Trying to change the stupid alternator in my 99 A6, which is the same engine/accessory layout as the B5 Passat.
And I didn't realize what I was in for. Is there any way to get to this puppy without dropping the entire front end? By looking at it (nobody stocks Audi,Bentley) it looks like the front end has to come apart all the way to the radiator support..........
My car is a 2.0 AEG manual for reference.
So, my alternator died last night and when I changed it this morning, I fired her up and now when I turn my light switch one click I can see my high beam light illuminated on the dash. If I have the switch on any setting, it's illuminated but no lights are on out front except the dtr lights. Turn signals work fine and so do the brake/tail lights. I checked the fuses for both low/high beams but they were fine. I saw someone mention an ignition switch while I was searching but I'd rather get other opinions whether it is that or not.
Edit: My original test drive the car ran fine minus the headlight issue. But upon driving it through the city when I was coming to a stop at a redlight the battery light came back on and it died. It fired right back up and barely made it across the street to a parking lot before it died again. It'll fire up but won't stay on. On my way to an parts store for charging system check.
Had to change the alternator in the 3.0l fwd escape. if some one knows of an easy way to get it out i would love to know. We had to take the manifold cover off right down to the "o" rings as well as what ever we could undo to make a gap between the engine and the fire wall. it took us so long that the repair shop was closed and we had to leave my engine apart overnight with tissue stuffed in the pistons. The one part you know your going to have to get to to fix, and it's almost impossible to get at. It would have been easier to tilt the engine, but we had no hoist, is there an easier way...
View 14 RepliesHappy owner of a TDI - SEL for just over a year. One week shy of my 40K service, the alternator failed. All repairs covered with my extended warranty. Tech said he hadn't seen another alternator go bad and certainly hadn't seen a 1 year old TDI with 40K miles! Any alternator issues? otherwise been quite happy with the car.
View 2 RepliesReplacing the alternator on my wifes 2003 v6 passat. Not a mechanic by any means but I have plenty of time and all the tools for the job.
View 1 RepliesLooking for Instructions and pictures...
View 1 RepliesWell, the B5 continues to die when left overnight. Seems the Alternator is gone on this thing (my conception)
As soon as I give it a jump, it starts up right away. If I let it run for about 5-10 minutes and then try to restart it, it gives me no issues. If i come back the next morning it will be dead and will need another jump to get it started.
I am thinking that this is the Alternator. I don't have any warning lights that come on, such as "Alternator Worship". Car runs totally fine once its jumped. The battery is not even a year old.
Also, if it does turn out to be the Alternator, which one does my car take? 90amp or 120amp? The car is a 2000 GLX V6 Auto. What can I expect to have it replaced including labor??, or could this possibly be a DIY job? I'm trying to give it a chance before I throw it in neutral and push it off a cliff.
The car was started and moved to its current location to have the alternator replaced.
After replacement the car will not start, turn the key and nothing.
When ignition is turned on everything on dash lights up like it should.
There are no trouble codes currently present on the vehicle except a flapper valve in the econ
The car did have the typical weak battery low voltage sporadic etc from the dead alternator causing the the vehicle to drain the battery.
A known good battery was jumped to the battery in vehicle. The vehicle battery reads just under 12 volts with VAD mobile. When known good battery is hooked up it is at 12 plus volts.
All fuses have been pulled and visually inspected to be good.
I have a B5 Passat that came in with the alternator workshop light on. Upon a few tests i determined the alternator was bad. I removed the alternator and installed a remand one that was correct for the vehicle. amps and all. After getting it all back together i started it and the car ran fine. I drove it around and shut the car off. Customer took the vehicle and after 15 minutes the car was back for the alternator workshop message being on and battery light again.
I restarted the car and it was off. I restarted it again and it came back on. Replaced the Alternator again with another and took it for a more extensive drive. The lights stayed off this time. I parked the vehicle and shut it down. Waited a few moments and restarted it just to be safe, the lights had came back on again..... After testing it more I've come to find that when the lights are off the alternator is charging the vehicle as it should and when there on the vehicle is not charging. I don't know what it could be at this point but I am absolutely sure its not the alternator.... I honestly don't think this many are bad in a row.
So i JUST got my timing belt replaced on my 2001 B5 Passat 4motion, took it in and got it done. Now when the tech was working on it he said that the car was slow cranking one day, and I have intermittantly seen the same thing before, but i have known for a while that I need a new battery, its old, and randomly have little power, but it has always worked once the car is started.
As soon as i picked the car up yesterday I got the "alternator workshop warning" and quickly the car started to act funny as systems lost enough power to not function correctly (abs light, brake light, etc). Now is there ANYTHING else this could be beside the alternator? fuses, wires, other faults, etc, etc.
I came out from work this afternoon to a dead battery in my '99 Taurus. I saw nothing left turned on. I got a jump and went to Autozone two miles away. By that time there was enough charge to restart the car. My battery checked good, but they said the car had a 4-1/2 amp draw when it was shut off. The alternator still put out over 60 amps when reved up. That's good. Can a bad alternator on a modern car run the battery down? I know the old ones did sometimes, but I thought they "fixed" that aspect of them several years ago.
View 7 RepliesBattery symbol light appeared on dash, After determining battery was good, I removed alternator and took it to have it bench tested at the parts store. It tested bad so I purchased a rebuilt alternator and had it bench tested before I left the store and it tested good. I installed it and it won't charge the battery. Tried a new battery...same thing. I tested the voltage at the battery and it reads 12.3 and the same with engine running. Engine runs until battery is drained. I removed the alternator and took it to a different store and they bench tested it good also!
View 8 RepliesI just brought a Passat b6 2010 with 10k miles. One thing is concerning me - DSG.
I have no problems as for noise or weird behavior when moving or changing gears at low or high speeds, low or high RPMs, but when i am at a full stop (with parking brake on) and shifting from P to D or from D to P, I hear a couple of clicks (sometimes 2 clicks, sometimes one click, sometimes 3 clicks) that happens between half a second to one second after i shift. It sounds like a stick car is being shifted, only louder. The clicks sound weird and "dry".
I made two videos, first one is outside and the second is inside a garage so it is possible to hear it better. Pay attention as it happens just after I select either D, R or P. It happens when moving from:
P to D - louder
P to R - louder
R to N
P to N
D to N
And vice versa.
[URL] ....
I did change my motor mounts this weekend but when I tried to remove the sway bar,one of the nuts jammed on the bolt. Let me explain:The nut unscrewed well until the lasts mm, and then, the bolt head came loose, so it was spining freely with no way to remove it but cutting it, the bolt seems to be BUILT IN the alum. bracket that supports the engine mount. Question: can I change this bolt or is it really built in the bracket? I searched on ETKA but it just shows the nut and I can't find the bolt that I need.
View 1 RepliesI changed my air filter this morning, and it's a really difficult. Looking for any tips on how to get the two clips back on that are obviously harder to get back on? In the back and front under the heat shield... I just left them hanging there after cutting up my hands trying to reach in there and push each one back in...
View 6 RepliesI want to change my B5 center console for a B5.5 one. I've heard that I have to change the handbrake handle too, is this a direct swap?
Anything else I have to be aware of? (besides that the fuel door button have to be relocated).
I am having a really curious issue with the charging system on my 1999 Golf VR6. The battery will not charge and the alternator seems to be nonfunctional. While running the voltage at the battery starts normal but drops until the engine dies within 20 minutes. Over the last two days I have replaced the alternator, battery, and the battery grounding cable with no change in behavior. The exciter wire on the alternator is showing 9 volts when the vehicle is running and 0 when it is off. There is 1.6 ohms of resistance between the B+ terminal on the battery and the respective terminal on the alternator. There is 0.3 ohms of resistance between the B- battery terminal and the case of the alternator. My task for tomorrow is to trace the exciter wire back to the cluster and try to troubleshoot it there.
View 9 RepliesHow difficult is it to change the fuel pump module?
View 4 RepliesOK, so yesterday I changed my timing belt and all new components. I started the car before completely reassembling everything (bumpers, etc.) and it ran a little rough at first, then smoothed out. But this only lasted a few seconds and then it died out. I thought not much about it and finished my reassembly. Afterwards, the car would crank and crank and finally start. However, it would never idle smooth and it stalled out only after 1-2 seconds.
I did some investigation, and found the plugs all had wet oil on them. Changed them out and tried to start car with same results. Looked again at the plugs and they weren't as oily, but on their way. I looked all over for a source of this problem and found a broken "pipe" on the passenger side of the engine. It is black and sits behind a heat shield, directly under a larger black pipe. They both run from front to back. I think the broken one might be a vacuum line of some type, although when I plug it, nothing happens.
My fear is that I botched the timing belt job and subsequently, bent a mess of valves. But, I'm holding out hope for another cause of this dilemma. What is the smaller black tube/pipe on the side of the intake? The broken piece comes off a 90 degree elbow pointing to the ground. I'm guessing it was broken before the timing belt job, but who knows? Perhaps I broke it when I moved the radiator into service mode. Could it be part of the turbo? I thought that might cause the rough idle and stalling.
Oh, one other thing. When I last tried to start the car, I got a flashing "STOP" on the instrument panel, followed by something about the oil. The oil words only appeared for a split second before going away. Not even long enough for me to read the whole sentence.
I was getting around 30+ mpg on the highway and 24-26 in the city, i got an oil change at the dealer ship and it reads 22.2 mpg..might go down to 21mpg but that is it....highway and city... It doesn't get any better or worse..
View 14 Repliesjust as the topic states....
View 3 Replies