Ford Alternator?

[gwstang]

I had to replace the alternator on my '08 F150 recently. It only has 57K miles on it. I am just curious about the longevity of the Ford electrical system. I've owned other Ford/Chevy vehicles and the alternator always lasted around 100K. Does this seem right? I put a new battery in last year and it is still good. I was a bit surprised at the price for a rebuilt autozone alternator though. Seems things have gone way up since I was a young lad driving older type vehicles. Heck an alternator way back then would be around $40-$60 or so. Now it's around $185. Anyone else have a short duration of an alternator on a truck? I only live 3 miles from work so maybe it was the short duration of cranking up and only going a short distance and it had to work hard to replace the cranking/radio/ac/heater running. Just curious as to thoughts on this type of thing...besides that, I am just bored with winter already. You northern neighbors get to go out and play in the snow with your tractors...My poor Kubota only gets occasional usage in the winter. I do need to finishing fixing the old Ford 8N though. Rebuilt the engine a while back and had a problem with oil pressure. Pulled engine and got another crank because the old one was at max already. Got that looked at and the machinist just polished it and said to get .001 on crank bearings and rod bearings. Had to really search for that size. Put it back together and promptly broke off the crankshaft nut that holds the pulley on. Great. Tried to drill that out and promptly broke an easy out in there. Great. I will pull the crank (still on the engine stand so easy to do) and take it another machinist to see if the .001 is really too tight for this crank. I've rebuilt other engines and never had this problem. I think it really needs to be turned....and of course get the mess I created out of the end of the crank...lol Glad I'm not a machinist. :ashamed:

 

[Chief9697]

gwstang... Ck where the rebuilt was made... My friend had the same problem and the unit was mfg in China... You might be better off going to the bone yard and get one from a wreck... I have a 2011 Expedition with 150k on it and still have the original alternator. I changed the starter @ 100k just as a preventive measure... never had one last that long and when they go bad it is never on a nice day... I recently had to replace the rear differential support brackets, the dam thing rusted out and the only thing holding the rear end in was the shocks...:turtle:

 

[gwstang]

I already put a rebuilt unit on. Hopefully it will last for 10 years or so. The old one almost left me and the red head stranded about 5 miles from home. The red head was not happy when the starter went rrr rrr buzzzz. A nice fellow in a Big Dodge Ram gave me a quick jump. I had noticed that the charging needle was a little below the mid mark on the gauge. The lights had dimmed a little the week before going back and forth to work. Then whammmooo. Just surprised me is all, that it did not read much lower on the gauge before giving out? I would think that it would have dropped way further down than just a little?

 

[GLyford]

I have an '03, but it only has 68k on it...alternator went out over the summer due to bearings. Replaced it with a junkyard one, since I seem to get better life and performance out of them than rebuilts from the auto stores...and they cost a lot less (about $30) too.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Here's my take.

I have never replaced a starter or alternator on any of my personal vehicles. Done plenty on friends stuff. 9 times out of 10 they comment that they just put a new battery in it.

What I do is put in a new battery every 36 months no matter what. Ever wonder why airplanes have TBO on items? Time Between Overhaul. That's to eliminate failures.

My feeling is as a battery goes weak it becomes harder for the starter to do its job, that causes heat, which in turn causes resistance which continues to make the problem worse.

Then your poor alternator has to work it's tail off to charge that depleted battery.

My feeling and many others in the industry is a weak battery leads to the break down of the other components. $100 every 3 years is cheap vs getting stranded and replacing a starter in the WalMart parking lot on a cold wet night.

Chris

 

[gwstang]

That is good advice on the battery. I did replace it last year with a good one. I stopped buying those cheap smaller batteries as they just don't last long. I had this one checked at the parts store when the alternator was checked. They said it was ok, so I charged it up and reinstalled it. How do you feel about the red top optima batteries? I am thinking in a couple of more years about going with one of those. I don't know if it would work the power system any harder than a regular lead battery?

 

[gwstang]

I have an '03, but it only has 68k on it...alternator went out over the summer due to bearings. Replaced it with a junkyard one, since I seem to get better life and performance out of them than rebuilts from the auto stores...and they cost a lot less (about $30) too.

Hmmmm, picknpull about 20 miles from here. I go there occasionally and could pull a nice looking one to store in the barn. Take it by the parts store and have it checked then store in the barn.

 

[Monster5601]

I think it is a duck shoot, had an alternator fail at 36,093 miles in a 2001 Buick, retired my 2003 Tahoe at 230,000 miles and never replace anything outside of front wheel bearings and a transmission rebuild.

 

[dieselcrawler]

I bought a lifetime warranty alternators (has dual alternators, ambulance prep package) for dually at the local advance auto parts, easily changed and side had to do so a couple times in the 9 years I've had it. But only paid for it once.

 

[Diamondpilot]

That is good advice on the battery. I did replace it last year with a good one. I stopped buying those cheap smaller batteries as they just don't last long. I had this one checked at the parts store when the alternator was checked. They said it was ok, so I charged it up and reinstalled it. How do you feel about the red top optima batteries? I am thinking in a couple of more years about going with one of those. I don't know if it would work the power system any harder than a regular lead battery?

I don't think there is anything wrong with Optima batteries but I have never owned one either.

Chris