Alternator

[shimmy]

Originally Posted by Bounce

Is there any way of telling if your alternator has been changed,as in build date or the like,on the alternator it's self.Who was the oem of the original.

Technically I'd say 'check if it's shiney'

[Bounce]

Originally Posted by shimmy

Technically I'd say 'check if it's shiney'

Tried that,all my engine bay is shiney

[shimmy]

Originally Posted by Bounce

Tried that,all my engine bay is shiney

It's all that polishing I've heard you do when alone at night

[Bounce]

Originally Posted by shimmy

It's all that polishing I've heard you do when alone at night

I get great satisfaction from polishing my switches and knobs out in the garage:

[Mark CSL]

Have a look at the new post in the mens room and you will be back out in the garage Tonight

[Bounce]

Originally Posted by Mark CSL

Have a look at the new post in the mens room and you will be back out in the garage Tonight

I'll save them for tomorrow as I've only just come in

[niall1]

Mine went two weeks ago @ 49k. Replaced under the insured warranty with €330 excess. When I got the car back they had given it a good clean (thank you) but also a good ragging (MPG was 23 before and 9 after). Not happy..

100 miles later the replacement packed in leaving me stranded half way to Dublin airport! Had to abandon the car and get a taxi..

Picked car back up today (they had it for all of last week to 'put up some test miles'). Fingers crossed..

[rstoughy]

Wouldnt worry about the ragging,
its probably because battery was disconnected or something and thats just the reading from sitting running while checking the finished job.

[niall1]

Originally Posted by rstoughy

Wouldnt worry about the ragging,
its probably because battery was disconnected or something and thats just the reading from sitting running while checking the finished job.

Oopps
Had a go at the service staff for going on a joyride.. Other evidence was an empty petrol tank (was full) and gear shift speed set to max (was 2 bars). Anyway the stress of abandoning my baby at the side of the road to catch my flight after a faulty repair job was more than I want to go through again any time soon!

[sfh3l]

Just had mine replaced under warranty.
The light flickered a couple of times when I had potential buyers out with me in the car

Booked the car into Elms and on the drive there the light came on every time the revs were above 3500 or so. All sorted now, under warranty.

I suspect that was a regulator failure and my hunch as to why m3 eats this item worse than other cars is the speed with which the revs rise on our cars. Perhaps the free revving nature of the engine is just too much for a normal regulator to cope with - as the charge builds and breaches the 13v or whatever the reg is set at then presumably it is required to trip out or bleed away the excess? Clearly that is going to happen much faster and more repeatedly than in say a diesel car. I don't know, just a bollox theory really

Oh, forgot to say this was at precisely 49k miles - how predictable!