Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules here but I wanted to let all of you know that if you need to purchase a replacement rebuilt alternator you might want to take a look at Auto Parts Warehouse. autopartswarehouse.com (I have no affiliation with this company). Mine bit the dust this past weekend so on Monday I took my MY 03 Turbo to the Porsche dealer and was quoted a price of $1,875 to replace it with a rebuilt unit. At this price, and after reading some of the DIY threads on how to replace it, I decided to do it myself. Searching the web I found a Bosch replacement unit, part # WO133-1646737 for $309 bucks. It come with the voltage regulator and a one year warranty that can be extended to either 3 years or lifetime, which might not be a bad idea considering how often these alternators go bad. This will be my third one. I ordered it yesterday and came to the house today. Pretty impressive shipping time. Anyway, this was the best price that I could find for an OEM replacement part.

 

let us know how it goes with perhaps some pics, etc.... thx and good luck!

 

That part # looks like the one from auto geek, who are good to deal with get lots of parts from them seeing my car has 117k. This is not a commercial but it's the one I have on order.

 

I just wanted to take the time recognize the DIY alternator removal and installation thread that Sameer posted a bit ago (https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...e-replace.html).

His instructions really made it very straight forward and easy to do. I did want to mention that there were a couple of things that I did differently. I was able to remove the Y pipe. If you do remove the Y pipe you will also need to remove a vacuum hose that is located on the lower right side of the Y pipe at the point that the Y pipe enters the throttle body. Also, I did not remove the sensor on top of the Y pipe...I just disconnected it from the wiring harness. I did not remove the oil filter bracket bolts as the bracket did not impede removing the alternator to the left. Other than that it was a fun project. I did not take any pictures as Sammer's covered everything. My total time from removal to turning the key was 2 hrs, 43 minutes. Thanks again Sameer!

 

Has anyone used Rockauto? They seem to have the alternators for about $200 after core exchange but they have about 5 different choices!! Not sure which one to get!

 

If I was to do this again I'd get a 150 amp unit. The one that came out was a 120 amp.

 

I would call around for a local shop that rebuilts them or see if you can buy the parts to rebuilt it yourself. There are usually only a few parts that go bad and they cost about $50 or less. A lot of auto parts stores carry the parts the just don't tell you about that option.
There are also some good youtube videos on how to rebuld one.