Alternator

Hi all,
        more problems as if i didnt expect them lol.
Anyway just a quickie, the 82 gl has the original motorola alternator, the later ones are bosch.
Question is i noticed the wires going to the original alternator are 2 red and one blue but are connect via plug to alternator, yet the bosch ones have the same wires but no plug just spade connections, would it be ok if i got a bosch alternator and ring'd spades then connect both the reds together and the blue on the other bolt of the bosch.
The alternator i have at moment is 45amp, am i ok by fitting a 65amp :dontknow:
Thanks
Pete

Changing the connectors should be fine. I had to do the opposite as my GTI's old alternator had poles with ring connectors on the wires. I fitted a new alternator with male blades for a block connector so I simply changed the rings on the wires for female blades, worked fine. I also upgraded from 45 to 55 amps with no problems, but not sure if the wiring will take 65 amps :dontknow:

VW fitted Motorola and Bosch alternators at the same time, not sure what determined which one was fitted to what car and whether they are interchangable, as all combinations seem available on VW parts list.

Cheers

Remember, as our 5th grade science teacher said, volts are "pushed", amps are "pulled".

You can up amps to an infinity on crappy wires if nothing is using it. Now say you threw a huge alternator on there then hooked a stereo amp up to it through the regular VW wiring, well, the alt could handle it, the amplifier could pull the amps, the wiring would melt.

So basically you're not upping the voltage, because it's still a 12/14volt alternator. Amps don't really matter if you're not hooking up any more demanding electronics that will need to "pull" more power.

Helps when jumpstarting others though.

Cheers for help guys, i appreciate it loads, are the alternators on standar block mk1, mk2 golfs 45amp, i would preferre to get the same, but if not i'll try and get 55amp.
Pete :wink:

Cheers ohiorabbit, nice explanation - never remember being taught anything that uselful at school :roll:

Peddersgolf - looking at the VW parts list, there are various bosch and motorola alternators of between 45 and 65 amp listed. They all seem available for all engines so I have no idea what was fitted to what and why? Maybe it was dependent on the country of sale i.e driving in Northern Europe requires more lights, wipers, heater, cold starts etc than say South Africa or the US.

My Gti had a Bosch 45 amp one fitted, but the guy at GSF said they also sold identical Bosch 55 amp alternators and perversely they were cheaper so I got one. Mk1 and mk2 alternators differ due to the pulley size, but assume this can be swapped.

Cheers

All sorted, managed to find excact same motorla in scrappies from a mk2 golf, pretty new aswell, ?20.
No more red battery constantly staying on :mrgreen:
Thank you for your advice guys, it is always appreciated :wink: