Alternator Failure, thought is was Gearbox

[LooneyLeon]

Hello all,

Thought i would share my experience on Friday night, I was convinced it was a Torque Converter, Gear Box, Diff or Axle failure and was basically pretty annoyed thinking great xmas etc.

So all was well as I was driving along, then all of a sudden I could hear a whining noise, I slowed down and opened the windows, sure enough the faster I went the more/louder the whine got.

As I turned into a junction near my house, the car started making a really loud metal on metal grinding noise and the car rev started to drop and eventually stalled as if the gearbpx had locked up. I thought either the engine had just blown apart or the gearbox, diff etc had locked up.

The car was stuck on the middle of two roads. after leaving the car and calling the RAC, I basically thought great here comes a 3k bill.

Anyway after I calmed down a bit I tried putting it in Natural and managed (with help) to push the beast a few yards out of the middle of the road.

The next day I tried restarting it, and got a really bad burning smell with smoke straight away. It turns out the Alternator has failed and locked up, so the Alternator belt was getting burnt up.

Today ive ordered a new Alternator, Alternator belt, AC Belt, 32mm Fan Wrench, Pulley Holder tool and I'm going to try and change the unit myself to save some money.

I've read a few horror stories about transmission failures etc so just so glad it wasn't that.

Guess the moral of the story is, just calm down and don't jump to conclusions it may not be as bad as you think.

I know there's a few DIY guides around on alternator replacement, but I might do a new one when I do this and make it really easy for people to understand.

I'm no mechanic so it should be fun lol.

Anyway Happy Christmas every one!

Leon

[upallnight]

While you're doing the alternator, undo the six bolts for the Oil Filter Housing (OFH) and replaced the 6-8 USD (sorry don't know how many Euro or Pounds that is) gasket. You will also need to replace the crush washer for one of the vanos line, but you'll be glad you did this now instead of a couple of months down the road.

[spongerich]

I had a similar scare 4 days after picking up my 04 4.4i. Dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree... turns out that my alternator is on its way out and my voltage fell low enough to sound every damn alarm. Trans Failsafe, 4x4, DSC, ABS... everything EXCEPT the alternator light.

German cars are weird that way. The slightest electrical issue sends their myriad of sensors into a frenzy. I had my old VW in the shop about 8 times.. 7 of those times there was nothing wrong with whatever the car claimed... just false alarms caused by bad / dirty sensors. It's great that the car is monitoring damn near everything for you, but sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

[StephenVA]

Originally Posted by upallnight

While you're doing the alternator, undo the six bolts for the Oil Filter Housing (OFH) and replaced the 6-8 USD (sorry don't know how many Euro or Pounds that is) gasket. You will also need to replace the crush washer for one of the vanos line, but you'll be glad you did this now instead of a couple of months down the road.

If the OP has a inline 6 banger.....

Link to my experience and the DIY instructions
DIY: Oil filter Housing leaking repair - BMW M5 Forum and M6 Forums

[omodos]

Originally Posted by spongerich

I had a similar scare 4 days after picking up my 04 4.4i. Dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree... turns out that my alternator is on its way out and my voltage fell low enough to sound every damn alarm. Trans Failsafe, 4x4, DSC, ABS... everything EXCEPT the alternator light.

German cars are weird that way. The slightest electrical issue sends their myriad of sensors into a frenzy. I had my old VW in the shop about 8 times.. 7 of those times there was nothing wrong with whatever the car claimed... just false alarms caused by bad / dirty sensors. It's great that the car is monitoring damn near everything for you, but sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

Dont lynch me for saying so and going off topic, but the plethora of electrics and sensors and the like on these cars and most modern cars means there are cart load more things that can go wrong that cannot be seen with the naked eye.....I think the most trouble free car I had was a 1978audi 80....everything was serviceable so easily even by a comptenent DIYer...the X5 well another ball game and the door handle! joke how could such an expensive car have parts that are so below par PLUS there is only one you can unlock and key access to the trunk! pants

[LooneyLeon]

Cheers guys, no mine is a 4.6is V8, thanks for info, will defo do some ppreventative measures

Originally Posted by StephenVA

If the OP has a inline 6 banger.....

Link to my experience and the DIY instructions
DIY: Oil filter Housing leaking repair - BMW M5 Forum and M6 Forums