[Vwdiesel] Finally need a new alternator? Burning through brushes.

[James Hansen]

WIth the belt loose, see if you can get axial play in the shaft by 
torquing the pulley with your hand- what I'm getting at is the rear 
(farthest away from pulley) bearing sits in a plastic cup that 
eventually wears.  When it wears, the belt tension holds the shaft at an 
angle, wearing the brushes unevenly, and worse, it flops around, and 
kills stuff inside the alt, like brushes for instance.  An alternator 
shop that does bosch stuff should have the plastic shields by the 
handfuls, and is an easy thing to fix. You just pop a new one into the 
housing, and the rear bearing slip fits into it, kind of press-ish fit 
(as much as you can have a press fit into cheesy plastic).
If the plastic dies, it takes the rear housing half with it, the bearing 
mashes about making the hole bigger, and unable to hold the bearing at 
the right tension when it presses into the plastic cheese, then you need 
a rear section if you can find one.  The plastic is also an insulator, 
and if it is breached, the alt ceases to function, grounds through the 
bearing, which indignantly dies as well.

If you need the plastic bit I can scoop one from the local guy I know 
has them, and send it to you Will.  I know how easy it is to source 
part$ out your way.
Yank yours apart, and see what's up.
-james

Will Taygan wrote:
> 1991 Jetta ecodiesel. AL0182X Alternator, new (day old) Bosch voltage
> regulator and brushes.
> 
> Well, I've successfully burned through 3 sets of brushes in the past
> year and a half.  Now the red electrical light is acting erratically.
> It will flicker, and then come on solid, and then go out, mostly with
> braking, and other strange Jetta movements and the like.
> 
> I'm wondering if I've got a bad wire/connection somewhere?  I don't know
> a whole lot about alternators, just pop a new regulator/brush set in
> when the old one wears out.  I've tried 2 different regulator/brush sets
> in the past week, it's getting pricey.
> 
> So, other than the standard ground connection, is there anything in
> particular that I should check?
> 
> I'm wondering if the slip rings are finally done (one brush was wearing
> significantly faster) and I need to replace them?  
> 
> I'd probably get a Bosch rebuild to put on for now, and take my time
> rebuilding the core for a spare - yeah like I really need another
> project, but shipping is so pricey from here I'm not saving much by
> returning the core.  I just don't want to shell out the cash if the
> problem is somewhere else.
> 
> Oh yeah, I've got a new optima yellow-top and pull quite a bit of
> Amperage running the heater/radio/lights/vegtherm/etc. especially in the
> winter.
> 
> Help.
> 
> Will in Alaska.
> 
> 
> 
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