I worked at Oreillys up until a short while ago and they're just BSing you.

Oh and pro-tip : The 145amp alternator for the Escelades is cheaper than the one for LS1 F-Bodies. At least it was in my store. Knowing that, talk with a manager is see if they'll give you a 145amp replacement instead. They're definitely able to do it because I've done that for people.

 

The one I have is the 145 amp truck alt, not an fbody one

 

Myth #2 - "Truck" alternators are more durable.

In general, OEM alternators are all very similar. The truck alternators are just larger, have more output, and take more energy to spin.

IMO - going to a junk yard and putting someone else's used part on your car is probably not moving you in the direction you want to go.


I feel your pain and have had an awful amount of luck with alternators over the years. After being burned by remans years ago, I swore to always install new alternators in the future. I put a new alternator on my Firebird a few years ago and the bearings fried on the thing after one year. I was in a jam and had to slap on an AutoZone shelf model on the car, which is still holding up well.

I think my next alternator will be a Powermaster. They are more expensive, but do appear to be upgraded and from the experiences on this site seem to be the most certain way to stop the financial bleeding from alternator fixes.

 

I can't speak highly enough of Powermaster. I don't currently have one on my last remaining LS1 car (still OEM), but I have one of their 10SI models on my Nova and it's been nothing short of perfect for several years. Previous alternators never worked well on this car due to the one-wire conversion (easiest way to move from an external to internal voltage regulator without buying wiring harness adapters - and what a previous owner had already done - but it presents some additional charging challenges at idle due to no remote voltage sensing), underdrive crank pulley, and higher-than-stock electrical demands. Even at the same amperage rating, low rpm performance of this unit is shockingly better than the cheap rebuilds I had tried before; I was surprised there could be such a difference.

 

One of the reasons I moved up to the higher amp truck alt was because of my plans to put in a nice stereo system and I figured the extra power generation would be needed. I finally got the components for the majority of it but need to install them. It's 2 Kove Armageddon ZM-102D speakers, a Kove ZX1000 amp, a Kove ZX500 amp and a Cadence Q3000 amp all new in box. I still need to find a head unit I like and was thinking of the subthump box that still had room for t-top storage as an enclosure. Not sure if all those amps will be necessary but I got it all in a bundle trade from a friend of mine.

So if power master is a pretty nice sturdy alt do you guys think this one would fit the bill?

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/pw...w/make/pontiac

Thanks again for all the advice.

 

Looks like that would be the correct one for your car, and the higher amperage rating should cover your stereo demands nicely.

 

Thanks. Hopefully this will be the last alt I have to buy for the car.