Repeated alternator failure

The 1989 swift gti beater that i drive has gone through 3 alternators this month. I had the car for around 7 months when the first alternator failed, then i replaced it with an used possibly dying alternator from my garage. It then died 2 days later and was replaced with a alternator from a 92 metro. The one from the metro died after about a week and a half.

A new alternator is $350 and i dont want to use the alternator from my race car if its going to blow like the others.

The two that were put in were both from geo metros, could this be my problem? if i put the one from my other swift in will it last longer than two weeks?

I'd probably take the original to a local starter/alternator repair/rebuilder. They are usually quite reasonable and should be able to tell you why it stopped working.

gotta agree with Carzan on this one. When the alt went on my SC400 I went that route. 105$ later it lasted longer than the engine.

If you use a decent rebuilder, you should at least know that it is the right one, will bolt up, etc. I have done that a few times, no problems. Don't know about your part of the Frozen Northlands, but there are at least three quite close to me. Don't imagine you want to send it to Ft. Lauderdale for repairs, though.

Hows your battery? If its old replace it, if its been in a wreck toss it. Many times a battery can short when bounced or bumped going down the road, this loads the alt to max for quick burst of load and it cooks the regulator.

44

How do you know the alternator is dying? Sounds like your used parts haven't been the most reliable sources, but many times a "bad alternator" is mis-diagnosed. Could be a bad ground, corroded connection, broken wire, etc. A failed warning bulb/meter in the instrument cluster of certain cars can cause the alternator to stop charging! Just checking to confirm you are not fixing something that isn't really broken. You'd be peeved to spend $100 rebuilding the alternator just to find you needed some other $2 part.

Bryce