acr2001

I know that Valeo is junk, but my god. Can anyone explain how this is possible?

This alternator came out of a 2005 C240 4Matic with 30k miles on it.
Everything else in the engine bay is in excellent condition, no signs of rust anywhere except on some of the exhaust hangers.

The alt died yesterday, as you can probably see from the (crappy) pics one of the windings shorted out.

The alternator internals look like they're 30 years old. It has a manufacture date of 2005. What gives?!

Milkm4n

wow do all Mercedes come with those?

acr2001

No. From what I've gathered Bosch and Valeo alternators were used interchangeably. I have no idea if they still are in current production.

I ordered a 150 amp re-manufactured Bosch to replace this horrible piece of junk.

splinter

Sometimes that stuff melts. Ditched their defective radiator early on.
Bought a new 130 amp GMC alternator just yesterday for $70.

Valeo makes excellent windscreen wiper blade inserts though.

TemjinX2

denso ftw..lol. My 14yr old denso integra alternator didn't look that bad and it still worked after 14yrs.

skittles

your using a gmc alternator on your 203?

and your using a denso?

TemjinX2

no...you can probably retro one on, but at the time the car was my dd and i needed up and running asap. I'm running the same valeo. I have a back up in case it fails again. I'm convinced all bosch and valeo stuff will break, so i have back ups of all the major stuff..lol.

ontmiss

According to the wires shape of the stator coils it’s obvious that’s very poorly handmade/rebuilt in shop without any machinery. Hard to believe that’s original one but anything is possible.

acr2001

It has the original factory labels and I didn't notice any signs of it being a reman. It would be interesting to compare this to another Valeo out of a W203.

ontmiss

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it’s factory installed. See attached picture of my steering shaft 2007, it’s a shame.

03MBC320

how do you know if you have the Valeo alternator? other than taking it out

damedash

anybody know where to buy 180a+ alt

skittles

what the hell happened there.....

slammer111

^ Yeah my 2003 steering shaft had a bit of rust as well, but nowhere near as bad as ontmiss

mleskovar

Could that possibly be a Katrina car?

acr2001

Nope. Impossible. Also the other components are fine, this car has zero signs of water damage and is in pretty amazing condition.

TemjinX2

i'm guessing mercedes didn't do a lot of winter testing. I'm assuming these cars with all this rust are from the states within the rust belt? Or am I wrong?

advans

I had to replace my Bosch Alt with 42k miles on the car!

C230 Sport Coup

Had my Valeo alternator rebuilt at 120K miles.
Didn't look like that!!

acr2001

You live in California. You don't count! (I say that with a hint of jealousy)
Not much chance for components to rust out in your area. I just cannot believe an alternator made of such junk metal is sold where it could see winter use in states like NY with salt.

Either that or this alternator came from a really bad batch....
I feel like Valeo screwed me pretty bad here.

acr2001

I think you're right. I'm in NY and this car has seen plenty of salt. The thing is - there are very few signs of rust. Pretty much the exhaust hangers and this junk alternator are rusted out. To hell with Valeo.