For the benefit of anyone having trouble in this context, I can (happily) report that it is possible to find a ready replacement (with a little work).

200 Tdi Defenders have a relatively unusual mounting arrangement for the alternator, which makes finding alternatives quite difficult. Such Defenders are also rather rare in Australia, which means that IF you can find a replacement, it's going to cost an arm, two legs, and a handful of private parts!! 8O

My alternator has had dicky bearings for a while now, and rather than replace them (which, admittedly, is not too difficult), I elected to search for a replacement. My future plans include the fitting of a winch, and the stanadard issue 65A rating jobbie was never going to be sufficient. So, find a better rating unit that will fit straight into your Defender? Not on your nellie!! :roll:

The solution can be found in the form of a Magnetti Marelli 100A unit from a 3.9 V8 Disco. The mouning lugs essentially are in the right places, but a couple of modifications are in order. First, there are 4 lugs on the Disco unit, whereas the Defender only requires 3. Easy fix, cut the upper rear lug off the Disco unit. It's only alloy and cuts readily with a hacksaw. Just make sure you don't get any swarf inside the alternator. Second, the lower mounting lugs are about 20mm too close together to fit over the Defender mount. You need to remove the mount (which also holds the Pwr steer pump) and mill a bit off the rear face and re-drill & tap the hole. Sounds complicated, but any engineering joint can do the job easily if you don't have access to a mill. Lastly, the Disco unit uses the wide multi V belt, but the pulley can be easily swapped for the standard V jobbie on the Defender unit. There is a bush (thick washer) behind each pulley. Use them both on the Disco unit with the Defender pulley (delete the fan) and the belts line up perfectly.

There, it sounds a lot more difficult than it really is. I now have a 100A alternator which will cope with my spotties, fridge and winch (when I get it). 8) The best bit though, is that if the new alternator ever craps itself, all I have to do is find another V8 Disco alternator to replace it, cut off one lug, and I'm away. :wink: As we all know, V8 Discos are a dime a dozen, unlike Tdi Defenders!!



Paul [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]