Damn Water Cooled Alternator

[Teledog]

Yeah! I won the Delphi lottery... Two months ago my battery dies. New battery from dealer, then it dies again, dealer reconnects the posts, says I'm fine. FF and the other day I'm getting this joyous error on my B6 S4 dash, so have it towed to the indy. They tell me it's because oil from the heads are dripping down onto the serpentine belt, and the belt is spinning freely. Replace the belt, new gaskets & oil change $730. I pick the car up, start to drive home and I make it half way home. Car dies. Call them back... alternator.

Dealer pricing on a new Hitachi alternator $665.00

Unfortunately I'm an '04 so I don't have the Hitachi, I have the Delphi, which AoA doesn't sell anymore, instead they sell the DX kit which converts to the Hitachi for $1,490.04. Plus labor.

Fortunately there's JHM, who sells a DX kit for $740.00

And there's my local Generator/Alternator shop who said they can't even get parts for a water cooled unit, but legend has it they fixed one for $100.

My question for you guys.... I've searched here & revolution and haven't seen anything... have you heard of anyone converting to a non-water cooled alternator setup? Why can't this be done?

[Alexztt]

I think a conversion is totally possible. I was staring at my alternator the other day thinking WTF is this shit when I pulled the motor. I think the major problem we would run into is there would be some genius Audi system that would throw errors or make crazy things happen. Actually finding an alternator to fit I think would be the simple part as it is just a 2 bolt attachment and a fairly large space as the stock unit is enormous.

[quattro guy]

http://www.wolfautoparts.com/0799030...FZCCaQodPtADtQ


If you want to save some money i found this

[Lucca M]

or just get it rebuilded !

[viridia]

My question for you guys.... I've searched here & revolution and haven't seen anything... have you heard of anyone converting to a non-water cooled alternator setup? Why can't this be done?

The water circuit is there to prolong the life of the alternator. It keeps the alternator at a constant temperature regardless of electrical demand.

If you search "ARK104 alternator" there's an eBay UK dude who sells repair items. Might be able to point your rebuilder to that.

[JimmyBones]

The water circuit is there to prolong the life of the alternator. It keeps the alternator at a constant temperature regardless of electrical demand.

This.

Why reinvent the wheel on something simple like this. These V8s get hot as hell and the longer that I can get my alternator to last equals the happier that I will be. Also some of us have a set of SC brackets in front of our alternator that make it more time consuming to deal with.

[DarrenOman]

I also have an 04 B6 S4 and had to replace the alternator. I upgraded to the Hitachi with JHM pipe kit for $120. I purchased used alternator for couple hundred bucks and its been fine. Was a pain to install, but all worth while. Good luck.

[evolution2147]

This.

Why reinvent the wheel on something simple like this. These V8s get hot as hell and the longer that I can get my alternator to last equals the happier that I will be. Also some of us have a set of SC brackets in front of our alternator that make it more time consuming to deal with.

The alternators on these cars have zero free space around them and minimal airflow, not to mention they sit in an oven underneath the head and next to the block. The water cooling solves that issue.