I took my car to Vast to check why it was "drinking coolant" and I was told that my water pump was broken and I should do a timing belt. I have 144k on my car that I just bought so I told Mike to go ahead and take car of it. After he took the car apart he called me and suggested thatI change the alternator. I wasn't expecting that nor did I budget for it but he told me that if I didn't do it now the whole front end of the car would have to be taken apart to change it and it is original. Needless to say I did it along with cam seals and of course the timing belt. I must say that had the best customer service anyone could ask for. I recommend anyone who is in michigan to go to Vast for any type of work. I will going back to him shortly for my downpipes and other goodies. Thank you Mike and Kurt you guys are great.

 

I had the alternator replaced on my 2.7T and other than a couple shop hours they did not have to take the front end of the car off. That's only necessary for the timing belt/water pump work.

How did he know the alternator was failing?

 

So you took your car in for a coolant issue and that somehow suggested to them that you should replace the alternator?

Did they tell you why? Was it putting out low voltage? Was it making noise? Was there slop pulley that made them think the bearings were going?

I just think it sounds a little fishy. First of all replacing an alternator does not require the front of the car to come out, and second I don't see any reason why they would have been measuring the voltage output on it unless you reported electrical issues or a low battery. It might be legit, but when mechanics find things broken that you didn't even report I am always suspicious.

I hope you at least got a core return credit on your bill for the old one.

 

vast deffinitly is one of the best shops to go to.

I have tried to deal with a few other shops tuners in the past and I got hosed pritty bad in the past. they have always been good to me. my car was not nearly as fast and smoth with the APR chip I had and mike let me try the vast chip for free before I switched.

as for the alternator vast has a bench tester they use (or at least that is what they did when I was there to test the system voltage

 

Glad to hear you had a good experience. They are IMHO the best in the audi Vw sean.

I don't know if you can replace the alternator with out pulling off the front end or at least moving it back. I tryed to replace my acc belt and there was no way I was going to change that with out moving back the front core (I have big hands but still) as for the alternator I know they can and do test that stuff with the 60k service you were smart to change it when you did.