Hi guys, this doesn't relate to mitsubishi, well unless you count mitsubishi parts?
A friend of ours had her alternator die in her AU Falcon, I told her to get one from the wreckers (for around $80) or off Ebay and I'd put it in for her (for nothing), she said no problem.

The next thing I know she's been told by the wreckers and the mechanics that in her model you can't put in anything but a brand spanking new alternator as second hand or rebuilt ones won't work ?
So the wreckers I found alternators at must have no idea about this or they just like pulling them out for the hell of it and haven't figured out why nobody buys them?

$700 later she has a brand new alternator in her car.. I don't want to turn around and tell her I could have saved her $400 in labor but oh well.. I've never seen an alternator that cost $600 ??

has anyone heard of such a thing or was she taken for a ride?
To me an alternator shouldn't take more than half an hour to install..

She needs to put in a new power steering hose which is what killed the alternator, she's been quoted $220, I've told her parts would cost her $70 (including fluid) but I'm not too keen to offer my help now..

you can place old alternators in, just a risk if they are working or not. but you should be able to pick one up for $50 odd bucks, and that labour cost was BS, id installed mine in less than half an hour and im a noob lol

Wow, $700 for an alternator installed? She got the real fair dinkum female treatment. I also call bullshit on 'you have to have a new alternator installed'.

If you don't want to help her with the belt then tell her to pay the $220, which includes the 'female tax'.

For a little experiment, ring the same mechanic yourself and get a quote on the job, see if the price is much different. It'd confirm my suspicions.

see this is why you cant trust mechanics, it pisses me off. Times are tough but too rip unsuspecting people off is bull shit. yeah ring and get a quote yourself and post back what you got!!!

Yeah, The second hand alternator for the wifes car that I had to short out because it was coded to the old cars ECU (what a joke) has been running fine for over two years and cost $80 from Imlachs..

I'd like to call the mechanic, but I don't know who she took it too and she's pissed off at me for telling her she got ripped off and should have listened to me.
it's those thoughts that go through peoples head "Just because you can change a clutch and do all the servicing on your cars doesn't mean you know anything about or how to do an alternator, you're not a mechanic, you're an IT geek"

yeah it is hard to swallow when someone lets you know youve been royaly screwed. try encourage her to complain to the garage, they may refund some money if they get sick of complaining. ask if you can get the qoute then she can take it in and ask why the large difference in price between her and you (if there is a large difference, they may just rip evryone!)

Haha, she's clearly pissed off at me.
I messaged her offering to do the hose and she's not replying..

I'll just stick to fixing my car and my wifes car, I have no doubts about my ability and neither does my wife.. Unless it comes to doing head gaskets, timing belts or the like which I'd rather pay someone to do.. I don't have the tools..

If people want to spent $300 in labor to install a $50 part I could do for free (I didn't even want beer, I said I'd do it because I like to) then that's not my problem, I'll just sit back and laugh at them...

I don't need the aggrevation of spending all morning ringing wreckers and searching online looking for parts (funnily none of the wreckers told me I'd have to buy a new one!, just that they didn't have one) only to be told "Thanks anyway"

I don't mean to offend anyone and I'm sorry if I do but I don't understand how so many men (she's married) these days can't even change the engine oil let alone undo a couple of bolts to install an alternator.
maybe I just enjoy the "I did it myself"

Just out of curiosity do you know if the alternator was a factory one or aftermarket? not that it makes a difference but I know that if you go OEM then they always tag on the extra for the Ford / Holden / Mitsi sticker that they have to put on the part... When I replaced mine I know Mitsi was $250 more for the identical Bosch one that I bought from Repco.

BTW I don't even think NRMA batteries would charge that much (they do alternators also, so she can get quote from them to compare)

It's all becoming 'hands free' instead of 'hands on' isn't it? I offered to do this exact same thing to a good friend of mine, take alternator out of his Falcon and put in a used one (i explained the risk), I even showed him online that it was his alternator (by looking through similar problems, symptoms, etc) and still he persisted to go to his mechanic. Fair enough, experienced mechanic over a home DIY mechanic, he got shafted. Paid about $500 and had to take it back twice. Now his car is sitting out the front of his house still not working. Go figure...

BA alternator can fit into an AU but not the other way... and yeah $700 for a new alternator.... i know business is tough atm but thats highway robbery.... i'd expect that on a european car but not a 7-10 y/o aussie car

It's all becoming 'hands free' instead of 'hands on' isn't it? I offered to do this exact same thing to a good friend of mine, take alternator out of his Falcon and put in a used one (i explained the risk), I even showed him online that it was his alternator (by looking through similar problems, symptoms, etc) and still he persisted to go to his mechanic. Fair enough, experienced mechanic over a home DIY mechanic, he got shafted. Paid about $500 and had to take it back twice. Now his car is sitting out the front of his house still not working. Go figure...

Yeah, I don't get it, I really don't.. You can explain to them that it's a 30 minute job.. If she bought 4 dodgy second hand alternators it's still cheaper.. Luckily the mechanics I have been to when needed (timming belts etc) have encouraged me to buy second hand stuff and fit it myself..

Just out of curiosity do you know if the alternator was a factory one or aftermarket? not that it makes a difference but I know that if you go OEM then they always tag on the extra for the Ford / Holden / Mitsi sticker that they have to put on the part... When I replaced mine I know Mitsi was $250 more for the identical Bosch one that I bought from Repco.

BTW I don't even think NRMA batteries would charge that much (they do alternators also, so she can get quote from them to compare)

I didn't get that far lol.. I was planning to make a trip to her town (half hour away) find out exactly which one it was and then make sure she got the right one, I was even prepared to drive to another town to get it and then come back and fit it.. Granted none of the wreckers had any when I called them, but not one out of the 5 said you have to buy new..

She hasn't taken me up on the offer to install the power steering hose which is good because I don't want to anyway, she's asked an ex mechanic to drive 4 hours to come and do it for her.. rofl !
Knowing my luck her power steering pump would die shortly after due to the low fluid levels and I'd get the blame for it, no thanks..

When the alternator died in my wifes car, it cost us $80, that was two years ago and it's still working..
Sorry, I lie.. We paid an extra $40 for a new belt as the old one was starting to split..

Mechanics are disliking 'reconditioned' alternators as its hard to charge enough to cover 'warranty'.

the thing with reconditioned alternators is that they may fail due to age too.. they weren't xrays to check for cracks in coils and diode leads and solder joints,etc

The mechanics don't like reconditioned parts because even though they warranty on the reconditioned part, the warranty doesnt cover their labour.
And the theory is that if no one buys the new part, how can there be enough 2nd hand parts to go around ?

Mechanics are disliking 'reconditioned' alternators as its hard to charge enough to cover 'warranty'.

the thing with reconditioned alternators is that they may fail due to age too.. they weren't xrays to check for cracks in coils and diode leads and solder joints,etc

The mechanics don't like reconditioned parts because even though they warranty on the reconditioned part, the warranty doesnt cover their labour.
And the theory is that if no one buys the new part, how can there be enough 2nd hand parts to go around ?

I completely agree with that..
However, why didn't the mechanic say "I won't fit second hand parts due to warranry and the chance they will fail" which is perfectably acceptable instead of "you can't put a second hand alternator in"

see this is why you cant trust mechanics, it pisses me off. Times are tough but too rip unsuspecting people off is bull shit. yeah ring and get a quote yourself and post back what you got!!!

Bit harsh sterotyping all mechanics lol. It's the lawyers and medical 'professionals' you should worry about! My last legal 'service' was charged at $480/hr to provide me with information that I already found out on the internet.

the reason for fitting a new unit over a second hand unit is that in many cases the cost margin is so slim that it is unjustifiable to get a second hand unit.
at work we recondition most of our alternators and starter motors... reason being that many oem units are much better than some of the after market crud being allowed into this country. most mechanics wouldn't recon a second hand unit, they would just fit it and hope for the best, if it were to be reconditioned it would most likely be done by an auto sparky and the cost passed onto the customer... so in many cases they get the new unit and fit it in for peace of mind.

but always be aware that new is not always best, some of the cheap asian aftermarket units coming into the country are not very reliable.... and in many cases the shop fitting them sets an over inflated margin, ie a clone of a common mitsubishi starter motor: trade =$95 inc gst, i have heard of these units being supplied and fitted for $380 + gst :wtf: even if the price is doubled and 1 hour @ $99 is charged ($263 + gst) then they are still making a decent profit

I completely agree with that..
However, why didn't the mechanic say "I won't fit second hand parts due to warranry and the chance they will fail" which is perfectably acceptable instead of "you can't put a second hand alternator in"

So why not do what I do, I offer to fit a shand item but make the cust sign a disclaimer on the invoice to state that they understand the itme is second hand and if it fails they will be charged again to fit another replacement part


Bit harsh sterotyping all mechanics lol. It's the lawyers and medical 'professionals' you should worry about! My last legal 'service' was charged at $480/hr to provide me with information that I already found out on the internet.

I also find this offending as I am up front and clear to all customers, I show all old parts and demonstrate all issues to all customers. I also offer for customers to take away all old removed parts also thus there can be no question

So why not do what I do, I offer to fit a shand item but make the cust sign a disclaimer on the invoice to state that they understand the itme is second hand and if it fails they will be charged again to fit another replacement part



I also find this offending as I am up front and clear to all customers, I show all old parts and demonstrate all issues to all customers. I also offer for customers to take away all old removed parts also thus there can be no question

Guys, just wanted to point out that I never intended to anything harsh about mechanics in general, sorry if I did, but I don't think i did..
Most of the mechanics I've dealt with are extremely honest and some have even refused to do certain work as they said I'd be wasting my money.. The mechanics I go to when needed will often tell me how to fix things myself, unless it's hard stuff

I've only had two bad experiences, one was a mechanic destroying my wheel studs by rattle gunning them too tight then denying any wrong doing, the other was a dealer mechanic trying to convince me to buy a car they had (Magna) when I asked when the timing belt was last changed he laughed and told me they never need to be changed, they're a chain, needless to say I didn't buy the car.

So no, I don't think all mechanics are bad, only a small percentage but unfortunately people only talk about negative experiences and forget the good experiences..

Don't get me started on lawyers, lol.. $20 per minute to talk on the phone, $60 per page on a word document (to tick a check box on some pages) $20 to open an email then $8 per minute to read it, $20 to reply plus $8 per minute spent, plus the $320 an hour face to face