[Sesshoumaru]

Hi, just looking for some advise from the experts here!

I have a 2000 A6 Avant Quattro Sport 2.5TDI. The alternator went on this car and the mechanic I took it to replaced the alternator for me. The alternator that went in was brand new, but was not an OEM part from Audi as far as I know. A few months later this alternator went again and my mechanic replaced it for me again, at no charge to me. I was told this was also a brand new alternator and not a repair on the previous one.

Today I dropped the car off at my mechanic again as I am convinced the alternator is on the way out again. All the lights inside the car and the dim/head lights all dim and brighten continuously. The flicker is most notable when you start the car first thing in the morning, but persists throughout the day. Last time it went like this, the flickering of the lights gradually got worse and worse until I started hearing various clicking noises from behind the dash each morning as the electronics went crazy. Last time the mechanic also replaced my battery for me as the other one had been damaged by too much voltage being sent to it by the alternator.

This morning my mechanic kept telling me he was going to drop the car to the "alternator guy" and have him look at it. My mechanic started telling me stuff like "the warranty is with the alternator guy" etc. It's fairly obvious he is trying to lay the ground work for me to accept it's nothing to do with him and that I have to deal with the alternator guy who is probably at best only going to offer me another new alternator, I doubt he would cover the cost of installing the alternator.

Can anyone offer me any advise on what could be causing the alternator to go? Is it just a case of a bad batch of alternators? Could my car have some other problem that causes the flicker in the lights to gradually get worse and worse? and ultimately who should be sorting this out for me? I'm not a lawyer, but shouldn't my contract be with the guy who did the work? not his parts supplier? Thanks!

 

[StevenL]

Yep its not for you to have to go chasing it up. Does the alternator look new?

 

[Sesshoumaru]

QUOTE (StevenL @ Apr 18 2011, 02:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Yep its not for you to have to go chasing it up. Does the alternator look new?

I didn't look at it myself. Up until now the mechanic I use has been excellent. I have not had a reason to not trust the guy.

 

[bearthebruce]

QUOTE (Sesshoumaru @ Apr 18 2011, 09:48 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I didn't look at it myself. Up until now the mechanic I use has been excellent. I have not had a reason to not trust the guy.

It seems to me that your mechanic has the issue with the parts supplier. Did you buy the part directly? Did you specify the part? If the answer to both of those questions is no, then you have no relationship with the parts supplier - your mechanic does. He bought, specified and installed the alternator. You paid him for his advice and expertise to do this.

The alternator consists of a ac generator, diodes and a voltage regulator. The voltage regulator is built into most of the alternators today. So, if the alternator is producing high voltage, then either a wiring problem exists - where the voltage regulator is not getting the right feedback from the battery, or, the regulator has failed - it's not regulating the voltage. The fact that it was replaced and has failed again, is bothersome to me. That tells me that something else is causing the problem - and I bet there is a wiring issue somewhere on the sensing circuit for the alternator.

Having said all this, I don't have a clue how to help further.