My vehicle has 183K mile on it, so I wasn't entirely surprised when my battery light came on. I brought it to Advance Auto to check the starting system. Duriing the test, we saw that the engine rpm had to be elevated to above 2500 rpm to charge the battery. Thor output from the test indicated to check connections and if good to try changing the alternator. I ordered the new alternator online through Advance Auto. Before I picked it up, the vehicl started acting erratically and a number of lights on the dash stated coming on. My transmission went int to like a safe mode at one point where you could practically run along side it. When I tried putting it in reverse, it would not engage at firs, then it slammed hard into reverse, disengaged and slammed into reverse again. I wasn't sure what was going on, but thought I was going to have to have it towed. I wanted to get the alternator part of it done before doing that. After researching and talking to some people I knew who do more extensive work on cars than I normally do, it sounded more and more that the alternator output might just be te entire issue. The Alldata DIY account that I have didn't really identify that the process that they outlined to replace the alternator was as difficult as it was. The AC lines were the issue. I watched multiple videos. All if them mentioned the difficulty and mentioned that I would really need to manipulate the direction of the alternator to get it out, but none of them showed how they actually did it. I tried manipulating that original alternator and it wasn't cling out. So I ended up taking the front end apart (grill, transmission cooler, AC, radiator) so that I could push them towards the front of the vehicle and then lastly removed the radiator left fan shroud). At that point, it was a piece of cake to remove the radiator. At this point, the rest of the replacement was a piec of cake. When completed all of the symptoms went away! So I was very happy!

Had to replace alternator on short notice on 2011 Honda Pilot. Decided to pick up this reman unit, clearly not the best choice. I ended up buying two separate reman units, one made in China and one made in Mexico. Both of these units did not work correct out of the box. Unit 1 - made in China, after snaking new alternator in, it would not fit where the lower bolt goes through. I used calipers to measure the distance of the old vs new units. New one was a good bit larger, aka would not fit. Second problem, I measured the distance between end of pulley and beginning of the lower bolt hole, distance was wrong, meaning the pulley would be riding in the wrong plane, chewing up the belt. Which got me to buying unit 2. Unit 2 - made in Mexico, the two previous problems were not present, so I was excited, until I realized that positive cable connection did not have Key Way for the cable to go in. In short order, I swapped the piece with key way from Alternator 1 to Alternator 2. After that modification, I was able to correctly install Unit 2 into the car and happy to report that it works. Clearly there are multiple issues with re-builders of these alternators. Check new against the old before putting it into the car. I took me too long to realize the problems, because I could not imagine how brand new tested part could be bad.