In general, I have had the best experiences with Bosch parts sold as
"Genuine Rebuilt" and in Bosch boxes. The option of the FLAPS gimmick of
"lifetime warranty" units is to be avoided unless you will enjoy taking
the part on and off frequently, sometimes at the side of the road. Yeah,
they will replace it for free, again and again and again, if you can get
it to them with your dead van. There is also the possibility of getting
a local "auto electric" repair shop to "rebuild" it and some are Bosch
certified shops. I have had bad luck trying that. Both times they looked
up the list price of the alternator from Bosch and based their rebuild
prices on that inflated figure. Speaking of inflated, a relative just
priced a 90 amp at a VW dealer and was quoted nearly $600 for the part.
Since he is in the repair biz they then offered a special discount to
just over $400.

Various list venders and friendly places sell the genuine Bosch Rebuilt
units for about $125 exchange.

Mark

Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
>...........
>
> ALL: Recommendations on how to deal with an alternator that maybe needs
> servicing? Who does such things? Take it to the FLAPS or do we have some
> special vendor here whose rebuilt Bosch alternators are better than gold?
>
>