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      01-14-2018, 01:09 AM   #1
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Duralast alternator install, your opinion

Having one installed tmrw. Bosch/valeo brands are special ordered until middle of the week but I want my car up and running again. I too prefer OE and stuff not from autozone but would you say an alternator is an alternator in this case? I had an autozone brand thermostat installed in my last e90 and worked flawlessly.
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      01-14-2018, 07:54 AM   #2
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Does auto zone give a lifetime warranty on parts and labor, assuming you are paying to have it installed?
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      01-14-2018, 01:27 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pbonsalb View Post
Does auto zone give a lifetime warranty on parts and labor, assuming you are paying to have it installed?
Warranty yes but no labor from them. If it does give out, maybe have a spare in the trunk.
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      01-14-2018, 01:59 PM   #4
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I would not carry a spare alternator and tools to change it. AZ would not be my first choice but it may be fine and certainly if it’s all that is available I would put it in. I do my own labor so it would just cost me time if it failed.
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      02-09-2018, 01:26 PM   #5
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I had good luck with California alternator and starter on eBay. They have been around for years. But if new valeo is $300, that is worth considering. I always prefer to do the job once rather than twice.
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      02-17-2018, 05:25 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Route 16 View Post
Having one installed tmrw. Bosch/valeo brands are special ordered until middle of the week but I want my car up and running again. I too prefer OE and stuff not from autozone but would you say an alternator is an alternator in this case? I had an autozone brand thermostat installed in my last e90 and worked flawlessly.

Whose alternator is it? Sometimes you can find out by either asking the guy at the parts counter or digging around online. Remanufacturing an OEM/OEM supplier's isn't that difficult.

What would worry me is some off-brand copy.
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      02-17-2018, 05:33 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dparm View Post
Whose alternator is it? Sometimes you can find out by either asking the guy at the parts counter or digging around online. Remanufacturing an OEM/OEM supplier's isn't that difficult.

What would worry me is some off-brand copy.
I don't remember it's been 3 years already
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      02-17-2018, 06:37 PM   #8
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I too had issues with a remanufactured alt. Installed it and while everything ran fine, it gave me 'high battery discharge' errors almost immediately. Took it back and swapped it to an original one and no issues for over a year now.

The BMW electrics are finicky. Do yourself a favour and get an original one.
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      02-18-2018, 06:40 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Redd View Post
I too had issues with a remanufactured alt. Installed it and while everything ran fine, it gave me 'high battery discharge' errors almost immediately. Took it back and swapped it to an original one and no issues for over a year now.

The BMW electrics are finicky. Do yourself a favour and get an original one.
I don’t have iDrive, is there a code that came up for high battery discharge?
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      02-18-2018, 09:40 AM   #10
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Yah. It just said 'high battery discharge' or something similar on the iDrive screen. No code in the dash.
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      02-18-2018, 01:24 PM   #11
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I just installed a Duralast alternator from Autozone over the weekend. So far no issues, really hope it works long term as taking the oem alternator out was super difficult lol. Will let anyone now if I experience any signs I see that would be related to a bad alternator
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      03-25-2018, 05:09 PM   #12
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EDIT:

I noticed that my car was still throwing an alternator code - 278C: Alternator. This code would pop up right away even after clearing codes. I decided to return my Duralast alternator to Autozone and order a new Valeo 180 amp alternator from ECS for $260 with free shipping and installed it and the code went away. I wouldn't recommend going aftermarket on the alternator. This code that was popping up was not a hard CEL/SES light but it still showed a code when the car was scanned. I don't know what caused it exactly from the Duralast alternator but going OEM fixed it.
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      03-25-2018, 06:15 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by codinge90 View Post
EDIT:

I noticed that my car was still throwing an alternator code - 278C: Alternator. This code would pop up right away even after clearing codes. I decided to return my Duralast alternator to Autozone and order a new Valeo 180 amp alternator from ECS for $260 with free shipping and installed it and the code went away. I wouldn't recommend going aftermarket on the alternator. This code that was popping up was not a hard CEL/SES light but it still showed a code when the car was scanned. I don't know what caused it exactly from the Duralast alternator but going OEM fixed it.
Thanks for the follow-up
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