Ford Focus Alternator Replacement

[M.J.]

Hi,

 

I have a 2006 Ford Focus Estate which has a bad alternator. Booked it into my local garage who said they would run a diag first as there are common issues with the data lines braking. However, they said the alternator is actually bad and that I need a new one. They've quoted me £310 + vat for a new alternator directly from Ford (They said they only fit OEM, as the aftermarkets can have bad regulators).

 

The full quote to fix the issue is over £600 which isn't really worth it due to age and condition of car. I only paid £1000 for it 2 months ago. That's for labour, alternator, belts and new battery (mine is at 40% health apparently).

 

In context, it had a GEM corrision issue which I fixed by cleaning the contacts, the O2 sensor(s) are faulty which I was quoted £500 to fix as under the car and required removal of other stuff and is just an old car which isn't worth this sort of money. Anyone got any advice on aftermarket/refurbed/second hand alternators. Or should I scrap this and move on only after 2 months?

 

[isetta]

When my brothers focus alternator failed we bought a 2nd hand one on eBay for 30 quid and fitted it ourselves.   Lasted the 18 months until he scrapped the car for other reasons.  I know there’s luck involved. If seller says it works and it doesn’t then you should get your money back. But how long it will work for us luck.  If you have to pay someone else to fit it, that’s more of a gamble as you can’t get the labour cost refunded. Is it a difficult one to fit?  If you can’t do it, friend or family member?

[M.J.]

4 minutes ago, isetta said:

When my brothers focus alternator failed we bought a 2nd hand one on eBay for 30 quid and fitted it ourselves.   Lasted the 18 months until he scrapped the car for other reasons.  I know there’s luck involved. If seller says it works and it doesn’t then you should get your money back. But how long it will work for us luck.  If you have to pay someone else to fit it, that’s more of a gamble as you can’t get the labour cost refunded. Is it a difficult one to fit?  If you can’t do it, friend or family member?

I've not done a job like it before, but I guess if I found one for £30 then it would be worth trying it myself. If all else fails, just scrap it. 

 

I think the problem is, I see a lot of alternators advertised as new for only £130 from euro car parts etc. but they appear to be the wrong type if I'm being quote £300 for aftermarket from someone else. So not entirely sure which alternator I would actually need. 

[M.J.]

Can anyone figure out what alternator this is?? Trying to price up the right one, but there are so many different ones out there.

 

[unofix]

I guess your photo's are too big for the FOC site.

Repost making them a little smaller.

[M.J.]

2 hours ago, unofix said:

I guess your photo's are too big for the FOC site.

Repost making them a little smaller.

This might work.

 

 

 

I believe I need one with part number "ms1022118354". When I type that into eBay, many second hand ford focus alternators come up at 105a which sounds about right.

 

 

 

 

[unofix]

It's a Denso 1022118354 alternator. As you say you can get them from the likes of Euro Car Parts for about £120ish

The important thing to check is that the small 'Smart' plug connector is the correct match for your car.

 

[isetta]

I mentioned eBay above and the gamble/chance of 2nd hand .  I saw this one. Item no.  284509326806. On eBay. £27.99,   I’m not saying buy it , I’m just showing you an example.  

[M.J.]

On 7/21/2022 at 1:52 PM, isetta said:

I mentioned eBay above and the gamble/chance of 2nd hand .  I saw this one. Item no.  284509326806. On eBay. £27.99,   I’m not saying buy it , I’m just showing you an example.  

Thanks, I did buy a second hand one in the end. Just not that one. The one I bought looked slightly better condition but was £5 more. If it works, amazing. If not, a £600 mechanic quote basically scraps the car anyway.

 

The only worry I have about doing it myself is that the stretch belt seems like a pain to get back on. But the videos I've seen show one person using grips to line up the alternator and tension it at the same time and another using a crowbar while putting the alternator on to tension the belt and put the alternator in the right position. We'll see what happens I guess. I'm not putting a new belt on because I'm cheap and the old one will probably be more stretchy to reassemble. 

[M.J.]

The car is alive and working! Not as hard as I thought it was going to be! 

[unofix]

1 hour ago, M.J. said:

The car is alive and working! Not as hard as I thought it was going to be! 

Very good news !!! 👍

[isetta]

Thanks for letting us know. This is a good example of what can be done yourself to keep a car going without paying huge bills or scrapping it due to huge quotes. Hope the alternator keeps working fine. And hope it encourages others to have a go at fixing things.  

[M.J.]

On 7/25/2022 at 6:27 PM, isetta said:

Thanks for letting us know. This is a good example of what can be done yourself to keep a car going without paying huge bills or scrapping it due to huge quotes. Hope the alternator keeps working fine. And hope it encourages others to have a go at fixing things.  

Its not going to last. It needs new O2 sensors which I was quoted £500 for the parts from ford (cant seem to find aftermarket that would fit but not looked that much). The car keeps going to stall while idleing because of wrong mixture of air/fuel maybe??? 
A temp fix was a bottle of octiclean but that effect has worn off. £35 to keep it running for a few more months is pretty decent tho.