August 29, 2007
The latest event with my Civic is that it broke down one evening about two miles from my house - lo and behold, what luck! right in front of the garage I prefer to use. We jumped the battery and it managed to hold a charge just long enough to get it across the street and into the garage parking lot. The next day they tell me that the alternator is bad and for $400 they will replace mine. Original factory equipment is expensive. And that is, like, 10% of what my car is worth. So I had it towed (for free thanks to insurance) to another place who would replace the alternator for $175.
** The funny thing about my car breaking down this time is that the person behind me got REALLY PISSED that my car was not moving at an adequate speed when I was trying to pull it off the road. I would think that karma would strike that person; a sufficient recourse would be breaking down on the left side of I-65 at rush hour where the median is only wide enough to barely squeeze in one car. Have a nice day!
They told me it was the battery which was bad, not the alternator. So the battery was replaced. This is the second time that this particular garage (which specializes in Honda service) has told me something untrue and then tried to convince me that I need an expensive repair. However, the alternator may indeed be bad since the battery light came on again last night (but then switched off, so whothehellknows?)
Anyhow, there has been some inconvenience due to my car acting funny this year, but I have spent only $400 in repairs and maintenance for the year 2007. Plus $35 for car insurance monthly. I believe I will keep the car for a while longer, and will try not to get upset when it breaks again.
This frees up some cash for something I will enjoy more: a bathroom renovation! It's in the planning and budgeting phase at this point in time.
Posted by megabeth at August 29, 2007 10:01 AM
If cost of repair is an issue, you might want to look at buying the part rebuilt. A good parts store could help you with that.
If you're really serious about saving the bucks, you could look at replacing it yourself. It's not a really hard job and would likely take only a couple of hours.
Posted by: Southtrek at August 29, 2007 01:50 PM
Southern Armature quoted me the $175 on a rebuilt alternator, installed. I was told it's easy to do, but if there are no volunteers (ha ha), I'll pay the labor charge.
Robe Mans wanted $400 to install an original Honda alternator. They told me that I wouldn't need to replace it again if it were the original factory equipment. That sounds awfully dubious, since the FIRST original Honda alternator lasted only 5 years. The SECOND alternator, rebuilt and installed by Southern Armature, is going on 5 years. Thus, I can logically conclude that Honda alternators are not any better than rebuilt alternators. :)
Posted by: megabeth at August 29, 2007 02:03 PM
I tested an alternator once by starting my car and then disconnecting a battery cable from a terminal while it was still running. If the car still ran at that point, I concluded that the alternator was ok. I was under the assumption that the battery was basically there to start my car. Once started, the alternator supplied the electrical power. Not sure how reliable this technique is, but it did indeed reveal a bad alternator.
Posted by: Brendan at August 29, 2007 07:15 PM
If it's easy to test one, then I don't understand why a reputable garage wasn't able to test one accurately. Something smells funny about that.
Posted by: megabeth at August 30, 2007 08:48 AM
Probably because a reputable garage is somewhat of an oxymoron, especially, and unfortunately, when they're dealing with women.
Posted by: Brendan at August 30, 2007 07:54 PM
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