Valeo alternator quality

[Tony Hoffman]

One issue I've seen a lot lately, is that they grease the new sealed
bearings very sparingly. On a lot of what I work on, I pull those seals and
put in additional grease when new. A lack of grease is really the only
reason for failure on 90% of bearings, IMO.

And, you are corrrect, there is no reason for a bearing going bad after
65k, or even 100k. My factory alternator on the 4000Q's typically go to
about 170-200k before needing attention. Just had the reg brushes wear out
at 170k on the 89 100, new regulator, back on the road. Still original
bearings, no sign of issues.

Tony

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 8:36 PM, Peter Orban <orbanp1 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Looking at the pulleys, at least on the Golf/Jetta, the alternator runs
> about 2.5 to 3 times the speed of the engine.
> Yes, it is a cheaply rebuilt alternator on the Golf.
> The alternator failed, one wire of the field coil was not soldered
> correctly to the new slip ring. (The ring and the brushes of the regulator
> were new, I do not think it had more that 15 - 20 KMiles on the rebuild.)
> That was the time when I noticed the loose bearing. It was a FAG bearing, I
> looked at it just now. Unfortunately, the replacement bearing was also FAG,
> that is the one that is loose now after about 15KMiles of use.
> When I got this replacement bearing I did not know the name of the failed
> bearing, I did not look, but where I got the bearing, the FAG was the only
> brand name available, or I could have bought some noname bearing. The sales
> guy said they were probably made at the same plant, just different
> packaging. He was probably right.
> BTW, that alternator failed soon again, that time one of the the
> solderings of the rectifying bridge came apart... So yes, high quality
> rebuild!
> The Jetta's alternator is still original, only 65KMiles on the car. I have
> not taken it apart yet, do not know what bearing it uses, but it is loose
> too. It should not be, not even at 65KMiles!
>