Follow up Alternator questions
 

I am 1 step ahead of where stateofidleness was when he originally posted his "Stuck in alternator swap" thread: I whacked the bolt (the one that goes through at 2 on the photo below) enough so that the alternator came loose and can be moved about in its space, an inch or two this way and that. But I am stumped as to how to extract it from its cubby hole---no matter how I twist and turn and lift etc, I can't seem to either slide it out or obtain access to the top (where I guess there are electrical connections to remove). Some questions:

I don't think I've read to do this anywhere else, but the service manual says to "remove protective shield" (marked as 3 on the pic) to aid with access. Have most of you that have pulled their alternators removed that shield? (I would just do it, but it looks like it will be a real PITA: access to the bolts holding it in is real limited.)

My kid suggested we take out the 6 bolts holding the cover plate (see 4 on the pic), which would get the bracket (1) out of the way---should make removing the alternator easy, I would think. Since there's a hose running into that area (from the left and below), it's obvious some type of fluid (we guessed coolant) will be coming out if we do that. Is it coolant? Is this area high enough that not much will come out? Basically, does this sound like a good idea, or has anybody done this?

Any suggestions would be most welcome. I don't have a heated garage---wrestling around with an obstinate (and cold) alternator in a cold garage is getting old fast.


http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...MG_17632-1.jpg

Just an idea:
I changed the front motor mount a while back, and was easily able to lower the engine a couple of inches...Do you think that could give you enough room?

Send me a PM with email and I'll send you the procedure from the factory repair manual as a word doc.

Hey, I tried...got the following:

"Lil bastard has exceeded their stored private messages quota and can not accept further messages until they clear some space."


Looks like it's time to jettison some old mail. :rolleyes:



J.fro: Yeah, it really would take very little to give me enough clearance. I don't know much about it (messin' with motor mounts) but it seems like it would be a lot of work, No?

I removed #3. As you say, you don't need much clearance BUT getting to the fasteners of the guard is a pain- can't remember with any accuracy how I did it... :o

removal of #3 is definitely not needed.
it really is just a matter of wiggling and tilting until you are able to slide it out of #4 a few inches or so to get access to the back.

there's no connections on top, just on the very back. pay close attention to how these go before you disconnect them.

you've already done the hard part, which was getting the long bolt out of that rail, now you just need to rotate back towards that rail a little bit to raise the alternator over #4 and then tilt it. should be clear enough to pull right out the front and hang by the wires, disconnect them and it will slide right out.

when reinstalling, pay VERY close attention to the bolt side... you saw the carnage I got when the alternator freed itself... getting it towed tomorrow as a matter of fact. my #4 snapped off completely!

old mail jettisoned... try again

Having successfully finished up this project (like a month ago), I thought I'd throw in some final commentary (ie answering my own questions, posed above). (Hopefully, so as to make things a little easier for others trying this for the first time.)

To begin with, I did not remove the shield (#3 in the photo above). It might have helped, but it really looked like it would be a pain to do.

This is what I did do: I noticed that as I tried to manipulate the loosened-but-not-yet-freed alternator, it seemed to be tapping up against the head of one of the bolts holding the intake manifold in place. You can see this bolt in the photo above: it’s just above and very slightly to the left of the #1 on the pic. It’s not too hard to access, so I got a wrench in there (a little box-end, as I recall---no room for a ratchet) and removed it. Bingo---I had the alternator out within two minutes. Don’t know if this will help in all cases, but it sure made the difference in mine (a 2001 S). Don’t lose the bolt or forget to replace it!

The rest went pretty smoothly. I took the alternator into a place in Akron (a place recommended by my usual mechanic) for servicing. (It's a place that's been in business for like 60 years or more. Talked to one guy---probably 70---who had worked there basically all his life. You walk in and there's alternators everywhere: on shelves, countertops, floor----you’re trippin’ over them.) They charged me $95 for a thorough rebuild. I don’t know a whole lot about it, but that didn’t seem too bad.

Putting everything back together was pretty easy. And it runs. AND, it turns out I don’t even need a new battery (yet) as I had originally thought. Frosting on the cake.

All in all, a very “do-able” job, even for someone without a ton of mechanical experience (like me!).