Alternator OEM Volvo or Duralast

My old 04 Volvo Xc90 had 311k on the dash before the alternator gave up lol. Doing better than that!

Autozone one here. 3 years deep going strong

Replaced the 2017 ACDelco alt with a Duralast Gold 160 Amp. Life time warranty. For 200 bucks at Auto zone. Hope this is the last one I buy.

Those alternators are damn near bulletproof, it’s the voltage regulators that crap out. If it were me, I’d keep the OEM unit, replace the pulley, and swap out the voltage regulator while I was at it.

Right on schedule, about 7 months later, that reman also went out and I decided to pay more to get the Duralast Gold which is all new. That one lasted about a year and a half but then the bearings went out on it, but I don't think that issue was the alternator's fault because after I replaced it, I found out the Harmonic Balancer had lost its integrity and was wobbling a little. Again, not sure what caused what (did the bearings put extra pressure on the aging balancer or did the balancer go out and damage the alternator?), but all I can say is that since replacing the harmonic balancer and using the Duralast Gold alternator, I have not had any issues for over 2 years now.

Got another Duralast/Autozone alternator in and this one seems to be working for now.

I went through 5 of those Durlast gold alternators (supposedly the best version of autozone's stuff) in 2 years before I had enough and bought a the Denso.

I have a 2007 Chevy suburban and the altenator died so went to Autozone and purchased a new duralast 220.00. This worked for a few days and the battery died again. Checked voltage and only had 9 volts coming from altenator. Took back the altenator for them to bench test and they did not have the proper connections. Gave me another altenator installed worked great for 2 days. This new altenator was also not working and was given a third altenator.

Duralast 11120 (if that's what is on the invoice) doesn't have a lot of great reviews...

It was in fact a Duralast dud! One more example of a “new” alternator being broken out of the box.