That $60 junkyard alternator has been a champ for 9 months now

Picked up a used alternator from a Pick-N-Pull back in March for my 2001 Civic that kept dying at red lights. The part store wanted $180 for a reman and I figured I'd roll the dice on the junkyard one instead. Bench tested it right there with a jumper battery and it put out solid voltage, so I handed over the cash. Installed it that same weekend, took like 2 hours because I dropped the bracket bolt into the belly pan and had to fish it out with a magnet on a stick. It's been on daily duty since then, even survived a 900 mile road trip to visit my cousin in Ohio. Just yesterday I checked the output with a multimeter and it's still sitting at 14.2 volts. Has anyone else had good luck with used electrical parts, or am I just riding on luck here?

1 comments

1 Comment

wyattrobinson13d ago

That 14.2 volts is a solid sign, I've seen plenty of used alternators crap out around the 6 month mark if they're gonna fail. The key is testing them under load before you buy, most folks just check idle voltage and miss the real issues. Sounds like you did your homework and got lucky, but I'd still keep an eye on it around the 12 month mark just to be safe.