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Any recommended sources for an FC alternator that lasts more than 2 years?
Subject is the question. Was wondering if you guys could recommend an alternator vendor that produces a quality long lasting product for the FC (S5T2 to be exact). Since my original OEM alternator died about 8 years ago, I haven't had much luck getting any vendor's remanufactured alternator to last me much more than 2 years.
FWIW, this one had a rather odd failure mode. Today my FC had a completely dead battery - read only 2.5V across its terminals. Luckily, the battery was still under warranty, so I took it back to Walmart and left with a new one. Dropped it in, the car fired right up and I set up my BTI CAN bus gauge to monitor voltage closely & went for a drive. Initially it was fine; (> 13.6V at idle), but as I drove around, I noted the voltage was dropping below 13.6 at idle, and would barely rise much above 13.8 when revved in neutral, and when the e-fan kicked in, it dropped down to 12.5 - so I knew the alternator was shot. But the real reason it killed my battery the way it did was it had about a 2.5A parasitic draw when the car was shut down!
After I shut her down, I put the DMM across the battery and was reading ~ 10.5V with the brand new battery. Not good... Disconnected the neg.cable and checked the battery again, and it was ~12.5V. So now I connected an ammeter in series between the battery's neg terminal and the neg cable - it was pulling 2.5A with nothing on! Disconnected the alternator's B+ charge cable and did the ammeter test again - this time it was a normal 10~20mA, which is the normal draw from the clock, radio memory and whatever else sees constant power. Probably the diodes or voltage regulator in the alternator are shot, causing the parasitic load.
Yeah, remans are always a crap shoot.... I'll give Ray Crowe a shout and see if you can still get a new Mazda OEM alternator, which I think is a Mitsubishi or Denso part.
I see that Rockauto actually sells new alternators for the FC - brand is Power Select, most likely a Chinese knock-off of the OEM one. I put a new Power Select alternator in my kid's Sentra back in 2014, and it's been working fine since then with about 40K miles logged on it, so if their FC alternator is just as good, that's another option.
Looks like they have new brushes & voltage regulators for the S5T2 / S5NA alternators, which are actually Mitsubishi part #13337. Will need to call them tomorrow to find out if they have the rectifier diodes. Given the symptoms on mine (i.e., parasitic current draw from the B+ terminal thru the alternator to ground that pulls about 2.5A with the car not running), I'm pretty sure at least 1 of the rectifier diodes has failed, so the minimum I'd need to fix it would most likely be all the rectifier diodes, the voltage regulator and new brushes. Getting the old diodes out & installing the new ones can be a major PITA, as they solder in, but none of the soldering irons I own has the wattage to handle that scale of a soldering joint. So it looks like I'll need to get a new/reman unit.
They also offer a standard 80A reman 13337 alternator, with a 2 year warranty - a bit better than the usual 1 year or less warranties I'm finding everywhere else. That will run me $92 including shipping after they credit your $40 core charge back. For the core return, they give you a pre-paid shipping sticker to slap on the original box to send the old one back.
I'm curious as well but for a 626 alt. since I run one of them. My first one when I converted was a new one from Rockauto, cant remember the brand. Either Remy or Power Select. Made it a little over a year. Couldn't warranty it even though it had a lifetime warranty because they need the vin and I don't actually own a 626. Was gonna try to get a 626 vin to use but ended up buying a used one from a local junkyard. It ended up being a reman Lasted about two years but who knows how long it had been on the Mx6 it came from( v6 mx6 and v6 626 is the same engine). This time after trying a reman FD from Ebay and it and it's replacement being DOA(luckily seller refunded my money) I just paid the extra and bought a Duralast 626 reman with a lifetime warranty from Autozone. This way I'm in their system and I don't need a vin for a warranty claim. I figure I'll just swap it for another one every couple years when it fails. Sorry, I know this doesn't answer your question. Just saying I've had about the same luck as you on replacement alternators.
Definitely recommend rebuilding a core with Mitsubishi parts. I ran through a bunch of those Chinese rebuilt ones, and they would last a year or two at most before the bearings started screaming. I have rebuilt 2 now, one for me, one for a friend, with Japanese bearings, and no issues.
So here's a quick update. I purchased the new Power Select brand alternator from Rockauto. Figured it would be OK, since I have the same brand working fine with no issues in my kid's Sentra for the last 4 years and about 40K miles. Anyway, it arrived today and it was looking good - it even came with a QA test sheet from its manufacture where they load test it. Problem was I needed to swap over my RE Speed dual belt pulley that was designed for the shaft on the OEM FC alternator - this new alternator has a larger diameter shaft, and my pulley obviously won't fit. So now it's on its way back to Rockauto for a refund. What a PITA!
I'm going down this same road with my car. I've been driving an FC in one form or another since I joined this forum and I've had similar rotten luck with aftermarket alternators.
O'Reilly's is junk; new or reman. Don't bother.
Autozone is junk.
Napa is hit and miss. Bought a new alt from them for my other vehicles. We'll see how long it holds up.
I'm to the point now with my FC where I'm going to either rebuild one myself with better quality components, or just switch to one I can get as a new OEM unit from a more modern vehicle. I'm thinking of trying a newer Nissan Quest alternator and going side mount with either a gilmer belt drive or multi-rib belt (necessary to keep from destroying V belts.)
Either way there will likely be some machining involved because what I adapt to the car certainly won't be "plug and play."
Also FWIW: I've been told by some professionals who deal with corvettes that Remy is one of the last OE rebuilders that employs skilled and experienced individuals who use quality components in their manufacturing/remanufacturing processes.
This wont be of any help to someone wanting off the shelf solutions.
After getting fed up with alternators I forged my own way by adapting a Powermaster XS alternator (150 Amp). it's a true one wire alternator (the big + post cable is all) It also has a potentiometer to adjust output from 12-16 volts. Its slightly smaller than the fd alt weighs less and puts out more juice and best of all BRAND NEW.
It took fabricating two link shaped brackets, one for each side of the water pump housing, and a few washers and bolts whicch can be found at a hardware store. However. in my case I made the alternator pulley you see on a lathe as I couldn't find a dual V that would work for my specific case. One could run a single v pulley in combination with the smaller "yoohoo" belt for the water pump though.
The reason I machined my own very small pulley is because I run an under drive main pulley and these alternators seem to have a high stall before they start charging. With OEM hub pulley I would think there would not be an issue assuming you were ok with 1000 rpm idle.
After getting the alternators idle rpm high enough to charge, I regulated it to 14.2 volts and haven't had any variation in output.
I use a local rebuilder for everything and make sure they just replace the parts in the alternator and I get the same one back. You may have some success with a local person?
Yeah the reman are JUNK. GO TO A LOCAL ALT REBUILDER. Mine was closer to 100 dollars. But that way u ensure they are rebuilding with quality parts and not reusing JUNK. Also u get to keep the original alt if u care about that. My guy even repainted it and made it look pretty .
04-11-20, 05:35 PM
