Here 's the deal:

Old alternator was throwing sparks (reaching a foot high) at engine speeds greater than 3000rpms. I replaced because of sparks, not because of charging issues; although I'm sure it was on its way out anyway. I went out to AutoZone and grabbed a Duralist Remanufactured one. One of my buddies works there and I can get a discount. I tried to get a brand new one (Duralist Gold?) but they had zero in their inventory.

When I got home, I proceeded to take the belt off, 2 bolts, and disconnect the hot (fat) wire and connector. Install took about 15min. Later on that night was the first time I took the car out on the new alternator. I drove 10mins away to my friends house. On my return back home, the engine started running rough. Then, when I was around 4min away from home, I happened to glance at my battery voltage gauge and it read 8-9V. Not even a minute later, my radar detector started going nuts and my stereo turned off. My headlights began to dim and started flickering. Trying to make it another 2miles home, I turned off all unnecessary electronics. I left only the parking lights on (It was 11PM). By this point, the engine was really stumbling on its face. Only good thing that happened was that I did make it home.

First thing I did when I got home was to check the connections and make sure all of my wires were held on tightly. I did manage to grab a few voltage drops:

---------------
Key off position
---------------

B- to Fat Hot wire bolted on ALT. <-----12V
B- to Pin "S" <-----12V
ALT. casing to B+ <----- 12V

These voltage drops lead me to believe I was one of the unlucky ones who ended up buying a faulty remanufactured alternator.

What do you guys think?

 

Ok, new measurment, I have 12V from the black wire, pin F, to Positive side of Battery. All these voltage drops were done with the car not running, I have no joice to start it. I'm 90% sure its the alternater.

Anyone got anthing to add??

 

I would tend to agree with you.

 

UPDATE: Brought it back to autozone. Alternater failed output test 2/3 times. A lesson is to be learned here. Just because a part is "new" doesn't mean it's not defective.

 

I have run into that problem my self, now I have them test all parts that they can test before I leave the store. Having them test the parts also saves a lot of time.
Will