I don't know if anyone else has these kinds of issues but whenever I use a Napa alternator on a car at work, it either fails right away or within 1000 miles.

Today I had to redo an alternator on a Civic that I replaced late last month because it stopped charging, I once did 3, yes 3 alternators on a Ford Powerstroke all within 20 miles.

I have had to redo Napa water pumps and now people at work say that I am the Napa bad luck charm because it seems every time I do anything with Napa junk, mainly alternators they fail.

Yes I make sure the battery is charged before I start the car or send it away, the other day the shop foreman had one come back that had a failed Napa alternator within 200 miles which made me feel a little better that it doesn't just happen to me.

Anyone else have these kind of experiences?

It just really gets under my skin since Napa only covers the part and not any kind of labor so I always get screwed since the dealership doesn't want to charge the customer again.

 

Ive used there gaskets, and small stuff like that. The only thing from napa ive had problems with was a battery. Only lasted a year and they would not refund the price. Only like half or something cause i did get life out of it.

 

This is crazy because their prices are so horrible compared to autozone/advance/oreilly and their stuff is junk!!!

 

I feel for you.


But this is actually good news. Crapy products give bad ratings. When they do companies like NAPA spend a little more money on products.

Hold out, it will get better. Same thing over and over again.
Weird math equation for ya: Good product= sales, divided by next year's skimpy product= same sale + profit, times next years product= less sales, same profit, + next year's product less sales = we better do something.

There technically just playin with the idle screw adjustment, until they can perfectly screw us.

 

That right there is almost sig worthy.

It took me going through two bad ones at pepboys (eventually returned for monetary value), I then took that money to autozone went through one of them and on my second one now. This one has been in the truck for almost a year now with no issues. And my engine sees alot and I mean alot of mud and water on a regular basis in the summer time. Take it back, get your money and get the lifetime one from Autozone.

On a side note, if I have to replace this one in the near future I am going with a GM alternator as they seem to be a little more sealed then a Toyota one. And the extra amps for me will be a bonus.

 

I had the alternator in my truck go bad and got one from the local parts store since I was on my way home and didn't want to get stuck, it doesn't charge much, it sits around 13.3 volts at 2000 RPM so eventually I will upgrade to the GM alternator in my truck, but at work I don't have a choice we have to get Napa stuff for anything that isn't a Hyundai and still I doubt Autozone's warranty would pay for the labor, most people don't realize that mechanic's get paid by the job so when I get a crap Napa alternator and have to redo it, the only person it screws over is me since the customer still gets another part for no cost, the dealership doesn't pay me anything to put it in, so I get screwed for their junk not working.

 

ah ok, didn't realize this was on a customer vehicle. Maybe I should learn to read the whole thing. Well that sucks.

 

Wow,3 in a row. Sounds like junk..

Im running autozone's duralast alternator with their yellow top duralast battery. In the 3yrs. or so of owning them, they have never given me trouble. Especially after the abuse my dad puts it through; in the winter he ussually uses it to charge dead batteries on big rigs multiple times a year. You can definitely hear the rpms drop as soon as it's hooked up; he just revs it hard for a good 15-20 mins and then cranks. It has always worked and ever failed.

 

It could be that Napa on the west Coast uses a different vendor for there reman stuff . I can`t see shipping it across the country.

But I only had one problem with one alternator and that was out of the box I have been using there stuff for years. Starters and alternators

Where I have problems is with the reman calipers fittings cross threaded or stripped.

Go figure

 

I guess I should add that this is always the reman stuff, I have yet to open one up since we always have to return it for warranty but it always seems as if the brushes had not been replaced, but the last one on the Powerstroke was glowing red within 15 minutes of installing it.

 

Seems like the parts/service manager might put 2+2 together and find a new parts source...

 

sometimes when they send you the white box napa special, its just an old unit cleaned up. I'd rather rebuild oem myself then get an off the shelf aftermarket.

 

Rebuild OEM every time.

:wabbit2:

 

I still dont understand why you have to only by napa stuff. When i worked for a dealership all we could use was oem stuff. Warranty reasons. Besides hydrolic fittings, hoses and universal stuff. That was also a diesel shop thou.

 

Always short, always true, you da man wabbit!

 

It's because I work for a Hyundai dealership so we only carry Hyundai parts, when somebody brings in a Honda because they bought the car there so they think they need to bring it back to get it worked on, we don't have any parts for it so we order the stuff from Napa.

I guess they could order OEM stuff but I think that comes down to we would get it at list price, then add our markup and it would be more than what the customer could get it for. So we get Napa stuff at cost and add our markup to it and make a profit off the labor and the part. It comes down to the main guy in the comfy seat in the big office making the biggest paycheck possible while doing the least amount of work.

 

Thats understandable. Yea its kinda dumb how the main people in charge do the least amount of work and bitch about the "work" they have to do. We had great managment at the shop i worked at but it still annoyed me.

Do you guys give warrantys on non-hyundai vehicles? The ones that you put the napa parts on. Like miledge or time warrantys.

Also how are those to work on, i had a friend that worked on them and he said they were a headache, but after 200? they were just like a honda.

Sorry for the questions, i dont wrench much anymore but i still like to be knowledgeable about this sort of stuff.

 

The parts are under the typical 12 months or 12,000 mile warranty that comes from Napa, I really think that Hyundai's engineers are pretty stupid sometimes by where they put stuff but overall I think they are decent cars and okay to work on. I would rather work on Hyundai's than VW's. I used to be a Subaru tech and really miss it, Subaru's are easy to work on and can make you lots of money, Hyundai owners don't want to pay for anything because they think the 100,000 mile warranty should cover everything.

 

Simply amazing

 

I'm sorry but if you buy a Hyundai you should be EXPECTING repair costs.