Aallegra.138 net.vwrabbit utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!mhtsa!allegra!rdg Mon Nov 23 22:51:56 1981 alternator bracket The alternator bracket on my 1980 diesel rabbit cracked Saturday. Only 30 months and 2 kmi old! The part, 068 199 351 A, costs about $23. To make an otherwise long story short, the part appeared to have contained a small crack even when the car was new, yet failed after the warrantee had elapsed. (Figures, you say? Then read on...) Pre-existing crack condition was evidenced by (1) rust appearing on 50% of the face of the cracked surface (2) the metal from an adjacent weld had "wicked" into the cracked area (3) the normally exposed face of the part displayed a rusted hairline crack along the actual break and for a short length beyond. I spoke with the service manager at the VW dealer. (Very calm, mater of fact discussion of above facts.) He said "The metal you point out from the weld is indicative of a GOOD weld, see how the metal was actually penetrated?" I felt my problem and I were about to be swept under the rug. However, I had earlier shown the part to the guys at the BTL welding shop and they were convinced that the part had originally contained a 0.5 inch hairline crack when manufactured which was probably not readily visible, especially after paint had been applied. I told the manager "I work at BTL and have shown this part to our metallurgical lab. They also feel that these indicate a very early hairline crack." "Where do you have your car serviced?" he asked immediately. "At this dealership." (In fact, my car had been in for a checkup 2 weeks earlier. Because I had a coupon and the service team could find nothing wrong with the car, the oil had been changed and I paid not one penny!) He then went to his computer terminal, no doubt to check my record. A minute later he returned. "We will give you the replacement part free, ok?" I was pleased to get the part without charge, although he probably gave it to me for the "wrong" reason. Of course, such a part should not have failed in the first place, but I can understand how it might have occured. Otherwise, I'm very pleased with the car and in this case, I feel that I did manage to get a deal which is above average when it comes to working with dealer service&repair. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.