The alternator failed on The Mighty Vectra whilst on the M61 this evening robbing me of my heater, de-mister, ABS, air bag and eventually power steering.

Dropped it off at the local Bosch service centre for repair in the morning.

Should I be bracing myself for a massive bill?

Depends on your definition of ‘massive’?

Thanks.

Had a reconditioned one put in a 1998 deisel Mondeo about 3 years ago. That cost me £200, parts and labour.

Shouldn’t be more than a couple of hundred (max!)

About an hours labour to replace.

So depends on how much the part costs, probably around £120 ??

I got mine reconditioned for £60 and fitted it myself

took me a total of 2 hours to take it off, and replace it once reconditioned, but it was the first time I had ever done it, and I’m not a mechanic.

New one for my V6 Golf was something like £600 all in.

Astra recently cost almost three hundred.

Alternator will be around the £150-200 mark. Labour – dunno – do it yourself.

Astra recently cost almost three hundred.

Urgh. Thanks for the heads up.

Just over 300 on a Civic at a backstreet garage recently

What year and model vectra is it ?

54 plate 2.0 TDI

Misses the days when you could buy one for 30 quid and shove it in your allegro yourself 🙁

54 plate 2.0 TDI

You can get reconditioned (exchange) alternators for that for about £65.

Fit yourself is easy enough, or an hours labour at the garage. So should be well less than £200.

Yeah, but when you had fixed it you still had an Alegro… and this is coming from a Vectra driver. 😉

You can get reconditioned (exchange) alternators for that for about £65.

Fit yourself is easy enough, or an hours labour at the garage. So should be well less than £200.

It is with the man from Bosch now, so I’ll get what I get. Their rates are pretty reasonable though and I’ve been using them for years.

Give him a ring and ask him to fit a reconditioned unit, will be massively cheaper than a main dealer sourced part I would have thought.

Will do. They are calling me with the bad news in the morning.

It cost me about 270, fitted, from Halfords last year. My alternator failed on the way to get my MOT, so had to pick the nearest garage.

Check the ampage of the current one as there are different rated alternators for Vectra CDTI/DTIs

My wife Astra alternator died on New years eve a couple of years ago. 70mph, M1 outer lane, then nothing apart from a christmas tree dashboard and a twitchy bum.

Anyway, the part cost about £200 even with Vauxhall discount (cousin an employee) and fitted it myself with my brother in law in about an hour.

Car breakers and self fitting cheapest option.
24/7 parts or google vehicle dismantlers all tested and lot cheaper than vauxhall dealers

Car breakers and self fitting cheapest option.
24/7 parts or google vehicle dismantlers all tested and lot cheaper than vauxhall dealers

It is with the man from Bosch now, so I’ll get what I get.

A new one for my MX5 was £150.
It shouldn’t be more than an hour’s labour to fit.

Just changed one on my ’05 Fiesta, £350 was the cheapest quote 😥 All the rectifier gubbins is inside them and it’s buried in the engine. Took nearly 3 hours to do and that was by my mate who’s a damn good spanner man (does rally cars etc).

£530 on an Audi A4 1.9tdi in 2007.

The alternator didn’t fail. The pully seized on my 4 year old car. Common problem.

About £31,697

I had a duff recon alternator. Not saying it happens often or that I wouldn’t take the gamble again. Mechanic replaced it free.

Ouch. Last one I did was on my parents old Volvo, failed the day before they traded it in. Went to the local scrappies, got one for £15. It worked at least as long as it took to get to Arnold Clarks 🙂

Update.

It was the bracket/tensioner thingy and belt that had failed. £239.28 to replace. 🙁

Failed or just become too loose? I’m not entirely sure how a bracket can ‘fail’ unless it broke.

My wife Astra alternator died on New years eve a couple of years ago.

Your wife had a cool name.

Sorry for your loss. 🙁

😆

Failed or just become too loose? I’m not entirely sure how a bracket can ‘fail’ unless it broke.

Broken.

This is the second time that one has gone. The last one went 4 years ago and did a bit more damage. 😕

The last one went 4 years ago and did a bit more damage.

I was going to add that I’d imagine a bit of damage being done by a broken bracket. Never heard of one breaking though.