2006 Jetta Alternator

[dan765]

2006 Jetta 2.5L, 133,xxx miles

This belongs to my neighbor, who is a widow. Sunday before last (8 days ago), her car was dead. Another neighbor jumped it and took it to Oreillys, who ended up giving her a battery for free. The next day, the car died again. Took it to Oreillys, tested the system, and the alternator failed. Replaced the alternator on Tuesday (which was a pain in the arse). From then on it worked until Saturday morning when she tried to start it and it was dead. Jumped and took it to Oreillys yesterday, and the brand new alternator failed.

So what the heck is wrong with it now? Bad fuse? Underlying problem? She mentioned that she hit a bump pretty hard on Friday night on the way home from work. Could that have jarred something loose?

Thanks

 

[DB_Cooper]

Check the battery to chassis ground and the engine to chassis ground. Old school test was to put a VOM between the battery ground and the engine and see if the voltage pumped up when cranking the starter.

New school is to always replace the battery to chassis ground cable (cheap enough) and add an engine to chassis ground cable.

 

[UNC017]

It could be a bad replacement alternator, or it could be something systemic. Assuming that the voltage regulator external to the alternator as most are, that's the first place I'd look.

 

[Nick1994]

Aftermarket alternators are junk. Was probably a bad alternator that killed the first battery, then killed the second battery causing you guys to replace the alternator which would be the aftermarket alternator, which was junk and killed the battery again.

So 2 bad alternators. OE & Aftermarket. Worth a shot for another aftermarket one, maybe you'll get a good one. An OEM is about $600

 

[bluestream]

Originally Posted By: dan765
2006 Jetta 2.5L, 133,xxx miles

This belongs to my neighbor, who is a widow. Sunday before last (8 days ago), her car was dead. Another neighbor jumped it and took it to Oreillys, who ended up giving her a battery for free. The next day, the car died again. Took it to Oreillys, tested the system, and the alternator failed. Replaced the alternator on Tuesday (which was a pain in the arse). From then on it worked until Saturday morning when she tried to start it and it was dead. Jumped and took it to Oreillys yesterday, and the brand new alternator failed.

So what the heck is wrong with it now? Bad fuse? Underlying problem? She mentioned that she hit a bump pretty hard on Friday night on the way home from work. Could that have jarred something loose?

Thanks


Stay away from O'reillys

 

[artificialist]

Most rebuilt alternators are unrelaible. I would only get one that was remanufactured by the company that built it in the first place (Bosch, Denso, Visteon, whatever)

 

[Thermo1223]

Yes only Bosch/Valeo on VW's, odds are the replacement alt is junk.

Now not 100% the same as you but when we had our Rabbit with the same engine it was randomly dead one morning with no lights left on. I said it most have been a stuck relay because it never did it again.

Napa usually sells Bosch rebuilds.

 

[zzyzzx]

If you can't rebuild or repair the alternator yourself (and it's often easy to replace brushes or a diode pack, as in easier than an oil change easy) then I use a NAPA rebuilt one sometimes.