So the day before Labor Day, when I was on my way to Makati with my Dad (we were in his car), we…read morewere surprised to see the battery charge warning light flicker. This was our car's way of telling us that the average lifespan of a car's alternator is about 6 years. Yes, it's been that long since we had that changed or checked, so kudos to that part's durability. Before I go any further, understand that the alternator is what takes care of all your car's electric-powered functions like lights, horn, turn signals, airconditioning, and radio. When you turn the key or press the start button on your car, that's when the battery works, then after the engine is on, the alternator takes over. I won't go into detail as to how all this really works, but the important thing to remember is that the alternator is the thingamabob that takes over the job of powering your car's electrical stuff, and keeps your battery from draining itself, something our particular car's alternator stopped doing. To think the other day, we changed the battery itself, since the car wouldn't start, so apparently, the alternator was indeed the problem all along. We hopped on over to Motolite on Pasong Tamo, and they did determine that the alternator was the problem. They were nice enough to point us to a good auto repair shop nearby, called "Tower of David" With a quick jumpstart to our battery, we drove on over to Tower of David, and were told to look for "Ariel". "Ariel" was their resident expert on all things electrical. He was a jolly, unassuming fellow who I must say was quite the professional. And, thank goodness, he had a shirt on and he wasn't your typical "grease monkey" who was covered in, uh, grease and reeked of gasoline and gin. Ariel was polite, soft-spoken and jolly the entire time. A quick check with his electrical battery-output-checking thingamagig confirmed that the alternator wasn't working and needed replacing. Ariel politely suggested we replace it, and it would cost a hefty P22,000. The amount was difficult to believe, for such a small part, but he noted that it was original, brand new, and made in Japan (thank goodness). "Pero sir, pwede din naman 'yung "replacement", was his quip. I can't quite tell you what he meant by that, maybe "refurbished" is what he meant, but Ariel assured us that it was just as good, didn't use ball bearings, came with a 6-month warranty, and only cost P13,500. P8500 less, presumably more hi-tech, with labor costs included, and comes with a warranty? Eh di wow! So what did we do? DUH naturally we took that option, and we were glad Ariel brought it up. We gave Ariel the go-ahead and he told us we could just leave our number with their Secretary to tell us when it's ok to pick up the car. I went into their cramped little office and put Dad's cellphone number in a logbook... at first I thought their Secretary was the skinny Siamese cat that was sleeping on their counter, but alas, their Secretary was this friendly lady instead. And the funny thing about that cat was, it was named "Pangit", which I found unfair kasi hindi naman pangit yung pusa. Dang, that would've been cool, "Tower of David" for a business name, with a feline Secretary that took down customer's names. We came back after about four hours to get the car, and it works fine. I give this little Auto Supply & repair shop flying colors as of now, for as long as the new alternator they supplied and installed works. Three days on, and the car purrs like "Pangit", and handles like it was brand-new. Head on to "Tower of David" if you need your car fixed.
