Going on alternator #5

[scjmc]

I had my 5th alternator failure on the way in to work this morning. If anyone is wondering you can drive at least 35 miles on the battery. The origonal alternator made it past 110K. Now I have had NAPA remans starting on 10-5-10, 11-27-10, and 8-6-11. The last one is dead now. Time to cut my losses and go Motorcraft. I am gonna try to get my money back from NAPA....... We will see how that goes. I think this definately proves what others have said here about non Motorcraft alternators in these cars....

 

[ChrisTheBest]

good luck with that, sorry to hear your having such bad luck

 

[Lownslowlsc]

If you've been through 4 in the last year they'd better give you your money back if that's what you desire. If not make a huge deal out of it. Are you replaceing these alt's or having a shop do it?

 

[05 LS8]

Try to stick with OEM parts whenever you can. I learned it the hard way on my mark viii.
I made a rule for myself when i bought the LS, that no other replacement part will ever go on my LS, unless it says Ford on it.

 

[scjmc]

If you've been through 4 in the last year they'd better give you your money back if that's what you desire. If not make a huge deal out of it. Are you replaceing these alt's or having a shop do it?

I replaced the first two myself. I had a shop do it last time to make sure there wasnt something that i was missing.

It turns out that the manager of my local NAPA is a stand up guy. After I had conversation with him he looked on the internet to verify my claims that Lincoln LS/Ford Thunderbird do not do well with aftermarket alternators. He is giving me a refund and getting me a Motorcraft unit at a discount. I guess I know what I am doing after work today. Taking out my alt, and blowing the pine needles off the truck so that I can drive it.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

Seems like everything worked out. Hopefully this one wuill last.

 

[Onefreshls]

oes or oem parts only don't cheap out bc you will always have problems

 

[112 LS]

you might need to up the amperage for whatever reason, the LS alternator is super weak. you could get a 200amp for just as much.

 

[Kumba]

Is that a new or reman motorcraft alt? Cause they have both

 

[RCodePaul]

Hard to tell

Is that a new or reman motorcraft alt? Cause they have both

I bought one at a dealer last month and the dude on the phone said it was reman, the box said "new alt" on it and the case etc looked brand new, no evidence of reman anywhere and the little badge on it looked new.
'Course, the stealership required a core so I'm still baffled.

+1 on the OEM parts deal, even with the price diff. I looked at an A/C blower motor and the Chinese replacement motor looked like a cheaply made, quasi universal replacement.

 

[scjmc]

They told me that Motorcraft new was not avalible. It is a Motorcraft reman. I hope it works... I took the NAPA one off this evening (getting better at it) something failed in it internally. The pulley will make a partial turn then stop. If I shake it I can hear loose stuff inside.

 

[jdmans101]

motorcraft no longer has new alternators for the LS now, trust me I searched high and low and could only find reman ones. Rockauto has them for a pretty good price compared to what the dealer charges.

 

[cammerfe]

I'm on my fourth from AZ. When it needed one the first time, nobody had one without a 3-day wait except Auto Zone. This last one has been in the car for more than two years.

KS

 

[scjmc]

I got the Motorcraft today. I will pop it in tonight (hopefully) and cross my fingers that it will be the last time.

 

[Mechanicboy]

Good luck. There's one exception you might consider with regard to the motorcraft parts and that's ignition coils. Well, unless you take coils off a mustang and put them on the LS but they would still need modification to fit and you'll still have to reverse the wiring to make them work right.

 

[Alax7]

So even those LS audio guys getting a bigger aftermarket alt have issues since it's aftermarket?

 

[jmtiseo]

If you have a second vehicle, why not rebuild the stock alternator? Bump it up to 200A or so.

 

[scjmc]

Well I am now running alternator #5. The Motorcraft unit slid into place with the same hand smashing, elbow scraping, extreme cursing ease as the last few. The Motorcraft unit charges 14.5 out of the box, none of the NAPA units charged higher than 14.4. Wish me luck with this one..... I am going on a 500 mile trip this weekend.

I hear you about the Motorcraft coils. I had failures with those starting around 50K. I replaced all 8 at about 70K and now at 125K with no problems yet. Those were cheap ebay coils too.