Originally Posted by lofat

Thanks for all the replies.

I do not currently have a multimeter. I was looking at them in the shop yesterday and I figured it made little sense at that point to buy something that I didn't know how to use (surprising amount of control for me as I love gadgets)



Well, I started off with a working battery and ended with a dead one. It started fine one morning (and for the three weeks prior) and when I stopped off for fuel I pulled up to an out of order pump and didn't realize until I had gotten out. I went to restart and it struggled and whined. Pulled the key - put it back in let the glow plugs light up and it started.

Went to work for the day and when I went to go home in the afternoon I had a dead battery. Got a jump and made it home fine. After my 25-mile trip home I tried to start it and it was pretty dead.

I could be wrong but I didn't think a battery would go south like lickedy split. I have always experienced more of a slow death.

I thought maybe something was draining it maybe, but I don't know for sure. I did upgrade my fuses just several days before with some new copper tipped ones from Mercedes source and changed my interior lights to xenon bulbs (which look nice by the way) but that was it.

I have the stock radio, which sounds like crap, so I don't even listen to that, my buzzers all work so I know I left no lights on... Basically that is how I figured the battery wasn’t charging.



Well, I was going to order it from **************.com but I ended up paying a few bucks more so that I could get it yesterday (car crapped out on Friday) at Comet (local shop)

Of course now i am having a hell of a time getting the new one in there. Is there a trick to it? The new one looks different, but the brushes and holes line up – so I don’t know.

Do the new alts come with the VR already on them?

If I can’t get this thing in there and have to pull the alt anyway, it may be worth it to me to just buy a new or remanufactured Bosch. This car is my daily driver and it’s a pain in the butt to have it not running and having to go back and forth to multiple parts stores in search of random parts that don’t fit.

Also, any one hazard a guess as to what I should pay should I have it installed at and indy vs. a dealer?

I would rather do it my self, I have replaced alts in my old American cars, so I assume it should be a pain in the tail, but pretty straight forward.