New Alternator

[slowlanemcvane]

So my wife's alternator died on her X a few weeks ago. I was out of town for a few weeks with the Army, so it was no big deal to let her use my truck (2005 Excursion Diesel, funny to watch her get into and out of my big truck, given that she's 5'4" tops)

So the day after I got home, I stripped the alternator out of the car and started pricing out replacement alternators to use. Unfortunately her car has the 220 amp alternator that comes with the towing package and with the 4-zone climate control-equipped cars. Pricing was almost impossible, since only dealerships and ECS Tuning seemed to carry the 220A alternator. My local stealership wanted $950 plus tax for the alternator, ECS wanted $700 plus a core, plus tax, plus shipping, which would have made it cheaper than the dealership, but still wouldn't get the car up and running anywhere close to same day.

So I took the alternator to Autozone, along with her battery to have them tested. They hooked the alternator up to their machine, and sure enough, it failed miserably. The battery was fine, just completely depleted, so I would have to hook it up to my charger when I got home. The guy at the Autozone happened to be the manager, and he was pretty sharp, he only listed the 180 amp alternator for the 2007 X5. But he knew enough about BMWs from his time with the company to know that he might be able to find it on a later model year, so he looked it up on a 2008 X5, and a 230 amp Valeo (OEM brand!) alternator was listed as available. Cost? $249.99, plus a $35 core, plus tax, so out the door for $305 for a limited lifetime warranty Valeo alternator wrapped up in Duralast packaging. So basically, I got an OEM replacement for right around 30% of what I would have paid at the dealer, who was going to be my next stop.

Moral of the story? Don't overlook Autozone, and if the part isn't being listed as available for your model year, ask the clerk to look at surrounding model years from the same chassis before you run to the dealership.