The one way clutch in my alternator pulley has seized.

Has anyone changed one of these before?

I have found a kit of removal tools on Ebay (Sealey SX400), but I am unsure if this will allow the pulley to be removed with the alternator still in situ on the car?

I am in a similar situation at the moment.

I have found the following guides on a similar website. These should give you an idea of what can happen and how easy or not it is to take off the alternator. Getting the right tool to allow you to exchange the pulley on the car definitly seems the easier option. I have also purchased the SX400 tool and unfortunately due to the small diameter of the hole in the holding spline tool (my best description!!) it does not allow the other tool to slide through the middle to hold the alternator shaft!!

The following weblinks may help you understand the problem and the background.

2003 Golf Alternator Pulley R&R - TDIClub Forums

Alternator Re & Re 'How To' - TDIClub Forums

Good luck

D

This kit includes the tools required to remove the pulley from the shaft and you don't need to remove the alternator to do this. You do need to release the tension on the aux belt (it's easier to put a pin in the tensioner until you've finished) while you put the new pulley on.

Not entirely sure that mine is seized now. I had assumed the the one way mechanism would be very free in one direction and drive solidly the other, but I looked at a new one in the dealers yesterday and discovered that you cannot turn the clutch by hand. Think I will get it checked to be certain.

Thanks,

I would agree the kit (SX400) should enable the pulley to be removed in the car or even off it, however it is not possible with this kit and my alternator and pulley. I cannot insert the holding tool to the shaft through the tool that holds the clutched pulley. I can do one at a time but not both and therefore it will not undo!!

I am looking at the options now.

Any ideas?

Cheers

What is the function of the One way Pulley on the alternator ?

It leads to greater charging efficiency.

Say the alternator is running at 4000rpm. Without the one way clutch, if the engine RPM halved the alternator speed would drop to 2000rpm. It would help to brake the engine. When the RPM rises again, the alternator must be accelerated and this uses engine power.

With the one way clutch, the alternator freewheels so continues to run at higher RPM

E.g. If you change gear, the alternator has no time to slow at all, so almost no power is required to accelerate the alternator after the gear change.

I am looking at the options now.

Any ideas?

Cheers

The auto electrician that changed mine over (for £5) said he had broken too many of the proper tools so he now uses an impact gun (18v cordless in this instance) to undo and tighten the splined nut - this obviously needs to be done off the car, but in the case of the Superb that is only a 5 min job anyway.

Had mine changed yesterday at my local VW dealers. Apparently, the Octavia installation make this job more difficult than on Golfs as the air con compressor needs to be moved out of the way to allow access. They still stuck to the quoted price though so fair play to them

Good to hear that your repair went as planned. I finally sorted my pulley too.

I exchanged the SX400 tool set for the SX401 and this had the correct tools to do the job, but due to the tight space I could only change the pulley with the alternator off the car - the four square bit was about 1 .5 cm too long to fit into the alternator shaft with the side of the engine bay being so close! Took a 2.5 hours and the tips in the above webinks proved more than useful. I also changed the idler bearing and the tensioner as both were worn.