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'02 Passat v6 "alternator workshop message while driving and car would not start"

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7K views 54 replies 16 participants last post by  hotfoot 
#1 ·
'02 Passat v6 "alternator workshop message while driving and car would not start"

Hello all,

It's been quite a year for car repairs and now i get this....

All of a sudden the car would not start so I had to boost it and then it was OK. Afterwards while driving i get a few "alternator workshop" messages.
I don't feel any problems when car is driving , only when I have to start that it won't start.

Can this be a bad battery or it the alternator dead? :(

Many thanks
 
#29 ·
Bad news :(

Even with a new battery , I was just driving on highway with AC / radio and the "Alternator workshop " message came on and now the battery light stays on

So the alternator is culprit ? but why would the garage say it's still good. I guess i have to go to VW now
 
#33 ·
I've done 3 alternators on the 2.8 motor for the B5. all of them occurred at around 200 K miles to 230 K miles. a 4 year old battery normally isn't the suspect here. you have a 12 year old car, I'd suspect the alternator.
 
#35 ·
VW's have been known to have shitty cables over the years. I think I wasted a year of my life chasing a gremlin on a Golf 2 that turned out to be a plus cable corroded on the inside. You isolate these things by measuring voltage drops (usu while starting) along the cables. Can also be just a corroded terminal end, like on a Jetta MK 5 I had. Follow the cables.
I would also just change the regulator-brush assembly if it has more than about 120K miles. They can last longer, but are fairly cheap. You should be able to DIY.
 
#36 ·
I've never yet done anything with the alternator on my 2.8 A4 (now 19 years old) but when I had the engine mount bracket removed during a mount change, it sure looked accessible. If/when I need to swap in a new regulator assembly, I'm going to try doing it like that. As Tom said, other things can be wrong besides the brushes or electronic regulator, which would be the diode rectifier or the stator/rotor wire windings. But typically, its the brushes being worn.
 
#37 ·
Wasn't much more room up front in the 8D(B5?) A4's, as comparative to the latter B5 Passat's 2.8L?
I know that comparatively the dimensions are way different, but my C4 A6 2.8L has tons of room up front to change the alternator. Also, it's location may be higher than newer models'. I can change my alternator in a jiffy. The starter is a different story...
 
#39 ·
I had this exact issue occur the day before your post. The car had been acting strange a few days prior. I drive an '03 2.8 V6 and the car would do things like an extreme jerk when moving from reverse to drive, not getting up to speed anywhere like it normally would, my information screen would be glitching out, etc.) It would need to be started every time i went to drive it, until one day on my way to work, im driving down the highway, my pioneer DVD-unit completely shuts off, so i go ahead and turn off the headlamps to reduce the load further, then before i know it im hitting the gas and going nowhere fast. Luckily i had enough momentum to get to the side of the road. Had it towed to a local shop and they confirmed it was the alternator (i got the workshop message before i lost all power) and also let me know that replacement would be 500$ due to "where it was located in the engine". Any opinions on this estimate? I'd hate to be paying that kind of money for something that could possibly be corroded wires or any of the stated above..
 
#41 ·
Around the time we were starting our business, and money was more than tight, I had the alternator brushes wear out on my old Audi 5000. For something like $5, I bought a couple of electric motor brushes from the hardware store, sanded to fit, and was back on the road.
 
#42 ·
0p

Turn the car on and unhooking the negative cable off the battery then turn the headlights on the air conditioning on and put the car in drive measure the voltage at the battery with a voltmeter, through the windshield, the alternator should show a consistent 14 volt ever drops below and does not recover the alternator is bad, or if a car stalls out then they call it the alternator is most likely bat.
 
#44 ·
That's considered to be a risky move by many. If the alternator's regulator was bad, and the battery was taken out of the circuit, the entire electrical system could possibly receive damaging high voltage. The battery has a fairly low resistance, so alternator voltage much greater than the battery's voltage tends to be limited.
 
#45 ·
Disconnecting the battery with the engine running is very risky to all connected electronic circuits including the alternator.
You have an intermittent fault, any test is likely to show good while the system is working.
Check the battery voltage with the engine running and no high current items on, then check with headlights and AC on, what are the readings ?
(The voltage should be stable and between 13.4 volts and 14.8 volts.)
Check the connections to the alternator, check the small wire back to the cluster.
Check battery connections, and ground connections (battery to body and body to engine/transmission)
 
#46 ·
I had my alternator go in Mar of 2013 since it died and took the battery with it. ~$900 later and it was fine until a couple months ago. Then, alternator workshop on cold start. Took it to the shop and nothing. Bosch reman...under warrantee until Mar 2015. Well, tonight, the light came on again. Drove it to the next stop (~1 mile) turned the car off, came out and started it and nothing.

I REALLY wish they still did rebuild kits for these things again.

AJ
 
#48 ·
Yep. '03 V6 5MT. I hope if it dies, it just dies...then warranty time and another 2 years. ;) I guess I didn't realize they still made these kits available. I might just pick one up to throw in the toolbox for future repairs. Can you install that module without service position? I can see my alternator pretty clearly.

AJ
 
#50 ·
Someone in the UK sells kits on eBay.
The alternator on the V6 can't be removed without putting it in service position.
I believe it is possible (although difficult) to replace the brushes and regulator with the alternator in the car, no need for service position.
 
#53 ·
'02 Passat v6 "alternator workshop message while driving and car would not st...

Usually the brushes get worn out between 120K to 160K. The alternator itself can go on for much longer without issues.

If you have Valeo, you can replace the brushes without taking out the alternator. For Bosch you can try and see if you can follow a similar process.

Here is how I fixed it for $2.99 without taking out the alternator. Over 30K later, no issues.

http://www.passatworld.com/forums/42-volkswagen-passat-b5-discussion/350792-battery-indicator.html
 
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