On this and other forums, I've only seen very light treatment of this topic so I figure a direct post would be helpful: My alternator's gone bad, and through the usual vendors, the Aston-branded one is silly expensive. But I *think* this alternator model's used in tons of other cars. Has anyone installed the equivalent?

I think it’s a Denso SC1 150 Amps at least for the V8V, which appears in the Aston Workshop Manual (page 14-2-1). Aston OEM part# is 6G43-14-10051, but I’m also seeing it as 4W4T-10300-AA and a bunch of other numbers everywhere. I even see it on Amazon with Prime delivery!! 😂 www.amazon.com/gp/product/B091J4BD1T and www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Y85FJM . Heads up that the Amazon items are remanufactured and don't have great reviews, so vendor recommendations of the new part would be appreciated.

I'm crossing my fingers for answers like "I bought this model from this website for this much and it totally fit physically / electrically".

Ps, another cost-conscious option is to have the alternator rebuilt, but kind of curious where this road leads, pardon the pun.

 

i wouldn't hesitate a second to get a rebuilt (remanufactured) alternator. there's practically nothing to go wrong with them (there are water cooled alternators with an assortment of problems that could be affected by a failure in that subsystem) if the bearings are okay. alternators are essentially electric motors as far as i know. and on electric motors only the bearings/shaft/rotor move (and from a physics POV they only move relative to the casing, so the casing could just as easily be said to be moving...) so i suppose they could wear out depending on how tight one tensions the belt. used to (cir. 1960's) be brushes wore down over time, but now most if not all are brushless. i guess you could drop one and break it... otherwise most problems are caused by a loose ground wire, or the windings have shorted out (very doubtful in that they simple spin around as a unit), sometime people allow them to get filthy and short as a consequence...

 

Alternators wear down brushes and bearings, and sometimes they blow the rectifier circuit. The rest is just chunks of metal. For the price of an Aston Martin branded alternator, I'm sure you could rebuild it for less, but if the non-branded part fits then that's even better.

 

Has everything been checked and you 100% it's a failed alternator? If so I would definitely find a local rebuild place that specializes in just starters/alternators. Lots of sketchy rebuild stuff online that will ruin your life on a simple repair.

 

there are still shops that rebuild alternators... like most have said, there's no rocket science to them

I'd take it out and get it checked/ rebuilt... then you have a AM branded case with new guts inside

 

Thanks all. Circling back here to report what worked: My indy mech and I ordered a rebuilt item of that part number (4W4T-10300-AA), which apparently goes into at least the 2004 Ford Lincoln Thunderbird LS. Lo and behold, it worked 👍👍. And at $189, when the dealer quotes almost 10x that, I'm not complaining. My indy mech threw in a new AGM-technology battery while at it.