Originally Posted By: dishdude
I don't think I would proactively replace or rebuild an alternator. You can make this case for an endless list of parts on the car, where do you stop? Water pump, fuel pump, starter - they all can die out of the box, last 120k or the life of the car.
Alternators on that car are known to go. The fuel pump, starter, water pump were still original when I got rid of the car with over 200 K on it but that was a duratec not a vulcan. Things like struts, tie rods, ball joints, sway bar links, etc those are all basically wear items and should be replaced same with the headlamp bulbs.