Today my alternator started whining. It's the second worldwide brand one I've gone through in a year. My starter also is about to die as it has a couple (almost) dead spots in it. This will be number 2 in a year. I guess I should stop buying worldwide brand crap from Advanced... At least it should be guaranteed for a year I believe, but it doesn't make pulling the stuff out any easier...

 

i hear ya. id go dealer. only reason i go with autozone/shucks/kragen/checkers is cuz i dont mind pulling the starter and alternator out every once in awhile for a new one.

 

as a former employee for 2 1/2 years at an Advance Auto parts, yes I can vouche for the World-Wide alts being shiot, lol

starters not as much, but the alts are horrible

they do offer 1 year and lifetime warranties though, depending on wich one you got; if it's the 1 year and you're within that 1 year still, just bring it back and get it swaped out (they'll test it first, or at least their suppose to, but a lot of the people are lazy and would rather just exchange it out), and if you've got the extra cash, ask them if you can pay the difference and get the lifetime warrantied alt that way you'll be set. but the problem with that is it'll eventually die too, lol, I think their the same alt and you just pay for the warranty... sad, but true...

what I would do is return that alt if you're within the warranty time, and take the money somewhere else and get you a good new or re-maned alt of a different brand; only problem with doing that is that you won't have a core to give them if you do out and buy a re-maned one somewhere else, but a new one wont make a difference as they wont ask for a core then.

another option, which is the route I'm going to go here soon, is to find a local alt/starter rebuild shop and have them rebuild it for you; they'll usually make it better then any off the shelf boxed one you can buy, and at the same time you can get it upgraded to a higher amp. Also, doing that is normally a good bit cheaper than buying a new, or even a re-maned one from somewhere, plus it'll probably last you A WHOLE LOT longer, and depending on the shop they usually offer good warranties as well.


but long story short, yes, I'll say that the WorldWide alts are crap

 

Priced the parts out on trdparts4u.com and decided I'm just going toyota this time.

 

Let this be a lesson to anyone who ever considers aftermarket parts:

Sure, they are cheap as hell. Yup, they have lifetime warranties. But what is your time worth? You really want to change them out every 6 months to a year? I'd rather do it right the first time and have it last me another 20 years

/rant

p.s. Don't take it as a personal attack, just a lesson to others