99.5 A4 Q, 2.8. Battery light came on today for about 15 miles, went off for 10 miles, then back on. Day before holiday, I had to get an alternator. First thing the dealer asked is if it's a Valeo or Denso. It's at my buddy's garage so I don't know. Got a remanned at O'Reilly for $160. I know it doesn't look like mine because I don't have the duct on the back for air cooling.


Am I OK putting this alternator in assuming it fits the brackets? 12 volts is 12 volts, and it's 120 amps. Why the questions (ECS wants to know too) about what brand my car came with?

 

My AHA alternator is made by Valeo. You can rebuild your own unit by replacing the brushes and voltage regulator. The Chinese reman crap sold at most parts stores isn't worth your time. I would suggest doing it yourself or find a local shop that will rebuild yours for you.

 

That's pretty much what I ended up doing. That cheapo remanned one I posted was a Bosch. Mine is a Valeo. I read several posts that said you can swap the two by changing a plug to an eyelet and getting a longer bolt to fasten it to the bracket.


Wrong. Those guys didn't measure how far the pulley sticks out from the engine block. The Valeo pulley on a Bosch sticks out an extra 4mm. Maybe those guys got away with that: maybe they're wondering why they keep eating serp belts. I dunno. I didn't like it and don't have a way to machine the Valeo pulley.


So I used Walky Talky's DIY over at the Zine. It was the 4th of July, I had to get my car back together and the nearest brushes I could find were NAPA's ECH F425. Dimension is perfect in one direction, I had to file a bit on the sides. My VAG-COM showed 12.2 volts Wednesday afternoon, it shows 13.7 now!


DIY: $5 Alternator Fix - replacing brushes (Valeo)


EDIT: Oh, and now I can return this Chinese rebuilt for $160 and the brushes I bought at NAPA were only $8.39!

 

Thought I'd follow up for anyone who searches like I did. It's been a month since I put NAPA's ECH F425 brushes in my Valeo alternator. It fixed the immediate problem, which was a battery light that would stay lit for 15-30 minutes at a time. After I filed the brushes to make them fit and soldered them in, I saw battery lights every now and then for about 10 seconds at a time, about once every 3 or 4 days. It's now been 2 weeks since I've seen a battery light at all, so obviously the brushes just needed to seat in to the commutator.


So I saved my very expensive alternator for $8.39!

 

Nice job!

 

So I am reviving this to see if you still have that vehicle or if you know how well your repair is holding up. I am thinking about doing this myself but don't want to waste the time if it ends up just being a band aid

 

I sold that car about 7 months later. In my case, I don't believe it was a band aid. I had a battery light before I put in new brushes, didn't have one after. And once you file them down so they fit in the little channel and do a good soldering job, there's no reason to believe the fix would be short lived.

 

great, thanks for getting back to me on that. I was wondering because there are other parts in there that can fail as well and didnt want to do this if something else failed in 2 months after the new brushes. I just did my brushes and regulator yesterday so here is hoping

 

I still saw a battery idiot light every now and then for a week or two after I put those brushes in. I think they just had to break in and mold to the commutator because the idiot light never came on after a week or so.