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      08-11-2014, 09:14 AM   #1
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Replace voltage regulator, or whole alternator?

I've gotten the dreaded warning lights (flickering DSC, brake, tire pressure). I'm certain it's the alternator. Should I replace the voltage regulator, or the whole thing? My concern is the supercharger adds a bit of labor to the process.
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      08-11-2014, 09:39 AM   #2
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Pokey,

If the bearings and brushes are ok in the alternator, then replacing just the regulator would make sense. How many miles are on it? And how do you know it's the vr specifically? Is the voltage too high at high rpms?

I haven't pulled the alternator on the zed but I can't imagine a bmw alternator being any different from any others...

-gc
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      08-11-2014, 11:03 AM   #3
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From my experience, when the dash lights illuminate erratically on the Z4 (or at least the M), it's an indication of an over- or under-voltage situation. I've replaced the battery and cabling, and had a shop go through everything except the alternator. The situation doesn't happen all the time, so I'm suspecting it's the voltage regulator. I'm open for other thoughts, as I hadn't encountered significant electrical problems until now.

I'm also interested to hear who has replaced a voltage regulator, only to come back a short time later to do the whole alternator. The car has 115k miles, and I'm wondering about the life expectancy of the rest of the components, and trying to do a risk analysis of only doing the voltage regulator.
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      08-11-2014, 02:02 PM   #4
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due to the s/c needing to be removed id replace the the whole item imo...
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      08-11-2014, 02:40 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Beedub View Post
due to the s/c needing to be removed id replace the the whole item imo...
+1. When I ran a blower on my Miata I began to hate having to go "back in" to do something a second time. So, if it is not too much against your financial grain to spend the extra $$ you should replace it all. And you know, alternators never fail when it's convenient for you.
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      08-11-2014, 03:19 PM   #6
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Quote:
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due to the s/c needing to be removed id replace the the whole item imo...
+2
Wish I had changed the alternator also before putting on the S/C.
It crossed my mind
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      08-12-2014, 08:49 AM   #7
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autozone alternator all the way, probably won't end up costing any more than doing just the regulator.


remember its just an alternator, its not like your trusting autozone/duralast to reverse engineer the vanos system.
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      08-13-2014, 07:16 AM   #8
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Haven't we heard from Autozone alternator users that the failure rate is high? Yeah, replacement is free but in this case the PITA factor caused by the supercharger would seem to negate the $$ savings.
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      08-13-2014, 07:46 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elerner61 View Post
Haven't we heard from Autozone alternator users that the failure rate is high? Yeah, replacement is free but in this case the PITA factor caused by the supercharger would seem to negate the $$ savings.
I can recall no such reports, and I hope if you're going to throw around an accusation like that, you have the links to back it up.
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      08-13-2014, 09:02 AM   #10
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Wow, seems I offended your purchase decision.

Here is a link to one account of Autozone rebuilt alternator woes. There are others a quick google search will lead you to. I actually thought they had been discussed more here on zpost, I was wrong. Do what you want, you're an adult.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=635444

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      08-13-2014, 12:02 PM   #11
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What offends me is people throwing around rumors about a brand based on nothing more than hearsay or less. To my knowledge, no one on Zpost has posted anything about a failing alternator form Autozone, so to give a recommendation to someone suggesting that that has happened is patently false.

A single link showing that an alternator failed on a 3 series, of which there are many millions in circulation and thus probably hundreds if not thousands with duralast alternators installed, does not make a trend. I'm sure I can find stories of BMW alternators failing prematurely as well, but they don't represent the overall population of those alternators unless you can show that a significant percentage of those in circulation are indeed failing. Given how few Z4s there are around, if there was truly a problem with Duralast alternators for Z4s, chances are very high that we would have heard about it on this forum by now.

If you want to buy all OEM parts, thats fine, and there are certainly areas of the car on which I would use nothing else. Or to stay away from anything sold at Autozone based on some poor personal experience, that makes sense too.

BUT, the fact is there are no more than a handful of automotive manufacturers left in the world for any given component, so to suggest that an alternator is junk solely because it was sold by autozone is ridiculous, because it was probably made by the same company that makes the alternators sold at your favorite indy, at Napa, at higher end auto parts stores, and perhaps even by BMW. You can say the same thing about batteries, tools, etc.

For a poster who says, what do you think of autozone?, a reply that you think they are crap is fine, he's asking for your opinion and thats all. But to attempt to steer a purchase decision by submitting incorrect information based on some personal bias, without supporting facts, is just not appreciated.
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      08-13-2014, 02:35 PM   #12
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You're right, I never should have tried to steer a purchase decision. What was I thinking of. I'll slink away now and never formulate any more dastardly plans filled with evil intent.
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      08-13-2014, 03:44 PM   #13
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My feeling, Pokey, is since you are already in there replace the whole thing. You got your monies worth out of the original alternator. Do the job once and be done with it.

I don't want to add any fuel to the above fire but a couple of months ago I had to return a Autozone alternator due to a bad voltage regulator. Its replacement is still working fine (knock on wood). DISCLAIMER - this was for my Subaru.
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      08-13-2014, 04:07 PM   #14
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Thanks for the responses! I ended up going with a new Valeo alternator. Out the door cost was ~$1400.
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      08-13-2014, 05:23 PM   #15
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Tough price for peace of mind, especially for a man of your automotive knowledge, hope it works for you; hate taking sides but in my book jdoublehcubed owes an apology to elerner61
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      08-13-2014, 08:21 PM   #16
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Quote:
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Tough price for peace of mind, especially for a man of your automotive knowledge, hope it works for you; hate taking sides but in my book jdoublehcubed owes an apology to elerner61
The car has stranded me once at midnight with my girlfriend in post-game traffic, and almost stranded me again 2 weeks later after having everything tested or replaced other than the alternator. The second time I limped it to a shop, since it corrupted the software the first time it malfunctioned and had failed to restart. Undervoltage conditions can seriously damage electronics, so I wasn't happy about doing it.

The shop mentioned that there is some sort of microcontroller on the alternator that seems to have malfunctioned. It would put out anything from 13.8 volts to 11 volts - not good for the electrical system.

As for the price, it was $630 for the new OEM alternator and 6 hours labor, plus tax and shop supplies. On the bright side, they did mention the engine looked "immaculate"
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      08-13-2014, 09:54 PM   #17
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Sounds like the devil finally left the tormented body, wow, what a story, thanks for sharing, guess you never know what lies beneath; I've had nightmares with aftermarket products and fully understand your frustration, please don't think I tried to question your judgement; I was just blown away by the shop $$$
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      08-13-2014, 11:36 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pokeybritches View Post
Thanks for the responses! I ended up going with a new Valeo alternator. Out the door cost was ~$1400.
Occasionally there are a few upsides to the M54

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EPSYAY
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      08-14-2014, 09:39 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Schlesien
Sounds like the devil finally left the tormented body, wow, what a story, thanks for sharing, guess you never know what lies beneath; I've had nightmares with aftermarket products and fully understand your frustration, please don't think I tried to question your judgement; I was just blown away by the shop $$$
Yep. It was a lot more than I wanted to pay for a basic repair. I will say that the shop that did it knew what they were doing, so it was convenient to drop it off and pick it up the following day to enjoy it this weekend, instead of working all week and busting up my knuckles / mumbling profanity at a broken car this weekend .
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      08-14-2014, 11:03 AM   #20
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mumbling profanity at a broken car this weekend .
At least you can keep it to mumbling. My family no longer pays attention to yelling they hear from the garage. If I get hurt in there I'll have to dial 911 since no help will be coming from inside the house.
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      08-14-2014, 03:21 PM   #21
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Haha, I used to yell... I'm at the point now where I have to have a case of beer by me whenever I do anything that takes more than an hour. Obviously I have to wait until the following day to do any test driving

I see the part online for $510, plus shipping and possibly a $50 core (didn't look into it too much). The average person that's not in an urban area could probably get it done for $1000.
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      08-14-2014, 03:25 PM   #22
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Quote:
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please don't think I tried to question your judgement
No not at all! I think it's important to explain why I went the way I did, for any others that may end up in a similar situation. We'll see how it works out for me. Most people could have gotten it done much cheaper.
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