Enigma_Man
20+ Year Contributor
- 936
- 0
- May 15, 2002
-
Lawrence,
Massachusetts
I had to go through this this weekend, and almost made a mistake that would have been very expensive.
First off, get everything you need beforehand. Don't cheap out, and try to have the alternator out when you buy the new one for the core return. I didn't know that the alternator belt also drives the water pump, and drove that way for a short distance, and the car overheated. I was lucky, and didn't blow the head gasket (that I can tell thus far). I was in a hurry, and had 4 hours to do the whole thing, and ended up having to walk a long way carrying my new alternator, which made me late
Have all the parts you need, including the new alternator, to begin with.
Anyway, here's the removal procedure:
Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. Jack up the driver side front of the car, and remove that wheel. Remove the two splash shields right in front of you. They're held on with those aggravating black "removable" plastic rivets. I had to break about half of them, because they were turned into solid black goo. Save what ones you can. Remove the driver-side radiator fan (mine was out already) to give you some room to work in there.
Disconnect the harness attachment and power wire from the alt. The harness has a clip on the top you need to depress to remove it, and the wire is right next to it, and has a (probably very rusty) nut holding it on. Some PB helped me out with that.
Once you have the wires disconnected, loosen up the long tensioner bolt, but don't back it out all of the way. Once it is loose enough to pull up out of the bracket, disconnect the lock bolt that goes into the alternator through the bracket. Remove the belt, and inspect it for cracks, or other wear.
Now, look down on the left side of the alternator (if you are facing the rear of the car) and you will see a nut/bolt at the very bottom back corner of it. You need to remove that nut. You can reach it with a wrench, but it's a pain in the butt, and you can only turn like 1/4 of a turn at a time. Once you have that off, push that bolt out. You can reach it from where you removed the splash shield.
I just removed the alternator right out the front and top of the car. Put the new one in, slid in the bolt, put all the nuts and wires back on, put the belt around the alternator (make sure it's seated properly on all of the wheels, don't want it off to the side at all), put the tensioner back on (be careful not to strip the bolt that goes into the alternator, it's soft aluminum, and I stripped mine. I just put a nut on the end of it to hold everything together). To tension the belt, I start off on the loose side (paranoid about breaking the belt now that I know that it drives the water pump too) so that it squeaks when the car starts up. Tighten the tension nut a half turn or so, and re-start the car until it doesn't squeak, and you can turn on all the lights/fans/defroster without it squeaking. Verify that you are getting about 14 volts or so at the battery terminals, or with your datalogger while the car is running.
-Jesse
First off, get everything you need beforehand. Don't cheap out, and try to have the alternator out when you buy the new one for the core return. I didn't know that the alternator belt also drives the water pump, and drove that way for a short distance, and the car overheated. I was lucky, and didn't blow the head gasket (that I can tell thus far). I was in a hurry, and had 4 hours to do the whole thing, and ended up having to walk a long way carrying my new alternator, which made me late
Have all the parts you need, including the new alternator, to begin with. Anyway, here's the removal procedure:
Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. Jack up the driver side front of the car, and remove that wheel. Remove the two splash shields right in front of you. They're held on with those aggravating black "removable" plastic rivets. I had to break about half of them, because they were turned into solid black goo. Save what ones you can. Remove the driver-side radiator fan (mine was out already) to give you some room to work in there.
Disconnect the harness attachment and power wire from the alt. The harness has a clip on the top you need to depress to remove it, and the wire is right next to it, and has a (probably very rusty) nut holding it on. Some PB helped me out with that.
Once you have the wires disconnected, loosen up the long tensioner bolt, but don't back it out all of the way. Once it is loose enough to pull up out of the bracket, disconnect the lock bolt that goes into the alternator through the bracket. Remove the belt, and inspect it for cracks, or other wear.
Now, look down on the left side of the alternator (if you are facing the rear of the car) and you will see a nut/bolt at the very bottom back corner of it. You need to remove that nut. You can reach it with a wrench, but it's a pain in the butt, and you can only turn like 1/4 of a turn at a time. Once you have that off, push that bolt out. You can reach it from where you removed the splash shield.
I just removed the alternator right out the front and top of the car. Put the new one in, slid in the bolt, put all the nuts and wires back on, put the belt around the alternator (make sure it's seated properly on all of the wheels, don't want it off to the side at all), put the tensioner back on (be careful not to strip the bolt that goes into the alternator, it's soft aluminum, and I stripped mine. I just put a nut on the end of it to hold everything together). To tension the belt, I start off on the loose side (paranoid about breaking the belt now that I know that it drives the water pump too) so that it squeaks when the car starts up. Tighten the tension nut a half turn or so, and re-start the car until it doesn't squeak, and you can turn on all the lights/fans/defroster without it squeaking. Verify that you are getting about 14 volts or so at the battery terminals, or with your datalogger while the car is running.
-Jesse
