another alternator bites the dust

[Peter Berkey]

I've gone through 3 alternators on my '97 OBW (145k miles)... and now it
looks like I may need another one (the 4th!!). Last night as I was driving
down the freeway, the radio suddenly went out. Today, the battery & brake
warning lights go on. Sure indications that the car is sucking juice out
of the battery without it being replenished. Been through this 3 times
before, so this has become the "normal" thing that I can expect every 40-60k
miles.

Anyone else having this nightmare with their OBW?

 

[Jim Stewart]

I've gone through 3 alternators on my '97 OBW (145k miles)... and now it
looks like I may need another one (the 4th!!). Last night as I was driving
down the freeway, the radio suddenly went out. Today, the battery & brake
warning lights go on. Sure indications that the car is sucking juice out
of the battery without it being replenished. Been through this 3 times
before, so this has become the "normal" thing that I can expect every 40-60k
miles.

Methinks there is something killing your alternator.
I'd be interested to know what failed in the alternator,
the diodes, the windings or the bearings. If you
find out, I may have some insight into the problem.

 

[-rick-]

I've gone through 3 alternators on my '97 OBW (145k miles)... and now it
looks like I may need another one (the 4th!!). Last night as I was driving
down the freeway, the radio suddenly went out. Today, the battery & brake
warning lights go on. Sure indications that the car is sucking juice out
of the battery without it being replenished. Been through this 3 times
before, so this has become the "normal" thing that I can expect every 40-60k
miles.

Anyone else having this nightmare with their OBW?

Have you been getting new Subaru replacements or aftermarket rebuilds? I've
had a lot of trouble with rebuilds for a Toyota.

-rick-

 

[Bob Gibson]

I have a 97 OBW too. The alternator went just about the time the recall
came a while back. Subaru replaced it with a rebuilt and I've had no
trouble. I have 108,000 miles. If you're using aftermarket replacements,
I'd go with a new one from a name company like Bosch.
Bob

 

[Edward Hayes]

My local auto parts stopped using rebuilt because so many came back. In fact
they used to install them for X dollars but, when they came back under
warranty they had to eat the labor. A truly remanufactured alternator is
completely stripped down and windings checked and revarnished and ALL new
bearings/diodes are installed. I do believe NAPA may still have quality
rebuild/remanufactured units. This lifetime warranty crap is useless if you
must change one every years. eddie

 

[Peter Berkey]

Have you been getting new Subaru replacements or aftermarket rebuilds?
I've

had a lot of trouble with rebuilds for a Toyota.

-rick-

From what I understand, you can't find new alternators for this year....
even at the Subaru dealerships. You have to go with rebuilt ones.

 

[Peter Berkey]

My local auto parts stopped using rebuilt because so many came back. In fact
they used to install them for X dollars but, when they came back under
warranty they had to eat the labor. A truly remanufactured alternator is
completely stripped down and windings checked and revarnished and ALL new
bearings/diodes are installed. I do believe NAPA may still have quality
rebuild/remanufactured units. This lifetime warranty crap is useless if you
must change one every years. eddie

My Napa alternator (alternator #3) lasted me 1 1/2 years and about 30k
miles. Of course, I don't know if it was the alternator that failed first
or the battery. Battery didn't take a charge, both were bad... both were
under warantee. Just another bad marriage, don't know which one went bad
first (another chicken or the egg mystery).

Anyhow, car seems to be happy now with the new Napa alternator and new Napa
battery... I just need to take care of the leaking power stering fluid now
(does this stuff ever end?). Hey-yo, time to take another long trip.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that stuff.


-- Pete

 

[Edward Hayes]

Often you can find a shop who rebuilds your unit in-house. Find a place that
rebuilds electric motors/commercial drilling or well pumps etc. eddie

 

[Jim Stewart]

battery... I just need to take care of the leaking power stering fluid now
(does this stuff ever end?).

One should never complain about leaking power steering
fluid unless one has owned a Ford Taurus.

 

[Peter Berkey]

Often you can find a shop who rebuilds your unit in-house.

Yep, that's what I did for alternator #2. That one lasted 60k miles before
it stranded me in the middle of nowhere. It had a lifetime warrantee,
however lifetime warrantee's don't do much good when you break down 200+
miles away from the place that honors the warrantee.

--Pete


Find a place that

 

[Peter Berkey]

Bob wirtes:

The alternator went just about the time the recall
came a while back. Subaru replaced it with a rebuilt and I've had no
trouble.

So glad to find someone else here that knows about that recall.... thought I
was imagining that whole thing. The only way that I found out about it was
through a used car wholesaler friend of mine... I then contacted Subaru and
found out about it. Unfortunately, that was AFTER I replaced alternator
#1. Subaru was nice enough to reimburse me for the part, however they made
sure they covered their butts by including a waiver with the reimbursement
check stating that they were not responsible for any further liability.

My irritation with Subaru is that they failed to inform me about the recall
when I first brought the car into the dealership during the alternator #1
problem. If they had, all of this trouble would have been avoided. Sure
would like to know why I was not informed of that recall, and why this
recall is such a big secret (it's not listed among the recalls at the Subaru
web site).

How and when did you find out about this recall??


-- Pete

 

[Robert L. Wilson]

Did you take your car in for the callback on the alternators? Ours (also
'97) had not gone bad but we got them to replace it, free and done
conveniently, when we got the notice a couple of years ago. I think they put
in heavier-duty ones but there was no official word that I saw on what the
fix was, nor the reason. But if you did not do that and have been replacing
the alternator with some generic non-OEM ones this might explain it.
Bob Wilson

 

[Gilles Gour]

Did you take your car in for the callback on the alternators? Ours (also
'97) had not gone bad but we got them to replace it, free and done
conveniently, when we got the notice a couple of years ago. I think they put
in heavier-duty ones but there was no official word that I saw on what the
fix was, nor the reason. But if you did not do that and have been replacing
the alternator with some generic non-OEM ones this might explain it.
Bob Wilson

For what it's worth. I have a Subaru rebuilt (according to Subaru's
specs) alt waiting to be installed (by me) Not sure but I would trust it
to last longer than a simple aftermarket one. History will tell. Anybody
else tried this kind of rebuilt alt?

 

[Peter Berkey]

Got a new alternator and a new battery.... I installed them yesterday and
had them tested... everything seemed to be working fine. Today, I warm up
the car and the radio goes dead and then the wipers start moving in slow
motion. There's clearly a short in the system.

Methinks there is something killing your alternator.

What is it? How do I get it diagnosed?

I'd be interested to know what failed in the alternator,
the diodes, the windings or the bearings.

I believe it was the diodes... definately not the bearings.

If you find out, I may have some insight into the problem.

No way to find out because they send the thing back to the scrap yard.

-- Pete

 

[Rick Courtright]

to last longer than a simple aftermarket one. History will tell. Anybody
else tried this kind of rebuilt alt?

Hi,

I used a chain store "remanufactured" unit when I had to replace my
original (which went over 300k miles, BTW) but would go to Subaru in the
future. Quality difference between aftermarket and Subaru's
"remanufactured" stuff I've seen so far is night and day even though the
one I bought had a "big" name on the box.

Rick

 

[Anthony]

A lot of the time only the brushes are bad. It's usually worth the effort
to tear it apart and see what's actually wrong. If it is only the brushes,
it's a $5 repair.

Tony

 

[Rick Courtright]

A lot of the time only the brushes are bad. It's usually worth the effort
to tear it apart and see what's actually wrong. If it is only the brushes,
it's a $5 repair.

Sometimes... looking for brushes for my unit produced more blank stares
than one could imagine. I've replaced brushes in some alternators easily
at low cost. Other times I've had to replace the whole unit. It all
depends on what unit you have and the parts pipeline supporting it. (And
sometimes where you are when you need to fix the dead item!) YMMV...

Rick

 

[null_pointer]

A lot of the time only the brushes are bad. It's usually worth the effort
to tear it apart and see what's actually wrong. If it is only the brushes,
it's a $5 repair.

Wjorking as a mechanic, I replaces many alternators on Japanese
vehicles, and you're right, many of them only needed brushes. My boss
would rather replace than rebuild for liability reasons. We had a
good source of rebuilds which worked out very well. Most of the OEM
alt's seemed to last 120k-130k miles before the brushes went.

 

[Edward Hayes]

I thought Alternators used slip-rings to transfer power and generators used
brushes. eddie

 

[Rick Courtright]

I thought Alternators used slip-rings to transfer power and generators used
brushes. eddie

Hi,

The slip rings are basically the equivalent of the commutator in a
generator, but still use brushes to contact them. Brushes are relatively
small compared to most old generator brushes, and since the slip rings
are smooth instead of grooved, the brushes last a long time compared to
generator brushes. But there's still a set of brushes involved.

Rick