My uncle told me to never trust a used alternator from a junkyard

Back in 2017 my 98 Civic died on I-45 in Houston. My uncle said just grab a used one from Pull-A-Part for 40 bucks. I did and it lasted exactly 3 weeks before the bearings locked up at 2am in a gas station lot. Towed it home and spent 80 on a remanufactured one that's still running fine today. Has anyone else had a junkyard part fail way faster than it was worth?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_elliot6d ago

Honestly, I grabbed a junkyard alternator for my old Accord and it crapped out in a month. A remanufactured one from O'Reillys has been solid for three years now, so that's the move.

emma_flores6d ago

Totally feel you on this one. My experience was almost identical with a junkyard alternator for my old Focus. Died on me real fast, way too fast to justify the hassle of pulling it myself. Ended up stranded outside a grocery store, had to call my buddy to jump me and limp it home. Remanufactured ones are just built better, they test them and don't use random worn out bearings. Sucks that you learned that lesson on a highway too, that's a whole other level of stress. Yeah, sometimes saving a few bucks just isn't worth the headache.

miles_hall6d ago

Gotta disagree here. My junkyard alternator for a 91 Caprice has been going strong for two years now, plus I saved 120 bucks over buying new. Sounds like it's more about picking the right one than avoiding them altogether.