[Fwd: Re: [Vwdiesel] Battery Charging Question]

[Nate Wall]

Regulators are about $35 or so I recall. You can even go one step further and on the
VW alternator this is quite easy, since they have an external voltage regulator that
is accesable and held on w/ 2 screws. Remove the regulator and desolder the old
brushes and solder in new. VW sells the brushes, I think, but replacements can be
gotten elsewhere. In one case I could not find replacements, and I sanded to fit the
closest larger size (I told the auto parts person to bring the ones they had that
were a little bigger). Borge Warner makes brushes and they were about $4. Now the
Japenese alternators are a different story, but still doable. They have internal
voltage regulators and the alternator has to be disassembled (the case split apart).
They are a real pain. The only one I did (a Toyota) took me about three hours after
it was removed, and very tedious. I'll soon get another chance w/ the 115 K mile
Maxima I have. Bummer!

--Nate

TheBarbers at sympatico.ca wrote:

> '94 EV GLS 2.4l NA 240,000 km.
>
> After 150,000 miles, the brushes on my alternator needed to be replaced. In my
> case, this required replacing the voltage regulator on the alternator.
>