[vwhaggis]

I have a 98 Golf VR6 and am on my third alternator (the extended coverage turned out to be useful after all). The folks at the local dealership are perfectly good at fixing it, not so helpful on persistent causes.
Has anyone had any similar trouble with persistent fails? The car just gets basic daily use and the occasional long haul trip (plus necessary demonstrations to various yahoos that their reflexes are slow and so is their car). The only change to the car from stock is a Blaupunkt in-dash and changer, and the alternator probs started before that...
Any explanations, alternatives, suggestions of interest.
Thanks

 

[vwhaggis]

Re: repeated alternator failures on 12v VR6, A3s? (vwhaggis)

quote:[HR][/HR]I have a 98 Golf VR6 and am on my third alternator (the extended coverage turned out to be useful after all). The folks at the local dealership are perfectly good at fixing it, not so helpful on persistent causes.
[HR][/HR]​

Incidentally, the wife has a 95 Jetta 2.0 and it has no presented no serious mechanical problems at all.

 

[FatSean]

Re: repeated alternator failures on 12v VR6, A3s? (vwhaggis)

My car ate an alternator at 22k miles. I'm at 60k miles with no problems on the replacement.

 

[dmkozak]

Re: repeated alternator failures on 12v VR6, A3s? (vwhaggis)

Take your alternator to an auto electrical specialty shop, or the next time it burns out have the dealer take it. Have them check all the diodes and triodes (smaller than diodes). Most likely you have a defective one. I had a 911 with a defective triode. It took three tries before the electrical specialist found it, but eventually we got it fixes and it worked perfectly. I am now an expert at removing and installing 911 alternators.

 

[FatSean]

Re: repeated alternator failures on 12v VR6, A3s? (vwhaggis)

I am about to replace my alternator for the 2nd time. THey seem to last 2 years. This time, I'm not paying the $450 for the dealer part + labor.
Not happy about doing this in an unheated garage right now!

 

[ibijo]

Re: repeated alternator failures on 12v VR6, A3s? (vwhaggis)

My 97 B4's alternator, died at around 18K miles. The rebuilt replacement that the dealer put in under warranty, seems to be doing well at 80K miles. There must have been a bad batch from the OEM that got into the production line. As a reference, typical alternator life on my previous cars, (Hondas) was about 90K miles.