Repeated Alternator Failures

[2n2this]

2001 1.8t, Over the past week I have had a new battery and 2 new alternators installed by a reputable european auto repair shop. Last night, after picking the car up from the shop, and a mere 7.2 miles, the battery light came back on. The previous installation lasted 3 days and 70 miles. If the vehicle was scanned, I don't have any of the codes. Am I wrong to assume that there should have some codes thrown during the previous failures? Any ideas on what could cause this or what I should be looking at from an electrical standpoint? Any help, as always, is much appreciated.

[Turbomania]

The shop you say that is so reputable is not doing you any favors by continuing to jerk you around. Any shop that has some experience with electrical systems in modern cars should be able to track your problems down. When any shop starts "throwing parts." at a problem then you should take it else where. It seems that you might have a ground fault somewhere in the charging/starting system that needs a proper mechanic to track it down and fix it. Good grounds are a must for good electrical system operation and with out the proper grounds or a short circuit our cars will not work. I'd take it to my VW dealer for service but then I am a fan of taking my car to one place for a one stop fix. VW has their VAG-COM plus any number of multi-meters that can track this problem down for you. I don't know how much you have spent so far but I'm sure it's more than VW would have charged to actually fix it.
Good Luck tracking it down and please consider another mechanic for this and any future repairs on your car. JK

[dbmcd]

Turbomania is right...and it probably wasn't the battery or the alternator. It sounds like a loose connection. You didn't mention whether the car failed to start or just the battery light came on.

[green02turbo]

take a good look the the fuse box on top of your battery. Any black or discolored connectors or melted plastic means trouble.

A bad battery can make a good alternator not charge also. Our VW's use some type of "smart" charging. They are very sensitive to batteries with shorted or open cells.