Best Alternator for Volkswagen Golf

Had the same in reverse. Bosch factory, Valeo worked fine though.

I just had to swap my alternator today on my MK7. Mine was Valeo but I could only find a Bosch locally, I decided to give it a shot and it worked just fine. Just a PSA for anyone in the same situation, they are both the same barring a slightly different orientation of the plug on the back.

The 1/2" combination wrench gets cut in the middle, so yea you have a box end on a short shank that a the box end of another wrench can be used on it to lever with (over to the right, where you have room). The 1/2" size is used so it's fits tight on that 13mm bolt head, which is probably going to be hard to break loose. It's just something to try, may not work and you'll have to remove the injection pump. When I did it, it was so tight I think a 13mm box end would have just rounded off the bolt head, but it worked and I put the bracket back on the same way. I had to remove it to take the water pump housing off. Water pumps are called 30 or 40mm for the diameter of the center of the waterpump pulley. So it's really about the pulley that works with it. Thing is, I tried to change to a 40mm pump and pulley to a 1.6D that had a 30mm pump/pulley and it wouldn't go into that housing without jamming. So I think the housings are specific, for 30 or 40mm waterpumps. There may be exceptions but I wouldn't mess around and mix them - the way the impeller fits into it's housing is critical to how it works. Getting an alternator to work is actually not as hard as getting a pulley that will line up. You have to do everything else first, line up everything. When I changed my mk1 engine I had to add single washers to the inside of my 30mm water pump pulley to bring it out a tad because it was rubbing on the timing cover. Not sure why that is but my old engine used a 40mm waterpump/pulley and housing. After all that is lined up up then you calculate what you'll need for the alternator. Toywagen used to sell a kit with a pulley but they're gone now, it wasn't cheap though. Getting a pulley that will work is a "big" deal. A long nose alternator with pulley you can modify is more forgiving than a short nose with 1 piece extended pulley. You'll have to figure out what to want to do. Twice, I ended up just buying any cheap alternator on rockauto that was clocked correct and had a long nose shaft I could make work. That ford pulley I used on my mk2 is like 50 bucks now. Nevertheless, since you have the mk2 bracket I'd try to figure out how to use that with a mk2 alternator and then get the offset for the pulley. Those alternators all have 17mm shafts, so big washers can give a little adjustement. I hope you have an impact for getting the pulley bolt off and on, makes it way easier. The mk2 alternator is a worthy upgrade, the wiring and the bigger pivot bolt. If you can't get the pulley to line up, might want to look at rockauto to see what mk2 alternators they have. Seems all mk2's have short nose alts but here's one with an extended pulley. What you are doing, a single belt system, I don't think was stock on any mk2. Some people grind on the case of the alternator where it fits into the pivot to give move it a few mm over. Kinda wierd, this mk2 alternator has the old mk1 plug. More Information for ACDELCO 3341729 Maybe this will help researching ideas for brackets and alternator for non AC - page 1 - MK2 Golf/Jetta and Audi 5k - VWDiesel.net The IDI, TDI, and mTDI source. researching ideas for brackets and alternator for non AC - page 1 - MK2 Golf/Jetta and Audi 5k - VWDiesel.net The IDI, TDI, and mTDI source. vwdiesel.net

I just replaced the one in my daughter's Mk 4 with a rebuilt 120A Bosch one from Rock Auto last week.

Drove it for a day and the alternator crapped out. Installed a new one asap.

Alternator stopped charging while driving and it slung grease all over the engine bay and hood.

Car needed an alternator - Golf 1.8 TSI Was told there was nothing available OEM (Bosch) in Canada, and couldn't tell me when one would be available. Was quoted CAD$1800!! + install labor. Found a used OEM one at the scrap yard for CAD$50....

The indy shop I used diagnosed it as a bad alternator; I am so lucky ( s a r c a s m ) to have the Valeo (mega $$$$$) unit, they swapped it out a week later.

The alternator was replaced, car died again two weeks later. The Valeo OEM was deemed defective. Back in the shop for a warranty change, still getting voltage fluctuations.

So I bought a new alternator off of Rock Auto that I was amazed that I had to re-use my old pulley? But when I went to put the pulley on, the nut stripped on the new alternator like instantly. The whole ordeal is trash