Is there an alternator rebuilding service that is trustworthy or is it all regional and hit and miss?
If the current alternator is technically 130amp, going to a 140amp shouldn't be an issue, right?
yours is a 140 if you had kg9. but no, you wont have issue.
The part # on my current alternator comes back as 130/140 amp. The broadcast sheet also shows the code (KG9) for the 140 amp alternator.
The Buick's had either a 105 or 140 amp alternator. The LeSabre Limited's probably had the 140 amp because of the heated seats and other electric heavy options.
The lesabre could be had with an AD230 105 amp, an AD237 125 amp, or a Nippodenso 140 amp. The last one,
denso for short(youve heard of em) is seemingly available on 2004, 2005 but perhaps 2003 as well.
I have no reason for this being the case, since there is no documentation or history I could find. But my guess is that delphi when they ran into financial trouble, Denso was tasked to create alternators to their spec for GM. They can be found across GM vehicles. When Delphi came back, it went to the dark age of 2 pin PWM alternators and the rear case being one piece with the rectifier/bearing. (DR44 is on them I think for the large ones) this is also when GM had their 2nd/3rd generation battery charge controls which used a sensor on the battery and other dumb things. this is what is found on La Crosse, Lucerne, other makes going past 2005.
Denso makes alternators for many japanese/korean makes(Denso is Japanese, used to be part of Toyota like Delphi was part of GM.)
But they have a different system on their own. Being the denso on these cars have the 4 pin metripak and same wiring/function alternaotr, im guessing with no facts that the 140 amps comes from either a better design case and a larger windings or they had small changes on the rectifier (no idea if its the same) or possibly used a different "testing" benchmark to rate the generators. Lets be real, alternator ratings are misleading as they exist for almost any application. Lol.
The AD244 which was never offered on 3800 can also be easily installed with a small bracket and a ad244 meant for a truck.
Thats delphi, 140amps, and the size is hefty but many have success. This one I feel has better low rpm output but im not comparing it im just infering/spitting out.
I have no doubt the denso manufactured alternators are higher quality than Reman junk can be but thats new. Delphi new etc should be too. AC delco new can be any, you can tell by the face of the housing since denso has a distinct bullseye.
On shops, yeah its at mercy of you finding one. We have one locally who can do them for sure but hes pricy. you can learn to do it yourself but you need to solder and I have 0 idea what the denso looks like inside.
