T25 Diesel alternator... GSF numbnuts

[walkerdude2001]

Okay... the last two days we have been having fun... i took the alternator out on monday night, and took itwith me tuesday morning to GSF to see if i could find a replacement. They had a look at the alternator, asked me what it was from, and i said to them it is off a t25 1.6 diesel 1988 model... and they said okay, that is easy enough, we need to order it from head office near heathrow, and will be here tomorrow... so wednesday i go back to discover they have ordered the incorrect part... It had the w connector, but none ot the other connectors on the back (See below)

It so they apologise and say the part will be with them today and if i could come back tomorrow and collect it from them. I said can you deliver it to my house please, as my wife will be home and i will be at work. they said no problem.. so today comes along... i get a call from wifey... it is wrong again... she is comparing the two alternators, and the delivery guy from gsf is also convinced it is the wrong one... Now this is not the first time i have had issues with GSF... i had a beetle many years ago with an alternator that i needed to replace, and i did not know that the alternator had the regulator inside, and i asked them what alternator i should get, and they said this one... (which did not have a regulator) but the thing is they did not even ask, or come out to check which allternator i had... which would have helped. anyway, i eventually got that sorted.

but this time i thought if i took the alternator out and take it with me and show them ten surely they can get me the right part... you think... NOPE!!!

so now i am stuck with a dead bus, no alternator and a very miffed wife... please can anyone tell me where the hell to get the right part from... at worst i will be goin g to just kampers saturday... now the parts i spoke to gsf were 90325 and 90244... and they were both incorrect.

oh and btw it is a genuine vw part

068 903 017 fx aun
k1.14v/65a.21 542




so if anyone can shed any light why they are so bloody useless and can anybody help me find the correct part as wifey needs the car next week with the kids when they are off school...

thank you in advance...

Jack

[Simon Baxter]

Alternators are a nightmare from any factors.
That looks like the wrong alternator for an '88 anyway, yours should have bolt on connections, the plug in style is generally pre-85 from memory but don't quote me on that.
Does your wiring look like it's been hacked?

[big red bus]

Can you not just get the old rebuilt. We do that all the time and only costs around £30. All he does is replace the internals and use the original case. Just a suggestion.

[walkerdude2001]

simon... if i remember correctly the engine was replaced with a 1.6d as the td packed up... that is possbly why the alternator does not look the same as on an 88... that would make sense...

big red bus... where would i go to try get the alternator rebuilt? i am in southampton and how long would it take... i need the bus running asap...

[big red bus]

I'm in the west midlands. I work in a garage and we use a guy down the road. Turns them around in about 2 hours. Its a quick and easy job. Not sure about where you are but surely there must be some one down there. Could always try asking at a few garages to see if use any one to recon alternators and starters. Got to be worth a try.

[big red bus]

Just done a aquick search on google and found these.

http://www.hodgesautolec.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In your area and they offer a recon service for alternators.
Good luck.

[ringo]

Its not GSF that are numb nuts.

If you tell them what the van is they give you a alternator for the van when it left the factory. They dont know that the engine has been changed!

Looks the wrong alternator to me by that connector.

Its quite easy to get sorted - just need to change the connections. Can you tell us what colour the wires are on the connectors that go to the atlernator - we can then tell you how to wire up the new alternator if your still struggling.

Also, is the alternator connector joined onto the original wires by a connector block or soldered?

Good luck

Ringo

[walkerdude2001]

yeah okay, surely if i took the alternator in to show them... like i said in my original post... then they should be able to match it?? or is it to difficult to match something by looking at the original vw alternator with something that they are supposed to be good at getting you spares for??

like i said i went to them with the alternator out of the bus, and showed them the connectors, and they said okay... it should be this... or this... and even the delivery driver said it looked nothing like ours??

big red bus... i will give him a ring tomorrow and see if i can drop it off and see if he can recondition it for me... thanks guys...

[big red bus]

Wouldn't be too harsh on gsf. Although you took yours to look at unless you are lucky enough to deal with one of them that really knows his stuff then I'm afraid they look and check what part number it says that is fitted to your van/year etc and say it should be that. Get it all the time but use gsf alot and find that they are one of the more reliable parts suppliers. If you really want hassle , find your local car spares and enjoy.

[walkerdude2001]

ringo - Okay i have some pics i took of the engine bay and i do see where you are coming from, have a look at the following...

Here is what it was like before i removed the connectors on the back of the alternator... i put the cable ties on and took the photo to remind me how to put it back again (if i can get the alternator sorted)


and below is the whole engine bay, and you can see that there are a couple of extra wires that go to the negative terminal... it is the blac cable tied pair and the yellow cable tied pair that go to the negative strap.



so i suppose it has been modified a bit. i am going to try see if i can get the alternator rebuilt tomorrow and hopefully it will not be too bad, and i will see if they can deliver it to my home address as i will be in oxford tomorrow...

[kit]

Mate, you are talking about GSF Totton ok? I don't think you can judge the whole organisation on them. I ordered an alternator from them 2 weeks ago, they were not sure which of the 2 I needed so asked if they could get both so could choose the correct one and they said they could not do that so they ordered the wrong one for the morning and when I rang they admitted it was probably the wrong one but would get the right one by 2pm, so having taken the day off (self employed so no money) I decided to ring them at 1pm just on the off chance they had an early delivery only to find it had been there since 11am, I ended up taking my mechanic over with me to check it was ok. I read a post here today where someone said use GSF as a last resort

BTW try Squirrel electric's Portswood

[big red bus]

Easiest thing to dot here is to cut off spade terminals and fit the ring bolt on type terminals. Looks like the wiring has been altered from original spec. Then you can use one of the alternators you have from gsf. Fairly straight forward.

[ringo]

Yes, this has been hacked a lot. Its very simple though and should be easy to sort out.

First of all, go back to GSF and get the alternator that they think should belong in your van - lets change the conncetors to fit this - so next time you go to GSF (lets hope its not for a while) or VW, you wont have this problem again.

If you want to do it properly, you need a new cable about 10mm dia thats going to go from the positive battery terminal to the alternator (at the moment you have about three smaller cables doing the same job).
Using the new cable or all the existing cables (red) connect a suitable connector so these can be connected to the main terminal shaft or whatever its called on the alternator.

Please get these double checked before you do it but i think i remember right:
The blue wire goes to the smaller terminal shaft.
The red/black goes to the only spade connector on the alternator.

HTH's

Ringo

[walkerdude2001]

alternator is being rebuilt today... hopefully i will be back on the road by monday... i will let you know... and guys thanks for all the input... brilliant help here... love it...

oh and merry xmas!!!

[walkerdude2001]

one very happy dude... alternator is all srted and guess what! the rebuild was done by a bosch trained engineer... all fitted up and rolling nicely... very good service and extremely efficient. thanks for recommending him, he was a true gent... i would recommend him again to anyone.