Starter motors and alternators - which to buy?

On May 14, 8:22*am, N8N > wrote:
> On May 14, 5:52*am, m6onz5a > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On May 13, 6:48*pm, Nate Nagel > wrote:
>
> > > Anumber1 wrote:
> > > > wrote:
> > > >> Hi,
>
> > > >> Here is an ignorant question I'm hoping there is an easy answer to:
> > > >> who makes the decisions when it comes to which brand of starter motor
> > > >> or alternator?
>
> > > >> Is it the auto electrician himself? Do they have preferred suppliers
> > > >> and are they incentivised to stick with them?
>
> > > >> Do consumers have any say in which brand they should choose from?
>
> > > >> Stu
>
> > > > Rebuild the OEM part. An alternator or starter is cheap to have rebuilt
> > > > at a local auto electric re-builder (there are three in my neck of the
> > > > woods in a fairly small town).
>
> > > > Brushes and diodes are cheap and a good auto electric shop will make the
> > > > original part good as new for half the price of the off-shore "rebuild"
> > > > that you buy from a chain autoparts store (that may or may not have been
> > > > done "well")
>
> > > > It is not as convenient as going to autozone but will outlast anything
> > > > they offer, lifetime warranty or not.
> > > > Al
>
> > > Around here an in house rebuild is about 2x the cost of an OTC reman.
> > > That said I still would second your advice.
>
> > > nate
>
> > > --
> > > replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.http://members.cox.net/njnagel
>
> > Ditto. In my area getting an alternator or starter rebuilt is just as
> > pricey as buying one new.
>
> You *have* cars for which new starters are still available?
>
> seriously, if nothing else, I patronize the rebuilder because I want
> to make sure I can still get my stuff serviced in 5 years when even
> the regular FLAPS remans are NLA. *that and they do do their rebuilds
> in house and bench test them before you ever pick them up.
>
> nate- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

unfortunately the market is turning into a parts replacement service.
Real mechanics/techs are getting harder to come by. Why wait 2 days
for a rebuild when you can have it deliverd new or rebuilt in less
time it takes to get a pizza?

On May 13, 5:34*am, wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Here is an ignorant question I'm hoping there is an easy answer to:
> who makes the decisions when it comes to which brand of starter motor
> or alternator?
>
> Is it the auto electrician himself? Do they have preferred suppliers
> and are they incentivised to stick with them?
>
> Do consumers have any say in which brand they should choose from?
>
> Stu

I'm going to chime in my $.02 here and all of you can take it however
you want it.
First, the idea of having your local generator shop or rebuilding it
yourself is fine.....IF this is for a family member or if this is for
yourself and time means nothing. If you've got a customer in the
waiting room and will be there until the car is finished, forget about
rebuilding the original part. Fact it, time is money and the
customer's time is important too.
Now if this is for yourself (or your family) and you want to rebuild
it, that great. Except most of the replacement parts are made in a
third world country where quality and inspections went out the window.
Any of you purchased an alternator bearing or starter solenoid lately?
Junk. An old Delco alternator regulator or a GM HEI ignition module?
It may come in a box that has a brand name on the outside, but in
reality, it's junk. So your rebuilder down the street is also putting
junk back into your original part. Not that your rebuilt assemblies
from your chain stores are any better, but the argument to have it
rebuilt has gotten a lot weaker in the last 20 years.
I'm all for rebuilding an item myself. You know exactly what's in it.
But trying to do it everytime will lose you money and prolong the time
it takes for a repair.

On Thu, 14 May 2009 18:00:41 -0700, Kruse wrote:

> On May 13, 5:34Â*am, wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Here is an ignorant question I'm hoping there is an easy answer to:
>> who makes the decisions when it comes to which brand of starter motor
>> or alternator?
>>
>> Is it the auto electrician himself? Do they have preferred suppliers
>> and are they incentivised to stick with them?
>>
>> Do consumers have any say in which brand they should choose from?
>>
>> Stu
>
> I'm going to chime in my $.02 here and all of you can take it however
> you want it.
> First, the idea of having your local generator shop or rebuilding it
> yourself is fine.....IF this is for a family member or if this is for
> yourself and time means nothing. If you've got a customer in the
> waiting room and will be there until the car is finished, forget about
> rebuilding the original part. Fact it, time is money and the
> customer's time is important too.
> Now if this is for yourself (or your family) and you want to rebuild
> it, that great. Except most of the replacement parts are made in a
> third world country where quality and inspections went out the window.
> Any of you purchased an alternator bearing or starter solenoid lately?
> Junk. An old Delco alternator regulator or a GM HEI ignition module?
> It may come in a box that has a brand name on the outside, but in
> reality, it's junk. So your rebuilder down the street is also putting
> junk back into your original part. Not that your rebuilt assemblies
> from your chain stores are any better, but the argument to have it
> rebuilt has gotten a lot weaker in the last 20 years.
> I'm all for rebuilding an item myself. You know exactly what's in it.
> But trying to do it everytime will lose you money and prolong the time
> it takes for a repair.


I rebulit two alternator for old Toyotas, with a mish-mash of parts; some
from Toyota, some from CarQuest, where I worked for a while.

The first one was an old Corolla (hachiroku) with genuine Toyota parts:
$65 for a regulator, $22 for bearings and $6 for brushes. The brushes were
from an Ace Hardware store.

On an old Celica I owned years later, I got the parts from CarQuest.
Regulator: same part number (on the part) as the OEM one. $40
Bearings: same Timken Japan bearings as the original, $14 each
Brushes: same $3 brushes from Ace Hardware...
The first one is still going since 1991.

Kruse wrote:
> On May 13, 5:34 am, wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Here is an ignorant question I'm hoping there is an easy answer to:
>> who makes the decisions when it comes to which brand of starter motor
>> or alternator?
>>
>> Is it the auto electrician himself? Do they have preferred suppliers
>> and are they incentivised to stick with them?
>>
>> Do consumers have any say in which brand they should choose from?
>>
>> Stu
>
> I'm going to chime in my $.02 here and all of you can take it however
> you want it.
> First, the idea of having your local generator shop or rebuilding it
> yourself is fine.....IF this is for a family member or if this is for
> yourself and time means nothing. If you've got a customer in the
> waiting room and will be there until the car is finished, forget about
> rebuilding the original part. Fact it, time is money and the
> customer's time is important too.
> Now if this is for yourself (or your family) and you want to rebuild
> it, that great. Except most of the replacement parts are made in a
> third world country where quality and inspections went out the window.
> Any of you purchased an alternator bearing or starter solenoid lately?
> Junk. An old Delco alternator regulator or a GM HEI ignition module?
> It may come in a box that has a brand name on the outside, but in
> reality, it's junk. So your rebuilder down the street is also putting
> junk back into your original part. Not that your rebuilt assemblies
> from your chain stores are any better, but the argument to have it
> rebuilt has gotten a lot weaker in the last 20 years.
> I'm all for rebuilding an item myself. You know exactly what's in it.
> But trying to do it everytime will lose you money and prolong the time
> it takes for a repair.

well, the in-house rebuilders generally only fix what's broke, so the
only "questionable" parts are the ones that were already broken. e.g.
if I take them a Delco alternator that just needs bearings and brushes,
it'll come back with the original regulator. I'm OK with that... I'd
ASSume that they'll use the best stuff they can get, too, because they
have to warranty it... (not that I've ever taken anything back to them.
They rebuilt the starter on the 944 a couple years ago - and just try
to get one of those at your FLAPS - and it's still going strong.)

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

On Thu, 14 May 2009 22:13:01 -0400, Nate Nagel wrote:

> FLAPS

2 weeks and I just figured out what FLAPS means...

Never said I was a 100-watt bulb...

What does FLAPS mean?
cuhulin

On Thu, 14 May 2009 22:07:31 -0500, cuhulin wrote:

> What does FLAPS mean?
> cuhulin

I would have said FNAPS, but that doesn't spell a word, does it?

On May 14, 11:07*pm, wrote:
> What does FLAPS mean?
> cuhulin

FLAPS = Friendly Local Auto Parts Store ( I had to search it to
figure it out lol)

I guess that makes my store FFAPS - Friendly Fisher Auto Parts
Store.

Chas

On May 15, 1:28 pm, Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B > wrote:
> On Thu, 14 May 2009 22:07:31 -0500, cuhulin wrote:
> > What does FLAPS mean?
> > cuhulin
>
> I would have said FNAPS, but that doesn't spell a word, does it?

does it have to spell a word??

On Fri, 15 May 2009 12:08:46 -0700, m6onz5a wrote:

> On May 15, 1:28 pm, Hachiroku ãƒ�ãƒ�ãƒ*ク > wrote:
>> On Thu, 14 May 2009 22:07:31 -0500, cuhulin wrote:
>> > What does FLAPS mean?
>> > cuhulin
>>
>> I would have said FNAPS, but that doesn't spell a word, does it?
>
> does it have to spell a word??


Of course!