Pep Boys Remanufacutred Alternators

[vigman]

Well my orig Delco finally gave up the ghost. So I did the Lazy thing ( or so I thought ) and sent the car out for service. They put in A Pep Boys remanufactured ALT... and I was not aware of that.

Last Thursday I lost the ALT ( red light came on )
and since I was a few blocks from the place that put in it.. I cruised over dropped the car off.
( after 45 min, about ther amount of time to exchange it myself ) I got a loaner and off to work I went.That evening the light came on again...off to the shop I went to drop it off again!

Friday I picked the car up in the morning, Drove to work ( everything was fine )

On my way home...( HOT DAY ) the entire instrument panel went on the blink.. Just Garbage and I was on the freeway (Bumper to bumper). I took me a few minutes to get over to the side to shut it off.

Popped the hood.. and Boil over time
tried to restart not enough juice in the battery
but the panels came back on...

EGAD Water Temp 266!!!!!!!

So I let the ign on to use what's left of the batt and the fans came on.....

20 Min later the flat bed showed
40 min later off we went home
45 min later my baby was back in the driveway
15 min later battery on charge
20 min later Dead Alternator in my grasp.....

And the reason for failure
The bushing on the back of the ATL output stud had softened,Moved,Shorted to ground, melted,and blasted the diode pack ( not to mention the Output wire got a bit crispy.)

The next day ( Sat )
4 hrs to get to the shop, Calmy explain my situation, get him to go to Rydel get A DELCO reman.Get it home, Install it, Replace the crispy bit of Alt output wiring, check the engine out for Cracked heads ( So far everything ok!!!!)

The moral of the story.....
So $150.00 ( money paid out fo inital job)
3 Alts ( 2 Pep Boys & 1 Delco)
7 hrs ( Of time wasted )

It dosen't pay to be Lazy in the first place!

Mike

( Another rut in the road of the Corvette life)

 

[Red73BB]

Similar story

Went I bought my car the fellow I purchased it from replaced the Starter three times in a year and had a shield installed. He keep using a discount parts store (AutoZ....) After I had it a month and serveral long waits for the starter to cool down I had a Delco installed . 11 months later she starts every time
The old saying "You get what You pay for" was true for me.

 

[Ken]

Sometimes though...

...you expect it to happen and it doesn't!

Before I left for my Bowling Green road trip, I made sure to pick up a spare alternator just to have along in case this exact thing happened to me. This in addition to the usual precautions like belts, hoses, oil, etc.. I even replaced the belt tensioner.

Of course, the alternator was the ONLY thing I didn't need! ad

:L

 

[vms4evr]

Sorry to hear about your hard lesson vigman. I lost my starter about 4mo ago. I had to go out of town so I left it with my mechanic. I only told him one thing. Get me a new GM or remanufactured GM starter, regardless of cost. He laughed and new exactly why I told him that. He won't put a bargain starter or alternator in a Vette for the exact reasons you ran into. Since the starter replacement, no problems at all.
Even though Pep Boys and the like offer 1yr replacement you still have to keep on replacing them yourself or pay the labor. It's just not worth it in the long run.
Graham.

 

[Moffitt]

The CS series alternator used on Corvettes is prone to problems, it's poorly and very cheaply made. Some of the weak spots are: the diodes are soldered in, the diodes get hot and break the solder joints.
The rear bearing is only 8 milimeters wide and overloaded.
The airflow in the alternator is poor which contributes to failure of the diodes and the regulator because the thing is overheated most of the time.
The 108 amp alternator only realy makes 105 amps, It's not enough to supply all of the summertime needs of a Corvette (airconditioning, cooling fans, lights and slow speeds like in traffic).
There are some things that will help, there is a welded diode pack available, these things will not melt the solder because there is none! They also are installed in a finned heat sink which cools much better. There is a rear end frame that uses a wider 10 milimeter bearing, it also has cooling fins on the back that helps to dissipate the heat of the diodes and regulator.
You can also put in a 130 amp stator that helps boost the alternator output at low engine speeds.
The voltage regulator is temperature compensated, that means when the alternator is overheated (like at idle with the airconditioning on) it reduces the charge rate. This is all well and good until you start increasing the alternator speed. Then when the alternator cools off it charges like it's trying to burn off the belt.
If there are any weak connections inside it will burn and melt them, just like your stud insulator. If the connection of the charge wire was not good and tight and the battery nearly fully charged you get what you got. Because the alternator see's a low battery and will try to charge beyond it's capacity.
Most rebulids are done very cheaply, you would be better off to go to the local alternator rebuilder and request a custom rebuild. Yes it costs more, but you get something better than your car had new.

 

[alfonso]

Pep Boys alternators

The Delco alt on my 87 Coupe finally gave out. A Chevy dealer asked over $300 bucks for an original Delco but I had to wait 5-10 days for it . Got a Western Auto remanufactured Delco and it gave out in two and a half months . Got my money back :J and went to Pep Boys. Theirs lasted exactly 7 days ad . Returned it and got another one and it has been working for the last 4 months . So maybe I was lucky. :cool

 

[Ken]

In case you guys haven't seen Hib's response:

The idea that Pep Boys alternators are a great value because they have a frigging "lifetime" warranty is a scam propagated by some marketing wizard.

See Alternator Suggestions Please. for more detail.

_Ken