Yesterday I had my alternator go bad. It was around 5 months old. It was a duralast 105A rebuilt unit. I had a lifetime warrenty so my dad went and exchanged the unit. Today on my way home, the voltage dropped from 13 to 11.6 volts, and it couldnt go higher than 11.8 with me on the gas. When the volts dropped, the buzzer started ringing and check gauges appeared. When I reved the car to 3K+ rpms the buzzer would turn off for just a few seconds. I also had everything shut down including my radio, a/c, ect. What is going on? Its eating alternators.

*One more detail....My blower motor sounds like it is going bad. Could this be straining the alternator (I ran it for a short time on my way home before this happened?

Thanks,
Andrew

There is your problem. I am not even kidding. I installed a Duralast rebuilt on my uncle'* Dakota V6... It failed in a month. Then after countless hours of installing one on my aunt'* '02 Focus, the SOB decided to give out in 3 days. Then on my mom'* 94 century, hers failed in 8 months. See a pattern? If I were you, take it back, see if you can get your money back and go to Napa and get a Napa Gold reman.

It is true that the Duralast alternators are not known for their longevity. I doubt that your blower motor problem had much to do with it. A bad battery will do in an alternator pretty quickly, also. Is your battery in good shape, and all cables free of corrosion - including under the boots?

I too can vouch for Palladiums from Advance. They seem to be very good rebuilds. Not as good as a Napa Gold reman, but close.

if its is the 93 in ur siggy, then replacing the cable from the output of the alt to the battery would probably be a good idea.

Duralast alternators are absolute * H I T .

Go get your money back and get a rebuild from NAPA or another suggested source. Replacing your battery cables and battery at the same time would be a VERY good idea.

Duralast ANYthing is absolute garbage.

But, but... the name implies "durable" and "lasting"!

Just think. That'* their better line of parts (vs Valuecrap).

My brother is a mechanic, and he'* told me many stories about parts from Autozone being defective right out of the box. Pretty sad. I'm stingy, but I usually spring for Napa when I can now.

The Duralast line of products is made by the lowest bidder in China. They can honor the replacement warranty because they get the parts so cheap and jack the price up. They can absorb a 10% warranty rate and still remain profitable.

Unfortunately i had to stick with autozone due to time and money. I was able to get them to upgrade (haha) the alternator to the "gold" edition, that is a brand new unit for free. Well not really free, I deserved it after 3 in 6 months. When I set the 2 day old alternator up on the counter, plastic chunks and brush wires fell out . Also had to get a new blower motor. Hopefully this car will stop falling apart.