Alternator went out in the town car.

Option 1:
$160+ tax at auto zone for a decent duralast.

Option 2:
$70 plus shipping for a new motor craft from ebay + $20 shipping from a top rated seller.

My question is what is everyone's opinion about buying these certain types of parts from ebay? yay or nay? Trying to save a buck...poor as dirt at the moment.

5/4/2010 9:48:39 PM

fuck ebay. you have to wait for it too. I want to hold the part and look at it. pay the extra money.

5/4/2010 9:51:42 PM

I'd be real hesitant to buy an electrical part like that off ebay.

5/4/2010 10:01:32 PM

That's kinda what I was thinking...unfortunately.

5/4/2010 10:09:31 PM

Quote :

"GO WITH YOUR GUT"

5/4/2010 10:13:55 PM

Quote :

"Alternators & Starters of the Triangle 6304 West Gate Road, Raleigh, NC 27617 (919) 787-3157 "

This dude does good rebuilds with all original parts. He's not on West Gate Rd. anymore (in Durham now), so call for directions. Pay cash.

[Edited on May 4, 2010 at 10:43 PM. Reason : l]

5/4/2010 10:42:48 PM

i'm a sucker for buying parts on ebay, so i would do it, but that ^ sounds like a good option too

5/4/2010 10:50:32 PM

My boat alternator was around $115 to rebuild from that dude. He used all original Nippo Denso parts. Came in much cheaper than the OEM part, but should be just as good as new. He even sandblasts the case and paints it so it looks fresh to death.

Since it was a marine alternator it would have cost me well over 2x that much for the new OEM replacement. It's probably the same basic alternator as in Shredder's town car, but with a spark arrester added to it for marine use.

5/4/2010 11:45:45 PM

autozone = lifetime warranty

I think

5/5/2010 9:18:05 AM

ebay doesn't make parts. good luck getting them to honor any sort of warranty.

5/5/2010 9:36:22 AM

Triangle Alternator and Starter has built me at least half a dozen alternators.

5/5/2010 9:59:36 AM

Quote :

"autozone = lifetime warranty"

it may be and you will use the hell out of it too. i've never had luck with shit parts from advance/pep boys/autozone. i have had decent luck with parts from napa but they're more expensive. i have had the best luck buying OEM. so it's a toss up. you can either save money and become a pro at changing alternators on a town car or you could spend the extra money and do it once.

5/6/2010 9:44:46 AM

in many cases aftermarket parts that are intended to be a direct replacement for OEM tend not to last as long. This is especially true for electrical parts.

5/6/2010 9:55:39 AM

Yea I've swapped at least 4 alternators for my folks when they went bad. We had the lifetime warranty one from autozone and they shit the bed every 3 years. I like one and done though. Thanks

5/6/2010 12:43:59 PM

Anyone got any advice on where to get an AC compressor from? Im checking and only autozone has it local for 481. I can next day air it for around 390.

Anybody know somebody local who would have it?

5/6/2010 2:27:25 PM

^ ^ What kind of car?

5/6/2010 7:23:39 PM

^???

Folks have 89 chevy suburban, it's a good candidate for the crusher.

5/8/2010 6:31:13 PM

http://car-part.com/

5/12/2010 8:04:38 PM

from now on OEM forever. i just bought and replaced oil level sensor for E46. after two weeks it died. it was 50% cheaper than OEM.

5/12/2010 8:59:10 PM

^shit like that might work on a honda. or a nissan

5/13/2010 8:14:46 AM

Anybody see any risk in a Generic Non OEM condenser... I don't see the real way that the oem would be significantly better...Leaks possibly?

5/13/2010 10:08:48 AM

monkey metal

5/13/2010 10:19:24 AM

Anyone got alldata on a compressor replacement 2005 Pontiac GTO

5/13/2010 1:40:49 PM

2.7 hours

5/13/2010 2:48:55 PM

yea i signed up expecting like instructions damnit. Looks like its helms manual time.

5/13/2010 9:54:58 PM

dude, just youtube search that shit

or join a forum for your car...

5/13/2010 10:37:28 PM

Im on two forums, nobody seems to do their own AC stuff just take it to a shop.

I have a good basic idea of everything involved. I was just wondering if there were any special flush instructions for my vehicle.

5/14/2010 10:03:26 AM