I purchase a remanufactured bosch unit from advance autoparts. The only tricky part is makin sure that it has the correct pulley attachment. I think I paid just over $300. Lifetime warranty and was a dead match for the stock unit.

 

I think paying $800 for an alternator is a pure insanity
Well, I would only pay over $800 if it was guarantee to never break again.
I don't think I've ever experienced an alternator failure on any of my cars in my life. So the fact that porsche alternator has failed could actually indicate that these alternators are of lower quality than say alternators in Honda/Toyota cars. So replacing it with an AZ unit is prolly gonna insure better reliability for the future than going with the OEM unit.

 

OK, I just received the Autozone Alternator today and I can't find any marking on it that indicate its a Bosch or anything. I have not taken out the OEM alternator yet so nothing to compare it with. Does anyone know where to find it to know it Bosch or not? All I see is that it was remanufactured in Israel...

 

My alternator was the first of my problems. And the biggest, most expensive. It was before I got into this board, and before I found my local indy P-car fanatic ace mechanic. So, I took it in the can for $1,500.00 parts and labor at Champion. Lesson learned.

 

The 2 big reasons why i didnt use a re-man, was that it did not have the Bosch clutch located on the pulley wheel "which meant i would have to pull it off the factory one i am replacing".

Second, the cheap no-name brands that are promoted as Bosch re-mans use only the case, but all the other components are from where? Who knows. I figure big tickets items should only be replaced once. Even if it means taking one straight to the jaw.

 

There is this Porsche shop in Huntington Beach, about one or two street down from main street. They seem to be a very reputable shop.

 

Finally took out the OEM alternator yesterday and compare the Autozone alternator. The two looking exactly the same even to the wire winding inside. The OEM alternator has Bosch label on the back of a plastic piece covering the regulator and the Autozone doesn't. I decide to install it since it only cost $169+tax and it has lifetime warranty. I following the link http://p-car.com/996/diy/sai/mainpage.html for the tear down to get to the alternator and only had a minor problem being the composite plastic coolant interconnector snap and broke top and bottom when I was loosening it to get it out of the way. Luckily dealer have plenty in stock; furthermore, this part has been revision to dash 2 so probably they revise the material since when the part was very brittle when it broke so it probably could not handle last with coolant temperature reaching over 220 degree C for long period of time. Just botton it up yesterday and drove it to work and all warning lights are off and the car run as smooth as before! And the good part is I didn't spend $1200 for just the part!

 

Glad to hear things worked out for you....

-Eli

 

I just replaced mine about 2 weeks ago.
Bosch rebuilt for $300 (came in a Bosch box),
my dead alternator needs to be shipped to them, of course.

 

I am just wondering how many miles do you guys have on the car before the alternator failed? I have 74K on mine and it had a bad battery about 65K. I was thinking that it maybe the bad batttery overworked the alternator and it lead to its death. I am just surprise that an alternator should last at least to 100K or more. My 95 Toyota 4 runner had 120K on it and the alternator was still working when I sold it. Just my thoughts...

 

I'm at 81k miles, and I'm not surprised, with Porsche.

I had 2 Bimmers before, one at 98k and the other 120k...both still had original alternators when I sold them

 

My bimmer has 210K and running on original alternator.
I do regularly keep the destilled water up in the bat (also orginal) to never stress it.
Maybe this is key to making them last.
Even still if you can live without your car for a couple days you can send it to any starter/alternator repair shop who will test it and replace the burn components.
Was quoted 600 for my old Audi for a rebuilt, I ended up paying 50 bucks to get the burnt diode replaced instead.

 

Did the Autozone alternator come with the pulley or did you have to swap yours?

 

When a battery is drained or is low the biggest strain on the alternator is charging the battery. I drive my pcar only on the weekends and sometimes once a month. Now that i know how sensitive porsche components are, i make it a point to drive or start the car atleast one a week.

D

 

If you don't drive it often, keep the car on a trickle charger!