Subject: Tips on Alternator Replacement for 1998 A4 Avant

[Tom Winter]

On 11/4/08 12:13 AM, "quattro-request at audifans.com"
<quattro-request at audifans.com> wrote:

>I took off the covers and dropped the plastic underpan and had a hard time
>even finding the damned alternator. My god! Do they expect you to yank the
>radiator just to get at the bolts.


I'm not familiar with the '98 A4 but if it is anything like my '95 S6, the
alternator will be on the driver's side of the engine, driven by the
serpentine belt.

It's possible to change it (mine at least) by removing the bolts holding the
power steering pump and then moving the pump out of the way. I've actually
changed the serpentine belt and put in a new alternator with a bit of
creativity using a long stiff wire bent into an L to assist with guiding the
serpentine belt where it needed to go at the bottom of the engine.

Take a hard look at where everything is and see if this isn't an option for
your car. Otherwise, it's fairly easy to pull the bumper cover and then
swivel the radiator out of the way for more access (again, on my car. Yours
may be different). 

I'm sure others will have better advice. . .

Tom '95 S6 Avant