DIY: 2.5L MKV Alternator Replacement

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So recently the Alternator on my 2008 Rabbit went out. Instead of paying an ungodly amount of money getting it replaced somewhere else Ethan and I went for fixing it ourselves.... This will be a DIY guide to do the job yourself. This guide is to be used for reference purposes only, anything expressed here is my opinion and should not to be taken seriously... I and my friends are not certified mechanics. By working on your car YOU assume all risks. With that said here it is.

Tools Required: A proper mechanics tool set with numereous wrenches, metric sockets, and proper socket wrenches. Triple square set from Autozone, and various torx bits. 1.Start out by putting your car on jack stands, and letting it cool completely! You will be dealing with the fuel line and fuel rail. Gas will leak out so be prepared. Take your time with the install and do not work around any heat sources. That means no smoking, space heaters, etc. The manuals and most techs told me to drop the A/C compressor and/or put the front support of the car in the "service position". After extremely helpful advice by Ben I decided to remove the intake manifold and tackle the install from the top of the car. This is by far the superior way of doing this in my opinion and should save you multiple hours off of the install. 2. Remove the throttle body from the intake manifold and set aside.

3. remove fuel line off of the fuel rail

4. release serpentine belt tensioner, (underneath the top idler). Use an open ended wrench and pull towards the front of the car. (remember the serpentine belt pathway for re-installation.)

5. Once the fuel rail, pcv connection, injector connections, and all other wires/sensors are removed loosen the allen bolts holding the intake manifold on. An extended allen wrench is required! (Courtesy of Ben!) thanks again! without this tool our lives would have been a living hell. 6. The manifold is bolted on from the bottom, crawl underneath the car once it is securely on jack stands. Use a flashlight to see the bolts on the bottom of the manifold. Use your tripple square bit and a crap ton of extensions to loosen them.

7. Carefully take the clip holding the dipstick tube out, and manipulate the intake manifold off of the car.

8. You need to remove the tensioner pulley and top idler in order to access the alternator bolts. Loosen to tensioner pulley with open ended wrench to access the bottom bolt. Use a torx bit to remove the three bolts holding the top idler

9. You can now remove the alternator bolts, connection, and connectors. Once this is removed get the biggest pry bar you can find to remove it from the bracket. Mine was on there pretty tight, required both Ethan and I and two pry bars to take it off..

Be careful to not cut your hand on the top shield of the radiator support. Alternator removed. Well that's the alternator removed. Installation is the reverse of this process. Some extra pointers. When reinstalling the serpentine belt put the top idler on but do not bolt it in all the way. The extra slack helps with reinstallation of the belt. Reinstall the tensioner pulley and reroute the belt. It should slip on without much trouble Be careful with all the sharp pulleys and pieces all over the place. I cut myself by accident numerous times and busted my knuckles twice. Have a good set of torx, tripple square, wrenches, and sockets. I cannot stress this enough. This is not the job to enter unprepared. Pay special attention to the reinstallation of the fuel rail line, make sure no fuel squirts out when the fuel pump is primed, and when the car is started. Re-check multiple times. Overall this was Ethan and I's first time tackling this job on a MKV. It took close to 6 hours. I have no doubt that it can be done in half the time if it happens again. It was an enjoyable job and overall am extremely pleased with the amount of money I saved. Thanks again to Ethan, Ben, Moose (nitroscope8), and John for giving me advice and letting me borrow valuable tools! Couldn't have done it without you guys. Also sorry for the first names guys. Most of them are from my local forum, they post on here as well just don't know their screennames.

#1 · Feb 19, 2012 (Edited) So recently the Alternator on my 2008 Rabbit went out. Instead of paying an ungodly amount of money getting it replaced somewhere else Ethan and I went for fixing it ourselves.... This will be a DIY guide to do the job yourself. This guide is to be used for reference purposes only, anything expressed here is my opinion and should not to be taken seriously... I and my friends are not certified mechanics. By working on your car YOU assume all risks. With that said here it is.

3. remove fuel line off of the fuel rail

4. release serpentine belt tensioner, (underneath the top idler). Use an open ended wrench and pull towards the front of the car. (remember the serpentine belt pathway for re-installation.)

7. Carefully take the clip holding the dipstick tube out, and manipulate the intake manifold off of the car.

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8 Sort by Oldest first Oldest first Newest first Most reactions #2 · Feb 19, 2012 For people who want the easy way, remove and put the ac out of the way under the car, remove the alty from underneath. #3 · Feb 19, 2012 You are welcome for advice......but I don't recall saying anything about the intake lol. #4 · Feb 20, 2012

: I know hahaha, I have a friend with a eurojet intake manifold and he suggested it. Took me 20 minutes to take off. It made my life so much easier and trouble free. Drove about a 150 miles and all is well. #5 · Jun 11, 2014 created an account just to post for others. don't pull the intake manifold, that's a waste of time, just drop the ac compressor (3 bolts) safety wire it up so its not hanging on the lines, remove the idler pulley, the tension-er pulley. and the lower idle pulley and bracket, (2 t50 torx) <--- its right below the alternator and above the ac compressor. remove the two bolts holding the alt. disconnect the 2 wires. install reverse. also didnt need any triple square either, i waited 4 days for this project for a tripple square set i didnt need, so... goes to show you, sometimes the forum isnt always right. granted i am an experienced mechanic, i have done nothing more than preventative maint on my jetta. i had the old one out, new one in in less than 2 hours. Also, be prepared to have an angle grinder and flapper disc on hand to touch up the inboard mounts on the alt going in. it was wayyy to tight a fit on my application. i just touched the thicker (inboard when mounted) of the alternators ears (the part the bolts thread into) just a quick touch up, nice and even. and it fit absolutely perfect. also, im already disgruntled from the 98 degree and 90% humidity, just wanted to add that this forums version of human verification, (captcha) is annoying as all can be. good luck mechs! #6 · Jun 11, 2014 I wish I had read this before I removed the manifold this morning. Can anyone please help me? My new alternator seems to be working fine but now my car is shaking and dying and the engine light turned on. I've double checked all vacuum and gas lines and sensors but everything seems to be good. Any clue what it could be? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 1 Reply #7 · Jun 11, 2014 ^^ the engine light will give you a clue (if not the exact spot) on where to look. borrow a cheap code reader and it will help you out. vagcom scan if you know someone with one. check your grounds too. welcome to the VWOC and good luck. #8 · Jul 23, 2015 Well I just did the loosening and taking the air compressor out at the bottom of the alternator? I still removed the alternator from the top? Not an easy job! I did this because the clutch pulley on the alternator had frozen? This caused the associated belt to skip and become re routed inappropriately. My wife noticed a change in behavior which I confirmed and began to investigate. The car has 227,000 plus kms so service is now needed. The alternator is not worn out that it can't be re conditioned and I'm going to replace all the associated pulleys etc. The new pulley plus the associated kit and alternator re-furb will be close to a 1000 cdn. I'm doing the hard stuff so I'm guessing I'm saving about the same in labour? The car has been very reliable and deserves a little attention? Right now it seems like a lot of money but if we get a couple more years out of it it will be money well spent? #9 · Jul 25, 2015

jmgrif said: Well I just did the loosening and taking the air compressor out from the bottom? I still removed the alternator from the top? Not an easy job! I did this because the clutch pulley on the alternator had frozen? This caused the associated belt to skip and become re routed inappropriately. My wife noticed a change in behavior which I confirmed and began to investigate. The car has 227,000 plus kms so service is now needed. The alternator is not worn out that it can't be re conditioned and I'm going to replace all the associated pulleys etc. The new pulley plus the associated kit and alternator re-furb will be close to a 1000 cdn. I'm doing the hard stuff so I'm guessing I'm saving about the same in labour? The car has been very reliable and deserves a little attention? Right now it seems like a lot of money but if we get a couple more years out of it it will be money well spent? Click to expand...

OK, job done. Phew! I would not recommend this job to the uninitiated! I had the alternator/regulator reconditioned at a local re builder. Bought the necessary pulleys, idlers etc from local VW dealer. I also had to replace one of the two belts which had been damaged by the frozen alternator pulley. I had a friend come over to help with the reinstall and his help was greatly appreciated. In the first approach to reinstall I gently jacked the engine from the front to gain a little access between the front of the car and the motor parts which were blocking the way? That worked but I think I'm lucky I didn't harm anything while "forcing" the alternator back? Even the task of re attaching the two wires to the back of the alternator plus the plug in jack were monumental? I did put a cross cut file to the inside of the mounting tangs on the alternator and also applied a little lube which greatly helped getting things back together. The sequence of replacing parts is very important as some of the pulleys etc get in the way of other pieces as they are being added. Probably my ignorance and lack of skill? Do make sure you remove the Neg battery terminal before starting the project or you may get surprised? The job is done, I'm very tired and probably wouldn't consider doing the same job again? Maybe? 0 Reply #10 · Jul 25, 2015 Congrats. Even if you don't want to ever do it again, hah hah. #12 · Oct 4, 2015 From what I have seen on alternators, and I have replaced a few, there are some that are direct or fast mounted to the block, and those that pivot. The ones that pivot usually have a bushing that needs to be compressed to the inside or the outside as seen looking at it. ie: the MK1's have to be smacked or pressed to the outside. I just replaced a PATH finder that had the bushing on the alternator ears, and pushed outside. The purpose of these Bushings it to center the alternator and hold it fast. Since I don't have a ton o'experience on the newer VW's, make sure that you don't have a bushing that needs to be compressed the opposite direction first prior to Gridage or Fileage. They are talking about Trimming the mount area of the Alternator or the alternator mount ears on the inside so that you don't have to fight it to get it on. Prying off a dead one is way easier than beating a new one on in tight places. That is you have to grind or file the inner ears of the alternator or the outer ears of the Bracket. All I am saying it to verify that there isn't a bushing that needs to be repositioned first. VW likes to place centering bushings on the Bracket. #13 · Feb 15, 2016 Really good write up, however there is another option of removing and replacing through the bottom, did some research and I just didn't want to mess around with the fuel rail system. See the link below this method I found super simple and changed it in under 2.5 hours. I also do not have a hoist and just used simple jack and jack stands. Just thought I would others know there are options and like I said I found this method quite simpl, especially because you don't have to crack and fuel lines or A.C. lines. (http://workshop-manuals.com/volkswa...5_l_injection_engine/removing_and_installing_alternator_2.5_l_injection_engine/) Thanks, Jeff Insert Quotes Post Reply

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