Bought new Acedelco 135 amp alternator squeak, was it remanufactured??

[azharj]

Hi all refer to http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul....php?t=1152818
I bought Acedelco alternator from Rockauto two years ago. It was squeaking, however charging. I cannot avail warranty because I am not in USA/ Canada. I did not checked the charging voltage and percent charge of battery until recently. I noticed voltage coming to 11.5 V at idling for 10 min with full load, so I swapped with a spare Canadian Company Delux. Just for sake of passing time I disassembled it. Strangely, some fins were bent. The both bearings smaller No. 6000 were unknown brand were OK. but the larger bearing No 6303 was free on the shaft so shaft was rotating in the bearing causing squeak. So I guess it was not new but poorly remanufactured. Now I plan to change the voltage regulator; diod rectifier and wiring looks normal. I will "prick" shaft with sharp punch and fit the bearing around the shaft. I will see what happens

[12Ounce]

I can only imagine how difficult it is to get correct, quality parts if you are not in North America. And alternators can be so tricky to buy even if the parts store is down the street. I use Advance Auto and Autozone because there are so many stores locally. I have used Rock Auto but they are out of state, so no more. Too much trouble for the small price difference. I haven't bought a bad alternator in quite some while, but I've had two bad ones some years back, "right out of the box". So now when picking one up at a store, I have them bench-test it right then and there. I don't know how I would manage if I lived in another country, buy more than one at a time??

You definitely have an additional challenge. As I said, I've had recent good luck with Advance. You might check them out.

In my experience, once the bearings begin to fail and the rotating member is no longer centered in the fixed windings... its downhill from there!

[azharj]

Thanks! this is best to go to store, pick, test and if any defect return back. I am not in America. I have options: local Ford company, most parts are discontinued and not available, local shop having some Chinese made, eBay Amazon and Rockauto. Most stores in America like Autozone do not ship overseas. But Acedelco good that it worked for two years otherwise Delux a Canadian company made in China work for three to four months. Their warranty three months but unluckily these fried in 100 days or 95 days.

[tomj76]

I've replaced the alternator several times, but always with one from a US chain store supplier. The last time I replaced it was unnecessary because I misdiagnosed the problem.

I have also purchase some other items through the mail, from various suppliers such as Amazon, RockAuto, AutoZone, and Advance Auto Parts, and often found those items don't work "as advertised". Usually the are OK, but not always.

Most aftermarket alternators are advertised as re-manufactured or rebuilt. The usually paint them black with a very fragile paint when this is the case.

If your unit seems to have the wrong parts (e.g. bearings that don't fit correctly), there's a good chance it was rebuilt.

The Ford Windstar uses a alternator/generator design, where the regulator manages the output voltage by adjusting the current in the field winding to increase or reduce the alternator output with load conditions. The main failure points are bearings, brushes, and diode pack. There are rebuild kits available for the bearings and brushes.

[wiswind]

You can have a hit-or-miss experience with alternators.
I had a new, Motorcraft brand alternator melt down within 3 months of purchase.
I had molten aluminum drips below it.

I went to Advanced Auto and got a NEW alternator from them.
You usually have to go to extra effort to track down a NEW alternator instead of a rebuilt one.

I also misdiagnosed a pulley bearing issue as being the alternator.
This can be HARD to track down because, in my case, it only made noise under load and above a certain RPM. It eventually got bad enough that I was able to barely feels something when I spun it.
A lot of stuff, pulleys, etc on the serpentine belt route, so there is a lot of opportunity for misdiagnosis of sounds.
Idler pulley with the tensioner and the solid mounted pulley both eventually had their bearings give out on my 1996 over its 229K mile life.

[azharj]

I bought one BB Or DB industries exactly I donot remeber in 2021 from E Bay. There was no name plate or anything written I doubt if It was original BB. Anyway it is still working and charging Voltage does not drops even I am stopped with Full Lights on, full AC on for prolonged time. Wher as that of Acedelco used to come to 11.7 volt after a few minute on redlights. I kept the Canadian chinese as spare.