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#($*%*(@#( alternator

For the first time ever I had to have my beloved 'fat chic' towed home. Saturday I was out tooling around paying bills when I hear a bang, and several ExpensiveNoises from the engine compartment.

I remove myself from the roadway and find that the threaded section of my alternator shaft decided it wanted a divorce from the rest of the alternator, fortunately the rear pulley half was flung out of harms way and no shims escaped the engine compartment.

So I buy a 'rebuilt' alternator at autozone, which arrived today. It is a bosch 4 wire. I am replacing a motorola 4 wire. Now my engine is on the ground, fan shroud off, alternator in my hand.

I shim out the fan to fit the shroud with the new alternator and tighten the fan retaining nut. So far, so good.

Having done that I see that the front of the alternator has a 'recess' for lack of a better term between the shaft and the front bearing race. It looks like there should be a shim in there, and perhaps the overhaul people forgot to include it, but the shim from the motorola alternator does not fit, and the picture from the not-so-helpful install directions included with my rebuilt unit show that "recess" I am talking about here, leading me to believe that I am supposed to remove a part from my existing unit and put it on the new one. The problem is my 'old piece' doesn't fit the new alternator.

Unless something on the shaft protrudes slightly from the front bearing cover, I have a problem, because as soon as I put the pulley adapter on the shaft it his the front of the alternator case. Obviously, it cannot work like this.

Anyone run into this before?

Chris

Reply to
halatos
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Yup, it takes a small spacer ring that gets pinched between the pulley hub and the bearing inner race which all turn with the shaft. Sorry to hear it was missing, maybe contact the seller?

Reply to
Jan Andersson

yes... there is a spacer that fits into the recess.... the problem you have is, the Motorola didn't have this, so you can't swap it over... I'd suggest going back to autozone to see if they can either contact the rebuilder about the shim or if it's available(or even if they can get the proper Motorola unit)... if not, maybe a vw retailer could provide one...not sure autozone and their nearly untrained(in my area anyway) parts monkeys will be any help... if all else fails maybe look on thesamba.com in the classified section or place a wanted ad...

Reply to
Joey Tribiani

Well, there is a spacer on the motorola shaft, I was able to persuade it off last night. But on the motorola 4 wire deal, the bearing is both recessed further into the front case than the bosch, and the hole in the front case is larger than that of the bosch unit, so while I can take the spacer out, it will not work for a bosch unit.

There is another spacer on the back of the motorola unit that is closer to what is needed, so I tried it on the front of the bosch unit but it is too thick, it covers part of the woodruff keyway, so that won't work either.

Unit #2 is on order, hopefully it includes the necessary shims/ spacers. I shouldn't have to modify parts to make this damn thing work.

Damn rebuilt parts, I could go to a single wire version and buy a brand new bosch, but I want to keep the car as original as possible and stick with the 4 wire unit, at least until the regulator goes kaput. I don't think you can get that external regulator anywhere any longer.....

Chris

Reply to
halatos

it is still available and between 50-75 dollars depending on who you get it from.

Reply to
Joey Tribiani

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