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So it seems that my alternator has died this morning and so I'm looking at replacing it. My local dealer parts department are saying that there are two options - the genuine VW branded one or a Bosch one which costs a fair amount less.

I was always under the impression that most of the electrical components were Bosch anyway and I'm not really keen on giving VW an extra £85 if its the case here. Can anyone confirm that it's a Bosch alternator fitted as standard?

Thanks

Id go for the bosch.

This happened on mine so someone I work with knows who works on alternators and starter motors and they tested it for me and turns out it was just the diode pack and cost me 30 at mates rates so its worth a try

GTi_Red wrote:This happened on mine so someone I work with knows who works on alternators and starter motors and they tested it for me and turns out it was just the diode pack and cost me 30 at mates rates so its worth a try

Yeah, I saw your thread and was hoping that it was a similar problem on mine! Unfortunately having taken it out of the car it looks to be a complete wreck. The windings are pretty badly corroded and it's rattling when spun by hand. New one ordered so hopefully that'll sort it out.

Also, it's a Bosch one for reference.

Damn! I think it's bosh from standard isn't it?

It was on mine. Apparently there are two options, Bosch and Valeo, which were fitted. And you can't check which one it is from the chassis number... Pretty much the same price regardless though.

Fair one mine was Bosch as well, how much did that set you back as I know with my discount from tps it was £360 I also know is a 120amp so that's prob how they justify such a high price

Really? Christ, I've just paid £302 including VAT for mine. I normally go to a guy I know in a dealers that gives me trade prices on parts but it's a huge effort getting there without a car so I went to my local dealer who's basically within walking distance. There's also a refundable surcharge of £95 that I get back when I return the broken one though, maybe that explains the difference in price? What discount do you get?

Incidentally, they also wanted to charge me a further £300 quid to fit it, with £75 for 5 minutes of 'diagnostics'. Given that I took 15 minutes to get the old one off the car, that's more extortionate than I would have thought. Glad I bought a new 150 piece socket set a couple of weeks ago...

Two points of warning on this.

One, it's a bit of a pig of a job to get an alternator off when it's badly corroded.

Two, if using a new replacement, the pulley wheel needs to be swapped over using one of those multi point bits (not torx) that few people without a professional set of tools actually have.