Alternator Options

[whoissuprme]

Has anyone ran the X5 140a alternator? Part number 12317551253. I've read somewhere that these will bolt right up and give you a little extra juice. My alternator just crapped out and the new 120a Valeo units aren't available anywhere. Would really rather not buy a remanufactured unit especially one that bosch did. From the little bit of investigating I did it looks like they are the same plug on the back between the stock 120a and the "upgraded" 140a from the X5

[Radekxpl]

I would only put new alternator Valeo in not a remanufactured, I had reman from Fcp euro and it caught on fire 🔥 good thing I was parked and noticed right away otherwise car would burn down, liftetime warranty is awesome but don’t think I would have any use for it if my car burden to the ground, fyi only had alternator in for 3 months, my friend had similar issue with remanufactured alternator although it didn’t catch fire it only lasted 3 months as well. Save your self headaches and buy brand new one valeo had mine for 2 years since warranty replacement from fcp works food to this day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Shonky]

Mine "only" lasted about 13 years from new and about 85000km. No oil leaks, but mine failed in a somewhat different way to normal. That rotor winding on mine went open circuit somehow.

[R60BBA]

How many miles/years are you guys seeing the original alternators lasting on these cars? I'm on the original unit, (12/2002 build) with 81,000 miles. I've actually replaced the battery in this car regularly every 4 or 5 years (sometimes before they die) so I'd like to think my alternator has a had a decent life. I don't have a battery light currently, but historically once the alternator goes, you're on borrowed miles. And, seems like the new Valeo units are hard to find so I'm thinking just change it out, and shelve the one I have as a spare.

See post 22.

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/e46-2001-2006/176736-alternator-options?p=178266#post178266

[Pklauser]

How many miles/years are you guys seeing the original alternators lasting on these cars? I'm on the original unit, (12/2002 build) with 81,000 miles. I've actually replaced the battery in this car regularly every 4 or 5 years (sometimes before they die) so I'd like to think my alternator has a had a decent life. I don't have a battery light currently, but historically once the alternator goes, you're on borrowed miles. And, seems like the new Valeo units are hard to find so I'm thinking just change it out, and shelve the one I have as a spare.

I personally didn't have difficulty finding one, plus keeping an old one that you don't trust as a spare is kind of a false economy especially considering the labor. I say rock what you've got until it stops 🤷♂️

[bmwfnatic]

How many miles/years are you guys seeing the original alternators lasting on these cars? I'm on the original unit, (12/2002 build) with 81,000 miles. I've actually replaced the battery in this car regularly every 4 or 5 years (sometimes before they die) so I'd like to think my alternator has a had a decent life. I don't have a battery light currently, but historically once the alternator goes, you're on borrowed miles. And, seems like the new Valeo units are hard to find so I'm thinking just change it out, and shelve the one I have as a spare.

I think what tends to kill them is people just driving around with oil leaks, I am on the original unit with more than double your miles. Although I plan to replace it this winter just as a preventative, but they seem pretty well made.

[PSUEng]

How many miles/years are you guys seeing the original alternators lasting on these cars? I'm on the original unit, (12/2002 build) with 81,000 miles. I've actually replaced the battery in this car regularly every 4 or 5 years (sometimes before they die) so I'd like to think my alternator has a had a decent life. I don't have a battery light currently, but historically once the alternator goes, you're on borrowed miles. And, seems like the new Valeo units are hard to find so I'm thinking just change it out, and shelve the one I have as a spare.

[old///MFanatic]

Very interesting..not sure if it’s just this dealership or any BMW dealership. *The 2 Year is listed as any dealership.

https://www.billjacobsbmw.com/bmw-parts-warranty/

“To receive lifetime limited parts warranty coverage, the retail consumer must have purchased any of the following eligible replacement BMW Original Parts on or after December 1, 1998:
1. Shock Absorbers
2. Strut Assemblies and Inserts
3. Mufflers
4. New and Remanufactured Starters
5. New and Remanufactured Water Pumps
6 New and Remanufactured Alternators

The lifetime limited parts warranty is currently restricted to this select group of parts and applies to both BMW cars and BMW SAVs.”

[George Hill]

Alternators, starters, water pumps, struts and I think ac compressors. Might be a few more parts too like power steering pumps. After the 2 year warranty these parts have a limited lifetime warranty. Only parts is covered and has to be warranty inspected by the dealer. So it’s subject to the usual warranty rules.

I don’t think it’s commonly known so might be a fight with some dealers.

Absolutely, I never came across that during my time at the dealer. Could you get some written BMW warranty info on that policy? Our dealer just started declining warranty repairs on parts that were bought from a 3rd party retailer, i.e. if you bought a BMW waterpump from FCP, they won't warranty it, but if you bought it from a BMW dealer directly they would. I tried to get that in writing and they told me to pound sand so I don't think they would help me with this limited warranty info either.

[bigjae46]

Haven't heard this before, do you have more info?

Alternators, starters, water pumps, struts and I think ac compressors. Might be a few more parts too like power steering pumps. After the 2 year warranty these parts have a limited lifetime warranty. Only parts is covered and has to be warranty inspected by the dealer. So it’s subject to the usual warranty rules.

I don’t think it’s commonly known so might be a fight with some dealers.

[George Hill]

FYI, there is a limited lifetime warranty on genuine BMW alternators in the US. Not sure if that's worth the price but something to consider.

Haven't heard this before, do you have more info?

[Pklauser]

As far as I can tell, the BMW alternator is a reman as well. FCP has lifetime warranty on the new Valeo, so that seems to be the wise choice.

[bigjae46]

FYI, there is a limited lifetime warranty on genuine BMW alternators in the US. Not sure if that's worth the price but something to consider.

[Pklauser]

My alternator just started intermittently dropping voltage, thank y'all for this thread. The fact that FCP doesn't show this as compatible with the M3 is a huge miss that nearly had me buy an apparently inferior product.

[strummr]

I can share a very recent experience with alternators (I just got the car back from the shop today). I have a E46 Dinan M3, and the battery light came on early Feb, with the car dying on a full charge within a day. I decided to install the alternator myself - ordered a Bosch remanufactured alternator from FCPeuro, along with new belts, pulleys and tensioners (might as well). I expected the job to take a couple of wknds (because of the supercharger kit), just on jack stands (not a lift); well it turned out to be 4 months. I've worked on cars all my life (my first cars were muscle cars) - it was the biggest PITA in a very long time. Obviously, the main issue was removing most of the Dinan supercharger to gain access to the alternator - in a highly confined engine bay.
After finishing the install and tidying up everything, I drove it to my local race shop, without any issues (20 miles) for an inspection I service. A week and half later, when time came to pick up the car... the engine bay started smoking immediately after turning it on. I left the car with them and they determined the remfg Bosch unit's pulley had seized (causing the belt to smoke and eventually pop off the pulley) - I had a new Valeo unit expedited to the shop and obviously planning on returning the Bosch unit. So newly remfg Bosch unit caused a major issue with a fresh install... as the shop noted, try and stick with the Valeo unit, and not the remanufactured items.