31K miles and a new alternator

[Finklejag]

My mothers 01 VW Beetle alternator just died at 31,000 miles. The car is seven years old. She does drive it every day though. She does a lot of short trips through out the day, starting and turning off the car. She lives in the Socal desert, so she has the AC on all the time. Would this contribute to killing the alternator at only 31K?

My father didn't want her to buy a VW. He thinks they are POS. I owned three MkIV VW's. So I told my mother, I would help her maintain it. There has been a couple of recalls on it. What car these days don't have those. She had to replace the rear rotors and pads, battery, plugs and wires in the seven years. These are all wear and tear items, but my father thinks it's a money pit.

I can't wait to hear my father complain when the water pump has to be replaced on these cars.

 

[Eddie]

Alternators work extra hard at trying to keep a weak battery charged. While it could contribute to an eary demise I doubbt it was the cause. Short drives don't help either but it should not need replacing that early in my opinion.

 

[simple_gifts]

Just think, the replacement could last twice as long.....

Quote:

but my father thinks it's a money pit.


The only person I know who has one said it is.
There was a woman who called into Car Talk a few weeks ago who wanted to sell tickets to anyone who would take a baseball bat to her 2000 Beetle; the MTBF on the car was about 3 months; she was convinced each repair would be the last; this went on for 6 years.....

Offering to help maintain it probably is a big help for her, and since you have owned product from VW you at least know the types of things to look for; you are now probably her favorite...

 

[ThirdeYe]

My aunt had one of those new beetles when they first came out and she hated it, she said it was one of the worst cars she's ever had, sold it and bought a Honda instead (I believe it was a CR-V), haven't heard any complaints. I had issues with my alternator going at ~126k in my old car and the battery was also bad, so I believe that contributed to the alternator's early demise. I also left the lights on twice, d'oh! and my uncle slow-charged the battery twice and I think that's what caused the battery to die, and in turn kill the alternator. It didn't completely [censored] out, but it was whining pretty bad and needed to be rebuilt.

 

[Finklejag]

I feel the car has been reliable for her. She has the 8V 2.0L in it. Thats one of VW's bullet proof engines. The car has 10 year/100,000 powertrain warranty. VW's back then had a short 2 year/24,000 mile bumper to bumper, and then the long powertrain.

As you mention leaving the lights on. My mother has done this twice when she left the car at the airport. The battery is less then two years old. I'm pretty sure she left the lights on after the new battery had been installed.

 

[George7941]

"my uncle slow-charged the battery twice and I think that's what caused the battery to die, and in turn kill the alternator. "


Nothing wrong with slow-charging a battery, in fact

it is the best way to charge a battery.

You probably meant to say something else.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: George7941
"my uncle slow-charged the battery twice and I think that's what caused the battery to die, and in turn kill the alternator. "


Nothing wrong with slow-charging a battery, in fact

it is the best way to charge a battery.

You probably meant to say something else.


I meant because he had to recharge it twice, and maybe it wasn't fully charged and since it was cycled twice like that, it may have messed it up. I have absolutely no knowledge when it comes to batteries, and that's all I can offer. The battery died twice because of lights being left on, and I was told by the person that rebuilt the alternator that the battery was also bad and needed to be replaced, something with one of the coils? I dunno... I had no idea how old it was, it came with the car when I bought it. At the latest, it was 6 years old. It was a 1998 car, built in 1998 and it needed to be replaced in 2004. It was an Interstate battery. I don't know if it was the one that came with the car when built or if it was put in later. I replaced it with a Duralast Gold and that one died on me once too, but we took it to Autozone and they recharged it for us and it was good to go again until I sold it.

 

[Ken42]

My VW alternator went at about the same amount of miles. Was the regulator. Well not the regulator but the brushes attached to it. They busted. Went to an electronics shop with the old brush pieces and got two new ones and soldered them in. Lasted until 130,000 miles when I dumped the car off at some place.

Ken

 

[andyd]

I am assuming that this Beetle has a Bosch alternator. 31k is less than 10% of the mileage so far on the Bosch alt I have. At about 200k , I replaced the regulator/brush pack with a Chinese clone that cost $ 9.18. I guess the bean counters at Bosch won out over the engineers.

 

[mstrjon32]

andyd, I've had nothing but bad luck with Bosch products. [censored] O2 sensors, spark plugs, etc. Stay away!

As for the Beetle, I don't think a couple wear items and an alternator after 7 years is bad at all. Did you replace the battery at the same time as the alt? It could be a weak battery that killed the first alternator...

 

[alanu]

After a new/rebuilt alternator replacement I will not let a customer out of the door unless the battery passes a load test . If the customer refuses I will state on the invoice "NO WARRANTY". If they come back with problems they simply pay twice.

I have zero tolerance when I advise people what to do and they ingnore my recommendations. If a person does not replace a battery (fails load test)they are just asking for trouble.

I seldom ever use bosch 02's or plugs. They have a bad reputation for a reason. I've had trouble free Bosch 02 replacements but I always prefer Denso or ntk. I dont care for Bosch plugs.

 

[andyd]

My car is going on 21 yrs old. The alternator and the main fuel pump are Bosch and have 345k miles on them. I use Bosch coppers and change them every 2 yrs for emissions. I have used 2 Bosch O2 sensors. It wouldnt surprise me if Bosch has gone downhill. Lots of companies that built quality stuff are just selling [censored] and trading on their reputations. Consumer hint, dont buy a Maytag

 

[Finklejag]

Originally Posted By: mstrjon32
Did you replace the battery at the same time as the alt? It could be a weak battery that killed the first alternator...


They replaced the OEM battery about 1.5 years ago with a Diehard International. The shop installed a new battery with the new alternator this time.

 

[artificialist]

That, and Bosch windshield wipers skip like mad after 2 months of use.

I hate Bosch with a passion.

 

[Buffman]

I had a bosch "100% brand new" (said on the box) waterpump fail in 11,000 miles on my LT1. Cheapo Reman from pepboys (where the bosch came from) has gone 2x as long. The LLT warranty on stuff doens't work when you need a part that Day, and some moron put the wrong pump in the box, defeating the fact your item is in stock

So I returned the $150 wp, got the $50 one and got $100 back

I don't like their plugs either or their 02 sensors..

The gf has had good luck with her bosch wipers though. The rainx ones were going strong for two years until they froze to the windshield one night, and the gf just turned them on rather than spraying some deicer on them to loosen them from the windshield.

 

[glennc]

I think Bosch, like any large OE supplier, can manufacture components to any standard, low to extremely high. The Bosch components on my old 3-series BMW appear to be of very good quality. Some aftermarket or non-OE parts might not be, and as for original equipment for other car makers, I really don't know.

I do get the impression that the Bosch brand may have bottomed out recently in terms of consumer confidence (evidenced by this thread), and the company may have been addressing that with an increased emphasis on quality overall.

 

[mechtech2]

We don't use Bosch spark plugs in the shop anymore - too iffy.
But their rebuilt alternators are some of the best. No definite problems with their O2 sensors.

 

[Jim Spahr]

31k miles is very short for an alternator. I believe that the type of driving-short trips, starting and turning off the engine, then putting a heavy elec. load on the alt. when she does start it- over taxes the alternator. The slow charge you mentioned someone did 2x was a very helpful maintenance and may have helped it last as long as it did. I have heard you need to drive a car 7-12 miles just to to recharge the battery from the starting episode. I am surprised the battery lasted as long as it did. I would get a Battery Minder of a CTEK charger and during one of the off days, let the battery trickle charge. I agree fwith 'alanu' that a new alt. should be accompanied with a fully charged battery. I would like to add also a new serp. belt to that. I n my recent experience with installing a new alt. on a 96 aChev Lumina, the new alt. instructions were adament about the fully charged battery.