I broke off the bolt that the power wire attaches tocause I overtightened it. (yeah, I feel like an idiot) Is this something that I could take the alt apart and try to fix? It does have a lifetime warr on it and is fairly new, is it a possibility that autozone would give me another one? Or am I screwed cause it's my fault.

 

i ithnk they'll give you a new one, it must of had a flaw in the bolt/stud to other wise it wouldn't of broke right? i think the worse thing you could do is try to take it apart without trying to get a replacement from autozone

 

It will be interesting to see what they say. You can replace the stud by taking the alt apart, but unless you have done it it can be tricky. www.alternatorparts.com sell parts for most GM alternators as well as instructions on how to repair them.

 

well I took it back the other day and they gave me a new one no questions asked. I waited til around 5:30 when the night shift was on and told them that my mechanic said the bolt broke.

 

That's pretty funny

Probably wasn't neccecary though. Alot of those guys don't know to much about what they are doing. The employee car corall at our local autozone includes a mid 80's caprice riding on 14" daytons with tinted out windows and a rotted body (he always parks in the grass next to the building like he owns a show car), and a riced out civic. The rest of the cars look like poorly cared for beaters.

Matt

 

Autozone will take back an alternator with no questions asked. They don't care if you drop kick it through the garage door in a fit of rage, they'll still do a warranty replacement for you free of charge. Just keep the receipt.

I'm assuming that it was one of Autozone's lifetime warranty units?

 

yeah it was a lifetime warranty one, definately worth it. I have seen some pretty funny cars at AZ, a neon super sport last time I went. Pep boys doesn't seem to be as willing to take returns, I think I'll stay with autozone for now.

 

So you're the one driving up the prices for everyone else, eh?

Well, I suppose I'm in the same club. Out at the track last weekend, the '57 was throwing the fan belt every run - the alternator had excessive end play. Earlier this year, I had to replace the alternator fan because 3 blades broke off during a run (driving home that evening, I couldn't go above 1500 RPMs w/o the alternator shaking the whole car). Prior to that, the alternator bracket bolts were found to be loose - because the shop that put in the poly suspension bushings took the alternator out to get access and didn't retighten the alternator properly.

So, here I am at Checker last Saturday evening, with the alternator in hand, my racing shirt and cap on, a racer wrist band on my right hand, saying I needed a new alternator because this lifetime warranty part they sold me last year has too much end play now.

They gave me a new one at no cost.

The cause of the whole thing was the shop leaving the alternator loose when they were doing suspension work (I'm sure shifting at 5600 RPMs on a regular basis had nothing to do with it... ). But they didn't argue a bit.