08 altima 3.5se alternator keeps going bad

[jfarniok]

Hi all,

I've searched and searched for this issue and haven't really found any definitive solution.

Over the past couple of years I've had to replace my alternator 3 times (not an easy job on this vehicle). I first replaced the original alternator with a re-man one from O'reilly that has a lifetime warranty. This one lasted for about a year, all of this time I had an issue with my headlights randomly dimming. I replaced it and the new one lasted for about 6 months until the brake and battery lights came on on my way to work. My battery didn't have enough juice to get my car out of the parking lot on the way home. It turned out my battery was bad, so I replaced it, but the brake and battery lights were still on. I got the alternator tested and it was also bad. I replaced the alternator again, and the lights went off.

It has been less than a month since I put this current alternator in. Now today on my way to work, my brake and battery lights began flickering, signaling that the alternator is going bad (again).

What could be causing these alternators to fail so frequently? Are the re-mans just that poor of quality or is there some other issue that could be causing it? I'm sure that I'll be spending another 4+ hours to replace the alternator again soon and if it means not having to do it again, I'm prepared to buy a new (non re-man) one.

Thanks for the help!

[amc49]

Most of it is the quality of the alts new or rebuilt. It's below horrible now and what 'lifetime warranty' has brought us to. I sold parts from '08-'12 and they were just getting badder and badder and same with starters. We were forced to check them on tester right out of the box and at least 20% would fail before even getting to a car. You also found broken parts on them in the box all the time. The warranty has come back to haunt in a way not expected, the Chinese now foist all kinds of crap on us now because OF the warranty, they can built alts so cheap they EXPECT you to come back to get as many as 2 more if not more at the whopping prices you pay for ones now that fail in often one week or less, rare to make a year. The extra returns are now built into the profit and why an alt now commonly goes for $200+ even though having no new technology at all. Why the chains do not lift a finger to fix the issue, they simply let you change them over and over. The same pretty much if new or re-manned or even re-manufactured which is even more smoke and mirrors, being no better than rebuilt no matter WHAT lies they tell you.

With that sort of quality, they fail like spit if you make it worse by letting battery get old, many alts now put out whopping amounts of power due to the computer and all the gimmicks cars now have, but that power comes at a price, the alts are only intended to do it for short periods of time or they overheat, and running against an older battery that never 'fills up' with charge then loads the alts to fire out twice as quick.

Many people kill or close to kill brand new alts anyway because they refuse to get the battery fully charged after the dead alt has run it down, insisting on the conventional wisdom (WORTHLESS!!!) that the alt will charge the battery back up itself. That then fails the new alt often right then and there, why we rejected any warranty claims when some dummy lets out that is what he did, all alt paperwork on the planet warns warranty is void as soon as you do that. Can't tell people anything though and I turned down so many warranties over that I couldn't count.

I went to building my own alts long ago and zero issues, they commonly go MUCH longer than the rebuilds and often at as low as 30 cents for simple things like soldering back up a broken diode lead, most of the time all they needed was a regulator, what burns up when alt gets overloaded. Simple fix and back up and running for another 3-4 years if not more. No way will I fork over $200 for one..........