WV Polo Alternatoer regulator problem

R

Rands

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Hi,

Happy new year to all :)

Im having a problem with my Polo. Started a few weeks ago when it suddenly lost power steering. No previous warnings. The p'steering light came on in the dash. then just as suddenly, it all was ok.

Then a few days ago the battery drained almost compltely. Once again, no warnings, engine will not swing :bang:
some warning lights on the dash flashed, battery, EPC, P/S

Changed the alternator regulator, worked perfectly for one day, then the battery started OVERCHARGING! ( i have a voltage/amp temp guage ) up th about 16v

changed that regulator with a proper Bosch on from Diesel Electric. That worked for also one day & today the battery is drained again.

Anyone have a problem like this?
 
Had a Polo... Gave me hell.

Perhaps time to change cars...


Ps. Look at replacing or refurbishing the alternator itself.
 
Eish dude, not an option :)

My little polo actually gives very good service thus far. This is the first major promlem in over 3 years.

Some tinkering and found the fuses over the batterY seems very coroded and I think that some contact was lost. Still looking at it
 
Mine did the same after 2 years and 364 days of not problems, then the electronics freaked out completely and everything shut off. The alternator gave issues, it was also overcharging basicly, it actually melted part of the plastic cover over the battery. Luckily I was still under warranty (with 1 day to spare) so they had to replace the alternator.

If you do need to replace it out off warranty, there is some VW system where they pay part of it sometimes when its a fairly new car and a fairly expensive thing to replace.
 
Why don't you just recon the alternator? I would replace all the fuses at the same time.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyBroadband Android App
 
Show us a photo of your engine bay and most probably it will explain why things go belly up. Dirt and corrosion from little or no maintenance is the death of many an electric/electronic system and then the car gets blamed.
 
Stokstert said:
Show us a photo of your engine bay and most probably it will explain why things go belly up. Dirt and corrosion from little or no maintenance is the death of many an electric/electronic system and then the car gets blamed.
Click to expand...

Guilty as charged :_
 
The_Librarian said:
Dis mos wat jy verwag van volkswagen! :p
Click to expand...
+1

Although my Astra's alternator died when the car was 4 years old. It was one of the first cars with electric power steering and that gets shutdown when the alternator has a problem. Steering that thing with no power steering was hell! Fitted a recon unit, still going strong 7 years and two batteries later.
 
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Old cars isn't as much reliant on their alternators as newer cars...

With newer cars you've got EFI, electric power steering, electric window, airconditioner and fan(s), radio (and accessories)...

Basically modern cars are power hungry... :erm:
 
Rouxenator said:
+1

Although my Astra's alternator died when the car was 4 years old. It was one of the first cars with electric power steering and that gets shutdown when the alternator has a problem. Steering that thing with no power steering was hell! Fitted a recon unit, still going strong 7 years and two batteries later.
Click to expand...

Hehe, you are bragging about your Opel needing a new alternator plus two new batteries in its 7 year lifetime. That's really nothing to brag about.:o

My 7 old year Polo still uses it's original battery and except for normal service items it didn't need any spares whatsoever. :whistle:

That's really what VW is about, 7 years of trouble-free motoring and many more to come.:D:D
 
So how many kilos does it have on? And do you park it in one of those rooms for cars? You know... they call it a "garage" or something? My Opel is 11 years old now and the 2nd new battery was only fitted last year. December it went to 189,000km and it still does not know what the inside of a "garage" looks like.

You should count yourself lucky, back when we had VWs it was all about getting 7 months of trouble-free motoring out of them.

Edit : Hand washed it last week, still looks more stylish than even new VAGs :
378504_10150548453565664_579845663_11009026_1980032140_n.jpg
 
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Rouxenator said:
So how many kilos does it have on? And do you park it in one of those rooms for cars? You know... they call it a "garage" or something? My Opel is 11 years old now and the 2nd new battery was only fitted last year. December it went to 189,000km and it still does not know what the inside of a "garage" looks like.

You should count yourself lucky, back when we had VWs it was all about getting 7 months of trouble-free motoring out of them.

Edit : Hand washed it last week, still looks more stylish than even new VAGs :
378504_10150548453565664_579845663_11009026_1980032140_n.jpg
Click to expand...

dammit what is seen cannot be unseen

this looks much better than that

VW_Golf_I_Facelift_front_20081209.jpg
 
In some cases I will agree with you. The Mk1 Golf is a much bigger "motoring icon" than the Mk7 Astra ever will be - that's a fact.

Its just so sad that VWSA tarnished that image by keeping on with spewing them out after their 1983 sell-by date :(
 
Rouxenator said:
In some cases I will agree with you. The Mk1 Golf is a much bigger "motoring icon" than the Mk7 Astra ever will be - that's a fact.

Its just so sad that VWSA tarnished that image by keeping on with spewing them out after their 1983 sell-by date :(
Click to expand...

i never said anything about icon ...im just saying the old old old golf looks better than that astra

dont need me to punish you more by posting a nice jetta now
 
I don't think you can compare their looks directly. The one is a 70's styled car by a master designer whose "folded paper" theme resulted in such epic cars like the DeLorean. The other is a mainstream late 90's in house team design effort. Looks wise there is no comparison, but if you feel the Golf looks nicer then its your view on it, can't argue with that.

Now this is completely off topic, but if you want to compare the Mk1 Golf then you'll need to compare it to the Mk3 Kadett since it was build to compete with that (after the old beatle just could cut it anymore) :
800px-Opel_Kadett_C_Coupe_front_20080206.jpg
 
Just one more "Mine is bigger than yours" while we are at it derailing this thread completely.

1990 Jetta Csi. 22 years of happy motoring.

1990JettaCsi.jpg


and the corresponding engine bay, as it looked it's entire life.

1990JettaCsi-engine-2012.jpg
 
OK, now that is one VW even I'd be proud of if it was mine. Was that your car? It really is in excellent shape. What mileage did you get out of it? I'm impressed :D
 
Rouxenator said:
OK, now that is one VW even I'd be proud of if it was mine. Was that your car? It really is in excellent shape. What mileage did you get out of it? I'm impressed :D
Click to expand...

It's still in my possession and has 235k k's on the clock. Engine is still unopened and does not need to be topped up between services. Unfortunately it doesn't get driven as much lately as I am now retired. I keep it for my daughter to travel SA when she visits us.
It's value is so low now that it's better to keep it as spare if something happens to our other cars.
 
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Very nice, I am really am impressed with that Jetta of yours. That Csi has got a 1.8 fuel injected engine right? Well seems like my Astra still has 45,000km to go before it will be on that level, and that is if nothing goes wrong. Currently its using 1 pint of oil very 5000 km which is up from the previous 7500km. My wife drives it and if she had the money she would trade it in for an i10.
 
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