Had the same in reverse. Bosch factory, Valeo worked fine though.
I did one on my Wife's 2011 Nissan Quest with the same engine as the Pathfinder.
Original one lasted around 130k miles, so can't really complain.
The one on the Quest wasn't great, but I think I got it done in about 4-5 hours.
Had to pull the lower bumper splash shield, and the passenger fender liner.
Then I unbolted the ac compressor and let it drop down (was able to leave all the refrigerant hoses connected so that was a plus).
The upper bolt was a pain to get to, probably the worst part of the job!
With it unbolted there was just barely room to get it out through the wheel well. If you had it positioned just right it would slip through the opening between the subframe and the frame rail.
Remember the old Bosch and Valeo alternators where the brushes were built into the regulator, which cost $15 and came off the back with two screws? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Nissan use to be good
The alternator quit on my 2020 Nissan Sentra, and there were NO aftermarket options for it. The dealership wanted $900, JUST for the alternator, so I can actually believe their price.
I had Valeo in my other car, very common for Bosche to overcharge.
I did see something recently where an aftermarket alternator made by Valeo had the same part number as the Original Toyota part, but in fact had another software part number that made it through an error and not work properly.
And assuming that the alternator is the issue, hope you get an oem good part or a used one, on nissan altimas/maxima Remans are bad.
I've gone through 3 Nissan Value Advantage Alternators (through the Infiniti dealership - warranty) for my Q. All Infiniti offers for my year (2015) are Remanufactured Alternators. I'm tired of Remans.
I bought a remanufactured alternator from Autozone and it did not work. I then bought an amazon alternator. It went out 2 weeks later. I then bought the OEM Nissan alternator. I've not had a problem since (6 months)
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If choosing alternator across many manufacturers, check the part ranking. If your choice is down to two brands, the PartReview part comparisons help.
We compare alternator across these categories:
In March 2026 on PartReview, alternator VALEO were overall better than OEM Nissan.
In March 2026 on PartReview, alternator VALEO were overall more popular than OEM Nissan.
By vote balance, alternator VALEO surpassed OEM Nissan:
By number of reviews, alternator VALEO surpassed OEM Nissan:
In March 2026, according to PartReview, these manufacturers led the same number of car-specific ratings:
VALEO are chosen by owners of cars such as: Ford Escape, and others.
OEM Nissan are chosen by owners of cars such as: Nissan Maxima, and others.
If this comparison didn’t fully answer your question, there are many others on PartReview.
For example, comparisons of alternator VALEO with: Denso, Bosch, Duralast, OEM Toyota, OEM Honda, OEM Volkswagen, AC DELCO, OEM FORD, OEM Audi, Motorcraft.
Also available: comparisons of alternator OEM Nissan with: Denso, Bosch, Duralast, OEM Toyota, OEM Honda, OEM Volkswagen, AC DELCO, OEM FORD, OEM Audi, Motorcraft.
You can also see who is better among other alternator manufacturers: Bosch or Denso, Denso or Duralast, OEM Toyota or Denso, Bosch or Duralast, Denso or VALEO.
