Scirocco Register

Hi all. I have a 16v scirocco with a dead 65amp alternator. My question is could/should I take this opportunity to upgrade to the 90amp model? Would it be beneficial at all? The old alternator used to struggle when everything was switched on.(lights, radio, wipers, blower) Cheers, Carl

carlosiw wrote:Hi all. I have a 16v scirocco with a dead 65amp alternator. My question is could/should I take this opportunity to upgrade to the 90amp model? Would it be beneficial at all? The old alternator used to struggle when everything was switched on.(lights, radio, wipers, blower) Cheers, Carl

ever get the feeling you've just answered your own question?

Well, could it not have been simply that the old one was getting worn out? Other reasonable questions would be: can my existing wiring cope with the upgrade, and does it physically fit? Surely always best to check before wasting time and money!

Without being able to give you 100% confirmed sure answers to this question I've found the following from reading gti forums and the likes:

- People often upgrade their 60amp Alt's for 90amps. The 16v's came with both depending on year of production.
- Ive also read people have said its a pointless exercise unless you're battery is approximately the same capacity as the alternator, otherwise the alt will always be working hard to charge the battery or the battery will always be powering the alternator.

I tried to research this more but came up blank. I have 16v wiring in my car (kr loom) and had a 60amp, I bought a 90 and a 60 but switched the original for the 60. I have a 44mah battery. Really I wish I had gone for a slightly bigger battery and either stuck with the 60amp or gone with the 90amp.

When I start my car the battery light comes on for a second until I blip the accelerator. Also I find that with alot of the electrics on the idle hunts a little more and it does try to cut out when going into first.

Sorry I cant give you any definitive answers but at least this may be able to point you in the right direction as to where to look?

I have a 90 amp on my Storm, works fine.

would be worth going to a slightly larger size battery at the same time - 063 is what should be on there iirc. move up to an 065 which is the same physical size, but has a greater capacity

Thanks for the info everyone. I have an 065 battery so no probs there. The car was an 86 "D" GTX until 4 years ago. Not sure what constitutes a 16v wiring loom exactly; we (the royal we!) did fit a 16v ignition module at the time, but kept the 8v warm-up system (eg aux air valve) What the heck- if a 90A is cool for ianaudia4's Storm then I'm sure it'll be fine on mine!