Alternator!!!

[chappers849]

Last night while driving on the motorway in the pouring rain with headlights on, stereo on etc suddenly my maxi dot display flashed up "Alternator Workshop" and the battery symbol illuminated on the dash but after about 30 seconds it went out and hasn't come back on yet!

Does this sound like the start of Alternator problems, can i do anything to check the alternator ? Does it just sound like a glitch ?

Thanks in advance

[sidewaze samm]

I had pretty much the same indication of my (first) alternator failure. The warning became more and more frequent over a couple of days and then stayed on.

New alternator under warranty.

Six months later the warning came on again :eek:. No messing about this time - it came on and stayed on. Just out of warranty, but luckily I had bought one from WD - covered all my first year premium in one fell swoop . That was 6 months ago, and so far so good.

[rotodiesel]

The Valeo alternators VAG fit are fairly reliable. The one-way drive clutch inside the alternator pulley isn't. Check this very carefully before going in too far, but have a look also at the alternator connections for tightness and also the main alternator cable at the battery end - it connects to the battery clamp with a rather pathetic single M6 bolt. This is often inadvertently loosened when any work is done on the battery - a very poor detail.

rotodiesel.

Edited 21 October, 2008 by rotodiesel