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Alternator a wear item???

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Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
I was reviewing my to do list for the car....Long list... And I was reminded that I am on my third Boss alternator now, and its starting to whine and have some charging problems. I have a 4th one sitting in my garage waiting to be installed...... the car has about 32,000 miles though a fair chunk of that is at the track. is this normal??? Seems like a lot of unusual wear.... No fancy speakers/amp or such items
 
I think the heat and high RPM's make it a regular maintenance part.
 
I've replaced an alternator and a starter for a similar reason, heat. I wrapped the new starter with a heat shield and haven't had a problem since. I don't think you could wrap the alernator, because it may have an internal fan for cooling. A metal heat shield may protect it, but I remember it being pretty tight in clearance down there.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Thanks, I guess so, my 1997, 540i has 150,000 miles with the original alternator...but then again is never seen the track!

So I have to plan for a alternator a year for the Boss.
 
173
38
Also noticed AC compressor starting to leak around the seal so that’s on the way too.
29000 miles and a lot of track time
 

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