S3 petrol alternator upgrade options

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Wilson90

Wilson90

Member
Posts
31
Hi all, after several failed attempts at jump starting other vehicles with the landy I can only assume that the alternator just isn't big enough to cut it with a modern vehicle, which I think is fair really given these days alternators run up to 150+A which is a little more than the 35A in the Landy.
What are my upgrade options? Is it a fairly standard mount and what can the belt actually handle without shredding itself?
Any suggestions would be welcomed.
Cheers, Tony.
 
Also upgrade the wires from the alternator when you do this, to avoid melting brown wires.

Lots of suppliers of Lucas alternators, various amperages.
 
Are you using decent jump leads with hd clips, when I’ve jumped a car with my series 3 I let it run at fast idle connected for 5-10mins depending how flat the other battery is ,
Those small jump kits are quite good too and prob cheaper than alternator upgrade , you will still, need to do above even with larger alternator
 
Thanks gents, there's no issue with upgrading the loom, yes I have good high quality jump leads.
While a jump pack is an option, a bigger alternator would help the truck anyway as more and more now it is finding use as a breakdown/recovery vehicle which is often running lights for extended periods among other things with the engine off, I'm just not a fan of letting It idle for hours on end.
That 75A is a nice option, thank you Woody.
 
I replaced my standard alternator with a 65 amp one and it now kicks out a healthy amount of power. My old one had developed a fault causing the battery to flatten if left unused for a few days. The new one came from ebay for £85 if I remember correctly. The only trouble was, the body of the alternator is slightly wider and it was a devil to fitback in, I had to resort to getting my local garage to fit it. I would recommend putting a new belt on.

Col
 
Alternator won't really help much here. Is your battery, big, beefy and healthy?
How long are your jump leads? They need to be beefy too, at least as thick as your middle finger, or there about
 
The leads are well known to be good and I've used multiple different sets recently anyway.
The battery is good and healthy 740CCA.
I'm not sure how that rates for an 096 battery. But considering my other motor (skoda) runs virtually the same battery and that jumps other vehicles nicely with the same leads, you can see why I started thinking about a different alternator.
Is I said, the trucks running more electrical equipment than it was ever designed with in the day, so more charging capability can't really hurt in my mind.
 
740 CCA is at the lower end of capability for batts of the 663/664 type [ difference is the way around terminals are ] There are many commercial 663/664 battery's to be had as they are common in light trucks, big vans, tractors and diggers. CCA's of 1000 available. For simple alt upgrade go with Woodyo's suggestion.
 
tottot said:
740 CCA is at the lower end of capability for batts of the 663/664 type [ difference is the way around terminals are ] There are many commercial 663/664 battery's to be had as they are common in light trucks, big vans, tractors and diggers. CCA's of 1000 available. For simple alt upgrade go with Woodyo's suggestion.
Click to expand...
Do 663/4 fit? A quick Google and they seem to be a good 70mm longer than an 096?
 
This is the one I took out of mine, I chopped down the battery box to fit the 200di and fitted same make but 65amp battery still have the original alternator and jumps 2.0 diesel golfs and 1.8 focus diesels ok
 

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