Alternator woes

Ionkontrol

Right,

Bought a reconditioned alternator from GSF (gave in old one for recon) for my 3 series.

Fitted it and and 2 months later it packed up. Had to buy another one from them while the original was sent off to be tested. It was faulty, so they refunded the price of the second one.

Fitted the new one and 4 months later, it is not charging the battery.

What are my rights? Can I request my money back, so I can by from somewhere that reconditions properly?

Bear in mind the costs to remove and refit each time. Can I ask for some contribution to the labour costs?

Wish I had just rebuilt my original one now.

londonTiger

I would buy brand new. It doesn't make sense that you bought the part and then took you it to a mechanic. The mechanic will get the part cheaper and warranty the part too. So he's going to source items from where he knows it's going to last throughout his warranty period at least.

Secondly if you think you're avoiding getting ripped off on mechanics list price, it's a false economy because they'll just up the labour cost if you bring your own part and make the same markup

BeenThroughItAll

Ionkontrol wrote: »

Right,

Bought a reconditioned alternator from GSF (gave in old one for recon) for my 3 series.

Fitted it and and 2 months later it packed up. Had to buy another one from them while the original was sent off to be tested. It was faulty, so they refunded the price of the second one.

Fitted the new one and 4 months later, it is not charging the battery.

What are my rights? Can I request my money back, so I can by from somewhere that reconditions properly?

Bear in mind the costs to remove and refit each time. Can I ask for some contribution to the labour costs?

Wish I had just rebuilt my original one now.

Was it by any chance an RTX alternator? If so, push the boat out and just buy a Bosch, Delphi, or Lucas and it will be reliable.


I had the same with my wife's 9-3. Alternator went, was replaced with an RTX (against my better judgement, but was all I could get from ECP quickly) which worked OK for literally three hours before it stopped charging. Took it back, paid the extra fifty quid for a Delphi, fitted it and it was fine.

Nodding_Donkey

londonTiger wrote: »

Secondly if you think you're avoiding getting ripped off on mechanics list price, it's a false economy because they'll just up the labour cost if you bring your own part and make the same markup

You do spout some rubbish.

molerat

londonTiger wrote: »

I would buy brand new. It doesn't make sense that you bought the part and then took you it to a mechanic. The mechanic will get the part cheaper and warranty the part too. So he's going to source items from where he knows it's going to last throughout his warranty period at least.

Secondly if you think you're avoiding getting ripped off on mechanics list price, it's a false economy because they'll just up the labour cost if you bring your own part and make the same markup

I would love to know where you will get a "brand new" alternator from and what price you would be willing to pay. Even a main dealer will use a service replacement item (reconditioned) and any of the makes mentioned above should be as reliable as brand new at a fraction of the cost.

forgotmyname

You can have a brand new one but usually sunstantially dearer than a reconditioned one. Sone recon brands are better than others though.

Supplying your own parts is the mistake. The garage may have charged a bit more but when it fails its their problem to replace it at no cost to you. So they tend to use better brands or have their own preferred reconditioner.

Ionkontrol

The 1st one I received was a no mark generic alternator. My orig one was Bosch. The second was what looked like a factory recon Bosch.

Looks like I have had a serious run of bad luck.

jonnyd281

Ionkontrol wrote: »

The 1st one I received was a no mark generic alternator. My orig one was Bosch. The second was what looked like a factory recon Bosch.

Looks like I have had a serious run of bad luck.

It could be there is another fault that is causing the alternator to fail.

nobbysn*ts

Ionkontrol wrote: »

The 1st one I received was a no mark generic alternator. My orig one was Bosch. The second was what looked like a factory recon Bosch.

Looks like I have had a serious run of bad luck.

Could just be from the same batch when reconditioned, with a poor batch of regulators, or diodes, so it could be hit and miss. A refund and go elsewhere if you can.

coffeehound

Bosch do their own recon alternators, though expect they cost

http://www.boschautoparts.com/alternatorsstarters/pages/ppremanalternators.aspx