How Low Is TOO Low? (Price for Used Alt) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

retmil46 · #1 12-23-2010, 04:52 PM

OK guys, next week I'll be heading back to NC for 2 1/2 weeks of vacation. One of the projects wil be seeing if I can get the replacement 87 300D in good enough shape to finally bring down to TX.

Part of that will entail that oh-so-wonderful job of pulling the dash and replacing the vacuum pods (none of them work) for the ventilation system, making sure the primary A/C components (compressor, etc) are up to snuff and the system charged - and installing a larger alternator (aka gsxr's alt mod) to keep the A/C chugging along at idle in SA stop and go traffic.

Going off of gsxr's pdf file, looks like the cheapest 150 amp option is an AL0768 out of a 2000 S430/500. Looking on car-part.com, 5 pages of results from $300 down to $45.

I'd be willing to bet the sub-$100 options are good for nothing but cores. Sub-$200, roll the dice. Question is, how low would be too low as far as price to stand a good chance of getting a useable used alternator?

iwrock · #2 12-23-2010, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retmil46

OK guys, next week I'll be heading back to NC for 2 1/2 weeks of vacation. One of the projects wil be seeing if I can get the replacement 87 300D in good enough shape to finally bring down to TX.

Part of that will entail that oh-so-wonderful job of pulling the dash and replacing the vacuum pods (none of them work) for the ventilation system, making sure the primary A/C components (compressor, etc) are up to snuff and the system charged - and installing a larger alternator (aka gsxr's alt mod) to keep the A/C chugging along at idle in SA stop and go traffic.

Going off of gsxr's pdf file, looks like the cheapest 150 amp option is an AL0768 out of a 2000 S430/500. Looking on car-part.com, 5 pages of results from $300 down to $45.

I'd be willing to bet the sub-$100 options are good for nothing but cores. Sub-$200, roll the dice. Question is, how low would be too low as far as price to stand a good chance of getting a useable used alternator?

I bought my 150 amp from a local wrecking yard which had a pile of about 30.

The alternators are fairly abundant, they came on ML430s, ML500s, etc etc, and thats why they can be had cheap.

I got my 150 off an ML430, and IIRC correctly, I think I only paid about $60.