Alternator VALEO or Motorcraft

If you can get motorcraft, that is my recommendation.

A brand new Valeo (439317) alternator is $209 on Rockauto and they can be swapped in an hour or two.

I then ordered a Valeo from Bimmerworld which arrived seized. Finally ordered the same Valeo from RockAuto (for less money, too) which has been working great so far.

I thought Valeo was OEM? Cost me like $250 and was a perfect match.

I replaced my alternator with a Valeo unit. They manufacture the OEM part. Think it was 300$ or so, while OEM was almost double. Just a heads up, there’s almost zero clearance to remove the alternator. Really tight fit.

Hi all, after a long time, the problem solved by instaling a non refurbished Valeo alternator. Same one as the refurbished was.

Replaced the alternator and everything is cool, but I'm keeping an eye on it. Oh, and the brushes on the voltage regulator from the old alternator were shot, no wonder the ozone smell, they were barely making contact. This is a Valeo alternator, not the Bosch, and the car is a 2.0 AT.

I had to replace my alternator as well....low voltage in the battery will cause faulty gauge readings and irrelevant warning lights until all is restored....I went with a 120 amp Valeo; the pulley had to be swapped from my old alternator...

my car had a 120A valeo, total b!tch to get out even with the front end removed, hard to get the ground wire off, will put the new one on in the AM

My mk3 golf is at the shop right now because I installed a replacement valeo alternator and it didnt seem like a perfect fit and shredded up the serpentine belt. I think the shop I got the replacement from gave me a bad fit.