Alternator repair - worth it?

hugheskevi

I have a 12 year old 1.2L Nissan Micra. In February of this year the alternator failed, and was repaired at a cost of £121 for parts and £105 labour (both figures excl VAT) at a local garage. The battery was replaced at the same time. It now appears the alternator has failed again. Total mileage on car is 47,000 and it has done about 5,000 miles since the first alternator failure.

Prior to these issues the car has been absolutely fine mechanically - I expected to have replaced the car by now, but have kept it due to reliability since I got it six years ago (no repairs required other than normal consumables) and I don't drive many miles per year.

My question is whether this is just bad luck for the alternator to have failed again so quickly and no further issues would be expected if it is repaired again, or whether it would be better to replace the car now as this is likely to be start of on-going mechanical issues and unreliability. Cost of repair or replacement isn't an issue, I am very happy with the car except for this issue so would prefer to repair if this is an isolated incident and it is just bad luck to recur so quickly.

Thanks in advance.

chrisw

You have been stuffed. It's probably failed due to a poor repair. Get a second hand one from a scrappy or eBay for less than £30. Or a brand new Valeo one for around £120.

AdrianC

Why did the alternator fail?

If there's an oil or coolant leak into it, that'll kill it in short order. If it was a cheap rubbish recon, then get a decent one next time.

marlot

I had a car which had alternator fails on a regular basis. Eventually a good auto electrician worked out that it was the plug into the back of the alternator - it had some tracking on it, so was partially shorting the alternator out.

EdGasket

You should be able to source a reconditioned alternator for £121 or less. I bought one on eBay about 5 years ago which still runs fine. Otherwise local scrappy.

droopsnoot

Didn't the garage who did the repair provide a warranty on the repair? Did they put a new or reconditioned alternator on, or actually repair the original one? If it was a new one, it should have a warranty. In fact, even if it was a reconditioned one, that should have a warranty as well. Did the people who fitted the alternator also supply it? Has it failed in the same way as before, or is it now a different fault?

undaunted

If you had a new or reconditioned alternator fitted definitely go back & complain to the garage / if necessary trading standards. An alternator should be lasting far more than 5000 miles.

If it was a used alternator find another garage - I'd expect to pay about £30 for a used alternator from a breakers Some cars / alternators are easier to get at than others admittedly but £105 doesn't sound like they did you any favours on the fitting either.

hugheskevi

Thanks for the replies. I don't have much extra information I'm afraid (it seem I should have asked more questions when it was first repaired). Answers such as I can give are below to the various questions asked.

Given what has been said, I plan to take the car back to the garage tomorrow and see what they have to say after investigating this second failure. In case it helps, the garage is this linked one and I have had the car MoT'd and serviced there for the last six years.

Why did the alternator fail?

Don't know, garage simply said replacement was necessary, fitted a replacement and that was it.

Didn't the garage who did the repair provide a warranty on the repair?

It wasn't discussed, the only paperwork was the invoice which didn't say much more than the cost of parts and labour and total cost.

Did they put a new or reconditioned alternator on, or actually repair the original one?

They put a replacement alternator on, but whether it was new or reconditioned was not discussed. The repair was done on the same day the car was taken in to them, and I recall them saying they could get the alternator on the same day as part of routine parts deliveries (although I may be mis-remembering that as it was almost a year ago).

Did the people who fitted the alternator also supply it?

Yes, the garage supplied and fitted the replacement.

Has it failed in the same way as before, or is it now a different fault?

I don't know the cause of the first failure, and this failure isn't diagnosed yet.

SailorSam

AdrianC wrote: »

If it was a cheap rubbish recon, then get a decent one next time.

It may have been a rubbish repair but it certainly wasn't cheap.

rich13348

I don't know the cause of the first failure, and this failure isn't diagnosed yet.

Ok so you have not yet had the alternator diagnosed yet. What are the symptoms? Are they the same as before?
How often and how far do you drive the car each day/week?

undaunted

It isn't difficult to establish whether your alternator is working - if you have or know someone with a simple multi meter it should show something in the region of 13 volts when the car is running & you put it across the battery terminals.

It could be that your battery now needs replacing if the alternator is showing fine and it repeatedly loses charge - Probably cost you about £40 for a new one at Halfords / the like for a Micra - or if you're lucky it may just need a charge if you don't use the car much