1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Just replaced the alternator on my '96 900SEt, and used Mike's excellent instructions - to a certain extent. Here's a couple things I did differently that worked out well:
1) I didn't remove the intake parts, or remove the top strut brace.
2) Once the alternator was bolts were removed, I cut the end of a broom handle into a wedge, then pounded it into the space between the engine and the alternator to pop it out.
3) Instead of removing the intake and strut brace parts, I unhooked the exhaust hangers just below the alternator, as well as the hangers behind the cat. I also loosened the exhaust header clamp bolts at the turbo manifold. On my car it only required loosening the top two. This allowed me to (just barely) push the exhaust off to the side, and take the alternator down through the bottom of the car. Putting it in was a little difficult, b/c you have to push the exhaust out of the way, while lifting the alternator up into the space.
3) To put the alternator back into the mounting brackets was a tight fit - so I filed just a little off the mounting faces of the alternator - even at that it was still a tight fit. This is probably not recommended procedure, as I'm not sure if this will mess with alignment and cause problems down the road - but it seems to have worked for me.
4) Now for the best and simplest trick I learned - pulley transfer! I did the screwdriver in the blades method to remove the pulley, as Mike suggested. When I attempted to mount the pulley to the new alt, I gripped the pulley with my hand, and tightened the nut - but the pulley spun on the shaft, and I could not tighten the nut. So - I put a 3/8" drive torx socket (T50, I think) into the torx hole on the end of the shaft. Then, I dropped a 1/2" drive deep-well socket onto the nut inside the pulley. Then I inserted a 3/8" extension through the center of the deepwell, into the torx socket. Finally, I put a ratchet on the end of the extension. This allowed me to grip the deep-well socket with a pipe-wrench and tighten the nut, while holding the shaft of the alternator stationary with the torx/extension/ratchet assembly. This eliminated the slippage problem, and prevented any possibly damage to the pulley! Rock on!
5) One other thing - to hold the alternator during the pulley removal, I drove a heavy deck screw vertically into the workbench, near the edge. I could then hang one mounting hole of the alternator over this screw, with the pulley facing up. When torque was applied, the body of the alternator hit the work bench and acted as a stop, allowing me to break loose the nut for pulley removal. If the torx/deepwell method is also used for removal of the nut, this may not be necessary.
jesse_c
1996 900 SEt, 210,000 mi
posted by 68.117.19...
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