alternator

[bibaboon]

any alts from other bmw's work for our td's?
thanks

[CoyoteStarfish]

By sight alone the 528e alternator looks like it will fit. More than likely the diesel alternators are high-amperage variants for recharging after things like cold starting, extended cranking and glowplugs.

[altus22]

No other alternators cross. To get another one to fit you have to get the correct alternator mount and adjustment pieces too. I replaced mine a couple months ago and tried a number of alternators, but nothing worked except the actual, correct part. My alternator was labeled 80 amp, but was the same layout as the 60/65 amp versions sold at AutoZone, Advance, etc.

[Frybrid 524td]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-130A ... 2287wt_941
Bosch AL140X or AL49X?

This one works fine for me and it's 130 amps. I just had to adjust the bushing spacers and splice a spade terminal onto the the harness since the alternator doesn't accept ring terminals.

[george_jetson]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-130A ... 2287wt_941

This one works fine for me and it's 130 amps. I just had to adjust the bushing spacers and splice a spade terminal onto the the harness since the alternator doesn't accept ring terminals.

I'm using a similar alternator, which I also purchased from ebay. It took some minor mods, but it works fine.

[bibaboon]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-130A ... 2287wt_941
Bosch AL140X or AL49X?

This one works fine for me and it's 130 amps. I just had to adjust the bushing spacers and splice a spade terminal onto the the harness since the alternator doesn't accept ring terminals.

What do you mean by adjust spacers? Wondering if I should try this but never opened an alternator before..not even sure what the bushing spacers are and dont want to spend forever on this..its for the TD I want to sell as soon as possible..

[Bio524TD]

My car came with a non stock alt and both the brackets and the alt had been ground down and spacers used to make it work.

I'm on the road now so I can't send pictures but the wiring is real haywire affair. All wires going to the alt are done with wire nuts. Like you would use in your house wiring. I've left it alone because it works but after replacing the cam and a bunch of other stuff and thoroughly cleaning everything in the eng comp, it's time to fix the wires.

Any tips before I start cutting?

What amps shoudl this alt be capable of?

What kind of connectors? It's just bare wires on both ends.

I'll post pictures when I get back home.

Thanks

[Kyle in NO]

I used a 528e alternator on mine with the early brackets. A different length belt was needed, but not much else.

[Bio524TD]

Went down and had the alt tested and it was putting out 30a and 13.6v at 2500 rpm. Not enough to get the job done.

So I did some hunting around and I found an alternator locally that makes 90 amps and fits well.

But it didn't come with the external capacitor that is on the one currently on the car and that is shown in the manual (Small black square screwed to the back of the alt with a wire connecting it to a spade clip marked (+) ).

The mounting screw hole and the spade clip are there but no capacitor.

So my question is do I need the capacitor and if so can I just use the one off of the old alt or should I try to get a new one?

[CoyoteStarfish]

Went down and had the alt tested and it was putting out 30a and 13.6v at 2500 rpm. Not enough to get the job done.

So I did some hunting around and I found an alternator locally that makes 90 amps and fits well.

But it didn't come with the external capacitor that is on the one currently on the car and that is shown in the manual (Small black square screwed to the back of the alt with a wire connecting it to a spade clip marked (+) ).

The mounting screw hole and the spade clip are there but no capacitor.

So my question is do I need the capacitor and if so can I just use the one off of the old alt or should I try to get a new one?

The cap is just a "noise suppressor" - while you don't need it but it helps deliver a clean signal to the electronics and audio system. It may be internal on this unit.

FWIW I put an e34 140A alternator on my car, it didn't have a visible capacitor, might be behind the ducted cowl on the back of it. No audio noise for me.