[Oilyrag]

Hi Everyone,
Just discovered the C-Max owners club.Wealth of info on the forum. Thanks.
Got a 53 Zetec 2.0 tdci, and at 55,000 miles, the alternator just packed up.Looked on Google to get idea of prices, and one site quoting £239. Took it to my local garage, (not Ford ). They comfirmed it was the alternator, and rang their usual suppliers, who wanted £269. They then rang the local Ford main dealer, and got one for £175. Fitted it for £75, so well pleased.Just goes to show that sometimes Ford can be the better option, apart from their labour charges

 

[MetalMicky08]

Hi Oilyrag,welcome to the club.I too have a 53 Zetec 2.0 TDCI & my alt went at 70,000.£175 for an alt is quite expensive as I got mine for under £80 & fitted for £70.Anyway hope you have many happy miles ofvC-Maxing.

 

[steveo67]

Hi,

I paid £192.85 at Ford Dealer for my alterntor to be fitted.

My bill breaks down like so:

Alternator £109.70
Battery Check £7.25
Charging System Check £7.25
Remove & Install £43.50
VAT @ 15% £25.15

Good Luck !
Steve

 

[Oilyrag]

Oh Dear, seems I didn't get such a good deal. Why do prices differ so much ? Is it down to the area you live in ? Maybe someone could start up a price comparison site just for this sort of thing, devoted justfor car repairs, and parts.Could be a money spinner

 

[opalmines]

Hi Just found this site.
2ltr Ghia Diesel - 55000 miles
Alternator packed up on Friday. My local garage cant find new one anywhere, the local ford dealer, believe it or not has 50 on order and no sign of anything till the new year. So im maxless all over Christmas and new year until dont know when. Cant' even get non ford unit.
Im quite disgusted. Apparrently Ford know there is a problem with the alternator but nothing seems to be happening.

Had car since March and loved it till now.
Any Adive would be helpful

 

[crankup]

My 2004 2L Ghia had the alternator pack up end Nov. It's done 30,000 miles. I had the "Limited EPB" message come up with the battery icon lit. As the message didnt mean much to me at first I asked a mechanic friend to look at it. He said he reckoned its 90% the alternator but he wasnt familar with Ford error messages. I nipped into our local Ford dealer (willthe batterystart it one more time?!!!) who said the same.

They offered the following:-
Check EPB message for a minor wiring fault for free (although they said they expected it was the alternator anyway - just to be sure).
Supply alternator £135+VAT
Fit as well - for a grand total of £225inc VAT.
They had an alternator in stock so I had it done that afternoon.

There was no mention of it being a known failure though.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Edit : typos.

_popupControl();Edited by: crankup

 

[BRT_22]

HI ALL MY NAMES BEN I HAVE A 2.0 TDCI C MAX 04 YEAR ZETEC TRIM. I HAVE HAD IT A FEW MONTHS NOW ITS JUST MY TRAVELING CAR UP AND DOWN MOTOR WAY DAY AFTER DAY. I DO 120 MILES A DAY MOSTLY OVER 700 MILES A WEEK SO DONT TAKE LONG TO GET TO SERVICE INTERVAL. I HAVE FOUND THIS GREAT SITE THAT I HAVE FOUND VERY HELPFULL. SO I DECIDED TO AS WELLL SERVICE MY C MAX I HAVE FALLEN INTO THE SAME TRAP WITH THE FUEL FILTER NOT USING CAPS AS IM ONLY FAMILIAR WITH PETROL CARS THIS IS MY 1ST DIESEL SERVICE ATTEMPT. I HAVE HAD TROUBLE WITH THE STARTING OF MY C MAX AND FROM READING TONIGHT HAVE COME TO THE SAME CONCLUSION AS EVERY ONE ELSE THAT IT MAYBE THE ALTERNATOR. IT WINDS OVER SLOW GETTING FASTER THEN STARTING. HAD BATTERY TESTED BUT THAT CAME OUT FINE. CAN ANY ONE HELPO ME WITH THE FUEL FILTER CHANGING AND THE OIL FILTER PLEASE. ALSO HAS ANY ONE CHANGED THERE GLOW PLUGS I CAN NOT LOCATE THEM. I WILL BE GOING TO FORD IN ONE OF MY OTHER TWO CARS TOMORROW FOR A NEW DIPSTICK AS IT SNAPPED IN HALF.

BEN

 

[standard dude]

It appears that my alternator may have also gone - the battery warning light on the dashboard isn't going out. This is on a 54 plate CMAX, TDCi 2.0 Zetecdone 47,000 miles.

 

[lazyb]

Hi all ,
ben you probably need to read this post first
http://www.cmaxownersclub.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1290
it details my probs with the fuel filter and bleeding.
good luck

 

[standard dude]

Peoples have quoted mejust over £300 inc VAT for fitting a replacement alternator.

Looks like I'll be using alocal private garage for this job - ballpark price of £175.

 

[MetalMicky08]

My alternator went last year at 63,000.It seems as though they give up anywhere between 50,000 & 65,000 miles.Must be an inbuilt selk destruct money making scheme for the rip off brigade.

 

[SS99]

Hi all, <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
This may be of use. The alternator on my 05 TDCI Ghia, failed in a similar way as described in the various threads. I replaced mine with a Ford spare at the time without bothering to find out what the issue was (overheating bearings, windings gone etc.). After replacing the alternator, I was speaking to a chap who was running various Fords (Mondeo, C-max, Transit Connects etc.) as fleet vehicles. He said that there is a common flaw with some the Ford alternators - it is not the alternator itself, rather the slipper pulley. This is designed to slip under sudden increases in load/demand to lengthen the belt life, unfortunately these fail on a regular basis resulting in a freely spinning pulley i.e. not turning the alternator (if you think this may be the case, turn demanding electrical items on in the car - heated windscreens, lights etc. with the engine running (assuming you have enough juice in the battery!) and see if you can see the windings in the alternator spinning). After hearing this, I examined my old alternator which I had kept, sure enough, the pulley spun freely in the load direction - with little resistance. When spinning the shaft (using a drill) the alternator was generating 14v. If this is the case with other alternators, the pulley can be modded to remove/seize the slipper bearing or the bearing replaced (from a bearing manufacturer/distributor not Ford as they will not sell this as a sep item - much cheaper that an alternator.

 

[BRT_22]

GOOD TO KNOW THANKS

 

[standard dude]

SS99 - very handy info - thanks alot for posting.

 

[Richard G]

I just wonder how many Ford dealers know this but change the alternator anyway HMMM!!!!!!!!

 

[lazyb]

Blimey thats a good one to Know i would personally rather have an increased changeing of the belt than new flippin alternator.Richard, i bet they all would coz they are all cowboys never had a good experience yet.
Edited by: lazyb

 

[MetalMicky08]

Mine went after putting on both front & rear fogs.But I was also getting an intermitant beep from the dash which went from once on start up to sounding every 30 seconds.Ford said Alt,but I got them to take out bluetooth fitted by previous owner at same garage & beep stopped

.Then 2 days later when I put fogs on,alt failed.Ford also said I needed front & rear pads (no it didn`t),front disks (no it didn`t) 2 front tyres ( no it didn`t) + new wiper blades(no it didn`t),so I`ve never been back to them.They also dented the tailgate & totally denied it when I confronted the the service manager.

 

[standard dude]

An interesting chat with the mechanic at the private garage where my car is getting a new alternator fitted and the 4th year service + MOT. A new alternator from the ford dealer costs £144 + VAT with a £30 surcharge (+VAT) which is refunded when the old alternator is handed in. So... basically they give you £30 + VAT foryour duff alternator and once it's fixed the mechanic reckons it is possible the re-manufactured alternator can end up in a new car.

 

[MetalMicky08]

That`s the case if your unlucky,I got a new one.My mate`s shop took my old one off me at 9am,new one delivered to him by 1.30pm,old taken off & returned to shop.

 

[standard dude]

I'm wondering if I should have kept the old alternator for the sake of 35 quid and to have tried to get the slip pulley mechanism fixed. Oh well, too late now.