jaaa

Last year I bought an O'reilly's alternator($160) for my 1996 ls400 while I was out of town on a trip in October. Took another trip this last weekend and that alternator gave out on me. It cost me a rental car, overnight hotel bill, and an installation of an OEM alternator replacement. So pretty much $800 all in all. Just putting this out there for any of you thinking of replacing your alternator with an aftermarket replacement. Don't do it! That guarantee for life they have on their alternator is almost useless when it takes five days to get the part and it breaks down on you on a trip.

YODAONE

Certain aftermarket branded parts; gaskets, waterpumps, altenators, spark plug wires, distributor caps, etc represented upgrades to American made cars.

ClubLexus postings suggest the AutoZone's, O'Reillys' and etc. do not offer OEM quality remanufactured parts; Alternators, Power steering pumps, steering racks and etc.

I take issue that remanufactured parts do not provide complete information on exactly what was replaced and whether OEM components were used and measured tolerances of those not replaced....so information is lacking on a case by case basis.

After reviewing the number of wear components depicted in the Lexus shop manual, I made the decision to purchase a new power steering pump from Lexus...there was no way a remanufactured part was going to compete from a reliability standpoint.

$400 for new from Lexus vs $150 from aftermarket...but I know it's good for another150,000 miles.

Ditto for alternators...
Lexus now offers rebuilt, however it is using Denso parts...

We all know the aftermarket stuff never lasts as long as the original factory installed parts...and aftermarket really doesn't save you money...

Moreover, unlike other Auto manufacturers, it is a real challenge(in most instances) to find better than Lexus OEM parts

Rdrcr

^^^^
Agreed. This has been my experience also.

Mike

Scraape

i installed an aftermarket alternator on my 98. Purely because of the price. It's lasted about 10k miles so far, hopefully I never have any issues. OEM is always the way to go for guaranteed quality parts

dicer

I did a Reilly's alternator on oldest LS over 4 years ago and its still there working, but car not used much in last 1.5 years. All parts can fail, and with a world wide manufacturing base even the top quality or what we all think as top quality parts are just not any more. Think nice Japan made takata air bags, that are made in Mexico, US, China etc. I'm sure Denso does the same. So OEM is not what it used to be. Oh and my very first post on this site, 7-10-10 is when the LS had a Reillys starter installed, and its going just great. I would like to know what went out in the alternator in the above post?
In the past like over 20 plus years ago I had worse problems with the aftermarket stuff than now, I would much rather have a reman part than a new one from China.

jaaa

I brought the old alternator into O'reilly's and they put it on their tester. It failed all three of the tests they put it through, so hard to really tell what failed. They gave me a new one, which will go into the trunk as a back up. I could have replaced the alternator myself on the road had I been able to get one in a reasonable amount of time, but four days is more than I was willing to wait. Especially in Ogallala Nebraska.

UNCNOR

iTrader: (1)

Next time try this:Rockauto.com reman. Denso alternator $110.00 (core $36.00).Next day shipping $46.00 (my zip 34689) Has potential to save you money AND you would have a Denso alternator.Good luck.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

My experience with rebuilt A/C compressors taught me to stay away from these "lifetime" units. Parts made in China are up there as well.

The Takata airbag fiasco was bad. More so because they tried to hide the problems. Toyota replaced the ones in our '08 Corolla quickly with minimal inconvenience. Rumor had been that with all the recalls of other cars the air bags may be a 17 month wait. If so I was going to sell the car. The first recall notice came in and about 2 months later the notification to make an appointment with the dealer for replacement. Dropped the car off and just at about 2 hours it was done.

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

My first choice is always to rebuild it myself with good parts. If you were lucky enough to have had an OE alternator, I bet that if you took it apart and tested it, you'd find that almost everything in there is built to last another 100 years. At least one part will have failed, probably the brushes just wore out. YOU can then make the decision on what other components you want to replace, ending up with something that you _know_ is as good as the original (which is probably better than the current OE or OES part).

dicer

RA 40 most of the replacement air bags are flawed too and will also need a recall, I've posted that article on this site else where.
I would use OE stuff if it was not going on a cheap car, I just can't warrant spending more on 2 parts than the car cost. And besides the alternator is a fairly easy change. I'm never going to send an original one in as a core, I will fix it and keep as spare parts. I didn't do that with LS parts 4 years back I didn't care then.

AaronUCF11

Interesting that you say that, i have done a few recalls myself and they are only replacing the inflator which was the issue. The first couple i did the inflators where identical, last one i did on the same model car the inflator was vastly different.

dicer

http://asq.org/qualitynews/qnt/execu...p?newsID=21826
Personally I won't trust an inflator till they start using thicker material and design for worse case scenario of the propellant going super critical (so to say). Airbags are a wonderful idea, but not with a pressure vessel a little thicker than a tin can packed with explosive. What were they thinking? Gosh an aircompressor tank is thicker and only holds 175 to 150 psi.

AaronUCF11

I can tell you there is some weight in them. As i said, one type seemed to be a new design but the others appeared to me much of the same. I hope for customers sake we where not just sent old stock! I deal with one particular brand which require the old inflators to be returned, normally airbags are held for the warrenty period then discharged and disposed of. So it surgests that they do expect shrapnel

AaronUCF11

Oh and i have a aftermarket alternator on my car, no issues as such but charging voltage drops under 13v at idle which i dont like. Had it tested by a auto elec, they said there bench wasnt working fully so they couldnt max it out but got it upto 65A. Which still should be enough with deleted air sus and a correct size large battery. Havent had a flat battery yet in 6month of driving so must be okay.

dicer

Not the ones out of a 90 LS they are all aluminum. And super stupid to wreck an airbag and cover, why don't they just deploy the inflator after its removed from the bag?