Help: Alternator needs replacing at 42,000 mi? Price jacked up in past year?

[Tool Pants]

http://www.boschusa.com/AutoParts/AlternatorsStarters/RemanAlternators/

[socratic]

Thanks for coming through so quickly with help guys.

I'll check those places out.

[Brucelee]

Rock Auto has alternators from $180-329. www.rockauto.com.

[deliriousga]

You may be able to have it rebuilt locally. I'm getting a local rebuild for about $100. They're replacing the bearings and brushes so it should be as good as new.

[socratic]

Thanks John.

I'm having a local rebuilding ship look at it. Their initial comments were that the rotor is worn out and that they feel that Bosch, makers of the alternator, have designed the alternator badly and that more and more Boxsters will have this problem.

I'm going to try to go down to their shop and take a look at it now that they have it apart.

An interesting read for an alternator rebuild is here (the page below is on page 4 of 6 and has a picture of what a rotor is):

http://www.alternatorparts.com/cs130_sbpage4.htm

[deliriousga]

I'm having a problem with mine too. Planning to rebuild because of the noise it's making. It sounds like the bearings are worn and the pulley/spindle vibrates making a rattle.

I wanted to re-build it myself, but I can't find a kit with the replacement parts and I don't want to pull it apart and have to wait a week for parts after I figure out what needs to be replaced. Maybe someone will come up with a kit if it becomes a common problem.

[socratic]

The rebuild shop is thinking of spray-welding to "build up" the worn area on the shaft if they can't get a replacement Bosch rotor.

Can anyone comment on spray-welding to beef up a worn shaft?

Just curious, how many miles are on your Boxster John?

[socratic]

Originally Posted by socratic

I'm having a local rebuilding ship look at it. Their initial comments were that the rotor is worn out and that they feel that Bosch, makers of the alternator, have designed the alternator badly and that more and more Boxsters will have this problem.

I'm going to try to go down to their shop and take a look at it now that they have it apart.
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An update. The rebuild guys were FAST. By the time I dropped by at like 11am, they had already fixed it and it was on the truck going back to the dealer.

So I didn't get to see it or take a "Before" picture. The guy described it as the bearing having worn a "valley" on the rotor shaft. The free play between the bearing and the shaft resulted in the vibrating noise.

After having no luck locating a rotor from Bosch, they went ahead and spray-welded the shaft--essentially depositing enough metal onto the shaft that it then exceed the diameter of the original shaft, thus filling in the "valley" plus a little more. Then they machined it down to the correct diameter.

The downside he said is that the spray-weld metal is softer than the original shaft metal. So maybe in a few years, I might need this done again.

The good news is instead of $1100 + taxes for an OEM alternator, I now have one that should be vibration free for $150 total including taxes.

And for the $150, they had gone to the dealer to pick it up, fixed it and returned it to the dealer in the span of less than business day(!)

The dealer will install the repaired unit in the next few days and I'll know if the noise is fixed and provide and update then.

[spine911]

Glad to hear you saved $$$ instead of the dealer $1100 alternator(which is more than likely a rebuilt as well)