# Alternator pulley question



## Almost1 (Nov 3, 2010)

The previous owner sold me the car with no alternator, and now I'm trying to get one. They're all sold without a pulley, and I see there is a difference for models with A/C. My question is, are the pulleys different from A/C to non-A/C or is it just the current rating of the alternator that's different? I'm asking for a model with 1.7 and A/C


----------



## kirk_augustin (Jul 21, 2012)

You are going to be much better off picking up at least the pulley at a salvage yard.
Maybe the alternator as well.
That is because you could end up with a mismatch if you buy them separately.
While an AC car might use more current, generally alternators waste more gas than they are worth when they have larger pulleys.
You likely don't need a larger pulley.


----------



## cuppie (May 4, 2005)

The alternator is higher-rated, due to additional electrical demand of running air conditioning (namely, the compressor clutch, and increased use of the radiator fan.) 
Pulley: as best as I recall, A/C and non-A/C are different depth, not different diameter. And, it's a large difference - wrong one = alt pulley doesn't line up with the rest of the belt drive. 

My suggestion would be to go thru ETKA (VW parts catalog), get the part# for yours, and cross-reference that against other models, see what else you can pillage from.


----------



## huck731 (Jun 27, 2009)

cuppie said:


> The alternator is higher-rated, due to additional electrical demand of running air conditioning (namely, the compressor clutch, and increased use of the radiator fan.)
> Pulley: as best as I recall, A/C and non-A/C are different depth, not different diameter. And, it's a large difference - wrong one = alt pulley doesn't line up with the rest of the belt drive.
> 
> My suggestion would be to go thru ETKA (VW parts catalog), get the part# for yours, and cross-reference that against other models, see what else you can pillage from.



still going to be tough with etka since the vast majority of parts guys don't know how to navigate the old pages of the catalog. I've had guys tell me "they can't because the vin doesnt work" just because they are lazy. tbh though, it is my favorite part of the catalog.


----------



## cuppie (May 4, 2005)

Jim Ellis VW parts makes an online ETAK available for all to use. 
Is ETAK fun to look things up in? Nope. But, it's there....
And, when you click a part (to pull up its details page), the site also lists what other vehicles the part is used on.


----------

