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Alternator Air Duct

4K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  russcoop 
#1 ·
It’s a nice day and I decided to do a visual inspection underneath my 330i. I noticed this hose which looks like it connects to the back of the alternator but with nothing attached from the front. Is something missing or does the car come like this?
932010
 
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#3 ·
From what I remember I want to say yes there should be a duct connecting to the left air "tunnel" that routes air toward the brake rotor ... but not 100% sure ... mine doesn't have that.

Edit: leaving it like that won't hurt anything, just clear out any leaves or nests that are in there.

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#9 ·
It’s a nice day and I decided to do a visual inspection underneath my 330i. I noticed this hose which looks like it connects to the back of the alternator but with nothing attached from the front. Is something missing or does the car come like this?
You are missing this. I guess it helps to keep water, leaves and other road debris away from the back of your alternator which is a useful thing to do.

 
#12 ·
yeah unless something changed you should have a duct running to the brake air inlet ducting.
as mentioned it’s for cooling the alternator. early in the forum days some people reported having removed it only to have alternator prematurely fail. it’s hard to say if one directly caused the other since they were tracking the cars. but it sure seemed to correlate a cause and affect.
I would replace. make sure the belt doesn’t hit it.
 
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