Club 80-90 Forums

Battery light had been flickering now and again, suspected it was time for a new regulator. Then the other day I was driving and it started making a metallic rattly noise, then heard a loud bang. Fairly sure it was the alternator as the metallic rattly noise then stopped, and the battery light stayed on constantly.

Took the alternator off today and noticed something was rattling about inside. Managed to fish it out and it's a big fragment of metal


Reckon I'm better off getting a new one rather than looking into or attempting a refurb on it? I've got a 1Y engine – what am I looking for when I'm trying to find a replacement? Will any Bosch VW 65A alternator do? On a tight budget at the minute so buying new isn't really ideal so open to input!

Here's the current alternator:

Whatever you do you need to use the correct size bolt for the pivot - that alternator isn't sitting square. ( Have you had premature wearing of the drive belt?)

Looks like part of the nose end bearing retainer.

Bigherb – yeah that looks like it!

Oldiebutgoodie... yeah you're right, think it might be the hole that's wrong though rather than the bolt


Surely that's not from wear... has it been drilled out by someone?

The bolt's a bit odd too – the bit with tape on it is wider, then there's quite a bit of wear on the adjacent section where the metal is very polished.


I've checked the alternator bracket and that all looks good. There is quite a bit of black dust around so excessive belt wear is possible (don't know the age of the belt so can't say for certain). It's a 1m belt and there was a bit of play in it (1/2 turn vs 1/4 turn) even though the alternator was at the limit of the adjusting bracket. It also looks like the aux belt has fouled the oil filler pipe on more than one occasion (two different locations, both grooves a few mm deep). Is this common? That could also be the source of the black dust. I have no idea how serious this is other than it obviously not being ideal.

The bolt is too thin for the alternator hole allowing it to tilt, someone has attempted to pad it out with that tape. Can't see why someone has drilled a separate hole though.
( I have seen some alternators that utilize a roll pin on the pivot that allows different sized bolt and bracket and tight fitment in the bracket)

OK then, think a replacement is going to be a lot better than sticking with something that's been bodged.

Only problem is I've got no idea what I'm looking for or where to look - do I need a direct replacement or will a lot of VW Bosch alternators go in without much fuss?

I know I've got a 1.9 1y engine (a Seat Toledo from year 2000 if the cam cover sticker is to be believed).

When I'm searching about on eBay most alternators seem to have pulleys for grooved belts rather than toothed?

Tried searching for 33428-CA1 and DCA139IR but neither yield much



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It is a CA139IR alternator, standard fit for the diesel engine.

Ah ok, great!

The pulley on that one on eBay sticks out a lot compared to what I've got sat in front of me.


Dropping it back in, it looks like the longer pulley 'neck' would cause issues as the belt runs pretty close to the oil filler tube as it is.


This looks like the right length neck, and otherwise looks very similar? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ALTERNATOR-GE ... SwEetWA8zk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sorry for the endless questions, on a tight budget and hoping to avoid getting something shipped from Germany and then realising it's not right

Why not swap the pulley over?

Yeah definitely can do that if it's an option, wasn't sure if the axle length might be different!

Im pretty sure they will be the same.

I had to turn a pulley round on one of mine but the ebay one appears to be one piece. To swap the pulley over needs some muscle on every alternator that I have removed one from. Oversized belt in the groove and clamped on that with a large vice then a breaker bar.
Seems odd that it would be wrong on the ebay one as it is for all the usual engines.

With the aid of a belt I managed to get the pulley off without too much bother.

I'm going to order a replacement but out of curiosity I proceeded to take it apart to try and figure out why it's not working/identify the source of the metal fragment.

Looks like there's something missing from behind the bearings. Here's what I see:



Versus a still from a youtube video taking apart the same alternator:



Looks like the rest of that plate has either disintegrated or found its way out as there's no other fragments to be found inside!