[Vwdiesel] alternator Q's

[Nate Wall]

Interesting about the bracket bolts, since two hold the water pump on! BTDT.
Tightening the belt was the last straw! Here's what I did: (Exact same car,
BTW!) At 75,000 miles the alternator pulley had loads of up/down play (I
figured bad rear bearing, like you did). Removed alternator and disassembled
(got to unsolder field wires to get the rear case off, no biggie, though).
There is a PLASTIC, go figure) bearing carrier. It disinegrated and the rear
bearing was spinning in the case end and wore the case out. Bearing was
fine. The rotor actually was digging into the field coil housing it got so
bad.Can't get the case seperately, so I figured I'd do a one-month fix and
find another alternator. I took duck tape (the REAL stuff, the aluminum kind
for furnace ducts, not that grey plastic stuff) and carefully wrapped the
circumference of the rear bearing to the point where I had to  bang it
pretty good to get it to fit back into the case. Very snug fit. Then put it
all back together. Guess what? That temp fix lasted about 8 years! Give it a
try. Then just in time I found a $40 e-Bay real diesel alternator that was
just rebuilt! I got lucky.

--Nate

Shalyn Shourds wrote:

> Driving home tonight in the old '85 Jetta TD , I started hearing the
> most fearful squalling coming from the engine bay.  Since I spent most
> of the afternoon replacing four broken or lost A/C bracket bolts (held
> in only by the belts, hoses, and gravity), I presumed that I had not
> gotten something tight and a belt was making noise.  Not so.  The
> alternator belt was indeed loose, but it seemed to have more to do with
> the pulley end of the thing flopping around in the case.   I presume
> that means that there's a bearing in there that has self-destructed,
> probably because I finally got the belt tightened up good with the other
> repairs.  This leads to a few questions.  1) can I replace just that one
> bearing?  2)anyone have an ingenious plan on how to get by with only a
> battery charger and no alternator in the car if I have to get the
> alternator rebuilt?  I understand that the alternator is an important
> part of the circuit to run the whole system.  If not, that's fine too.
>
>     So much for that tournament I had planned to go to tomorow.  Having
> only one car is not a good thing.
>
>     -Shalyn
>
>     '85 Jetta TD.  Job's wife.
>
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