Alternator OEM BMW or GENERAL MOTORS

The OEM alternator is only 55 amps and costs nearly $400, which is stupid expensive and wholly inadequate for off-road lighting, audio amplifiers, and other additional accessories so I decided to go with the CS130D GM alternator, purchased for under $100 new (no core charge) and has a 130 amp capacity.

I'm getting 14.8v from the upgraded alternator at 700rpm and maintaining 14.2v when every possible accessory and light is turned on at idle.

My alternator went and I never had any lights, just weird electrical gremlins and batteries dying. Replaced it myself, took maybe 2 hours and the part was like $150 after the core return

you dont even need ISTA to figure out the alternator is dead. A fresh and charged batter will sit at 13v, used should always be around 12v. while charging it should be 13v. the fact this is dropping while the car is running suggests a shot alternator right off the bat

The alternator itself can get bad only if the bearings are shot. If you don't have play on the shaft, and it spins freely then the alternating part of the alternator is fine. What can get pretty bad are the diode rectifier bridge.

This was the only non oe product in my car. When mine went it went . There weren\u2019t any bmw ones available for love nor money at the time. I get 13.8 out of mine as well. Can been fine for 12 months.

Sometimes when u replace the alternator but the battery is bad it'll just fry your new alternator.

My 540i at 141k started eating me alive, Alternator blew up

Had an appetite for alternators, as they put it behind the rear cylinder head and tried to keep it cool with some little rubber/plastic air duct. Failboat. We sold the car with its third alternator, each failure attributed to failure of the rear bearings.

Oh yeah and it went through 2 maybe 3 alternators in the 13 years we had it lol.

My mom had a 93 Lumina Euro sedan with the 3.8. The only real serious issue it had was a failed alternator which drained the battery and almost left me stranded one night because the headlights dimmed to the point of being unusable. Other than that, yes the alignment was poor and it had some bad brake wear and warping of the rotors.