to my car, pulled up the failure report I showed you guys earlier, and got the part number off of it. Believe it or not, there is NO manufacturer information on the alternator itself. I called my wife and she was able to look up the part number on the internet and see what it goes to: It's for a 1989 Ford F150.
I went back into the store, cognizant of the possibility that the failure report was not for this alternator, and told them that it was an F150's alternator. They then had some trouble getting it hooked up but eventually tested it. It failed.
I'm not surprised.
They then gave me a quote of $31.50 plus the core for a new re-manufactured alternator ... and that IS a surprise. So cheap! I guess it's because it's for a 29 year old vehicle. They're giving me just $12 for the core.
So I overpaid for my broken part. Oh well. Lesson learned.
I asked if they sell the brushes for alternators and the guy said no, just whole alternators. He didn't know what he was talking about, though. Autozone has a web page that's full of brushes - ranging from $17.95 to less than $3.00. However, given that the alternator is so cheap and I couldn't be sure that replacing the brushes would necessarily fix the alternator, I'm going to call it a day on this and just buy a re-manufactured one when I'm ready to work on my water wheel. And that will be a while. I have projects coming out my ears right now.
Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months
| 
