Alternator VALEO or OEM Volkswagen

The alternator was dead (as expected), and was replaced with a used one that I sourced locally from junkyard.

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.

The high rev voltage must be over 14 volts, so if not, then its the alternator. But make sure all connections clean and greased.

A bearing went in our original alternator so I replaced it with a Valeo brand and it's pretty loud when it clicks on. It is loud enough that I'm wondering if I got a bad alternator --or is this normal??

It's the typical whirl or whurr noise --it's silent, and then you can hear the whirl or whurr noise when the alternator clicks on. It seems mechanically and electrically fine: It's doing what it should be doing electrically (charging, correct voltage, the battery is happy, the car runs better with this new alternator, etc.). It's just loud.

mine is a Valeo alternator and though you are probably correct, this is the original alternator (22 years old) and it will probably get me through another few years at least.

Actually, yes. I did. They did take it back though, after a couple of phone calls.\n\n+1 for Valeo. -10 for Reman.\n\nIf your alternator goes, absolutely get a new one, original spec.

even a simple job like changing the alternator is difficult due to where they place it. There's not a ton of space to work on the car in the engine bay.

It's probably a crap reman one. The aftermarket reman ones that aren't Valeo, Bosch, or Delphi seem to last a year tops before they die.