Passat NMS Alternator Failure / Life Expectancy Survey

MB2VW

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Jun 8, 2000
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Lighthouse Pt., FL USA
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2015 Passat SEL,
I'm going to do my TB / Water Pump Changeout this weekend at 125k miles. My buddy suggested doing the alternator too. Looked around the forum, and didn't see much on life expectancy of the alternator on these cars.

If you changed out your alternator, please post the failure mode, age and milage.

Thanks
 

P2B

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Jan 11, 2006
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My buddy suggested doing the alternator
Why? There's no reason to change out a working alternator.

On the other hand changing the alternator pulley might well be a good plan. It's good practice to renew the alternator pulley on MK4 cars when doing the TB as they can be changed without removing the alternator and rarely last two TB intervals. Not sure if this applies to NMS Passats.
 

MB2VW

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Location
Lighthouse Pt., FL USA
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2015 Passat SEL,
Why? There's no reason to change out a working alternator.

On the other hand changing the alternator pulley might well be a good plan. It's good practice to renew the alternator pulley on MK4 cars when doing the TB as they can be changed without removing the alternator and rarely last two TB intervals. Not sure if this applies to NMS Passats.
When you say Pulley, I think you mean tensioner assy. But now I see on idparts this item:


I guess I better look at parts breakdown and think a little more about this...

Since I'm putting a new serpentine belt on, I wasn't sure how prevalent high mileage mechanical seizures were on the alternator.

Just wanted to get a feel from the fellow owners out there!
 

Mozambiquer

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2004 VW Touareg V10 TDI, 2012 Audi Q7 V6 TDI, 1998 VW Jetta TDI. 1982 VW Rabbit pickup, 2001 VW Jetta TDI, 2005 VW Passat wagon TDI X3, 2001 VW golf TDI, 1980 VW rabbit pickup,
I'm an alternator rebuilder, typically you don't see failures of those alternators until they reach the 250k+ realm, unless you have oil or fuel leaking onto them, or the pulley fails and snaps the shaft.
I recommend replacing the clutch pulley every timing belt change, as when they fail, they can cause the serpentine belt to fail, which can get into the timing belt, especially on those cars.
Only use an Ina brand one, which is what I sell, as well as Idparts, and it's the oem for these cars.
 

06bluebeetletdi

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'14 Passat TDI SEL and '13 Beetle TDI
Not a nms, but my ‘05 2.0 beetle alternator made it to 160k, 15.5 years (stopped charging), my brother’s ‘04 1.8t jetta alternator made it to 243k, 18 years (ac clutch locked up, alternator pulley failed and it wasn’t charging as well as it should). I personally wouldn’t worry about it.
 

MB2VW

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Joined
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Location
Lighthouse Pt., FL USA
TDI
2015 Passat SEL,
I'm an alternator rebuilder, typically you don't see failures of those alternators until they reach the 250k+ realm, unless you have oil or fuel leaking onto them, or the pulley fails and snaps the shaft.
I recommend replacing the clutch pulley every timing belt change, as when they fail, they can cause the serpentine belt to fail, which can get into the timing belt, especially on those cars.
Only use an Ina brand one, which is what I sell, as well as Idparts, and it's the oem for these cars.
Now I understand P2B's recomendation of the pulley. I just ordered one on IDPARTS.

Do you think I should replace the tensioner pulley?
 

MB2VW

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2015 Passat SEL,
Not a nms, but my ‘05 2.0 beetle alternator made it to 160k, 15.5 years (stopped charging), my brother’s ‘04 1.8t jetta alternator made it to 243k, 18 years (ac clutch locked up, alternator pulley failed and it wasn’t charging as well as it should). I personally wouldn’t worry about it.
Awesome alternators! GM never seen more than 80k miles! Thanks for your insight!
 

Mozambiquer

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2004 VW Touareg V10 TDI, 2012 Audi Q7 V6 TDI, 1998 VW Jetta TDI. 1982 VW Rabbit pickup, 2001 VW Jetta TDI, 2005 VW Passat wagon TDI X3, 2001 VW golf TDI, 1980 VW rabbit pickup,
Now I understand P2B's recomendation of the pulley. I just ordered one on IDPARTS.

Do you think I should replace the tensioner pulley?
There's split opinion on that. Some people change the tensioner every timing belt change, others just wait until it makes noise. I am not sure on the nms Passat, but my ALH golf tensioner was original with 250k miles when I got it. I changed it because it was making noise.
 

P2B

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There's split opinion on that. Some people change the tensioner every timing belt change, others just wait until it makes noise. I am not sure on the nms Passat, but my ALH golf tensioner was original with 250k miles when I got it. I changed it because it was making noise.
I would leave it alone. Again, no NMS experience but I have never had to change an ALH tensioner nor heard of collateral damage due to failure. Same goes for the idler.
 

Lex Tdi

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Lexington ky
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2013 Passat
I never had an alternator die on my ALH so i was a bit surprised when my 2013 bit the dust in the middle of an intersection just shy of 200k (most people would laugh about thinking that parts should last past that though). It seriously is one of the less than 5 times in a million miles my VW diesel left me stranded.
 

06bluebeetletdi

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'14 Passat TDI SEL and '13 Beetle TDI
For me timing belt wise, i do whatever the belt touches meaning tensioner, water pump and rollers. It’s worked on my VWs so far. 2005 bug twice, 2004 jetta once needs done again soon, 2006 bug tdi once and 2014 passat once (water pump failed at 53k, I’m at 110k now, vw covered the water pump and both coolant soaked belts, i paid for the other parts).
 

MB2VW

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Lighthouse Pt., FL USA
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2015 Passat SEL,
Awesome thanks everybody!

The weather is cool, the parts are on order, and I'm going to start tomorrow. I'm have the idparts TB kit and TB Tool kit. , a Alternator Pully, a Metalnerd Alt Pully tool kit. coolant etc all coming....

As for the tensioner, I have a spare coming. I will decide on tear down, and if need be replace it. Otherwise I will keep the spare JIC.
 
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