e30 alternator woes

So I put a new alternator on my e30 this Friday and after starting the car up there was a loud metal clicking/ticking noise coming from the alternator. After 10 minutes or so it got quieter and eventually went away, but during the 10 minutes the car would not go back to idle smoothly after giving it gas and the lights would slightly dim.

After driving it a few times to work the noise shows up right when I start the car up but almost immediately goes away. It does come back at idle the moment I start putting load on the alternator by turning my lights, radio, etc on. I’m thinking the bearings are bad but since this is the first time I’ve bought a “new” alternator i’m not sure if this is natural and it just needs to broken in, or if it is defective and needs to be sent back.

alts shouldnt need to be “broken in.” where did you get it, autobone or the like?

i went through 5 autozone lifetime warranty alternators over the course of 2 years on my old civic, i’ll never buy one from them again. when my alt went on my e30 i got a tested good used one from r3vlimited for like $40 shipped, its been fine since. i suggest you do the same and return the one from autozone its only matter of time before it goes again

fap99.com

The one i bought was bosch unit from pelicanparts. It seems its gotten quieter and only appears at idle when there is a significant load on the alternator. I’ll try giving it some time to see if it’ll disappear completely since it is charging properly, and I can always get it replaced under warranty if it does end up failing.