Quote:
Originally Posted by TX
Quote:
Originally Posted by pbonsalb
It does come out but you have to disconnect the bolt holding a pipe to the fan shroud and disconnect the clipped in hoses. You also have to wiggle and tilt. And you have to unclog and hold the small reservoir hose to a position forward of the shroud and hold the upper hose to the side. Since it is a bit tricky, I can see how there could be problems.
My car is a 2008 with just over 100k miles and I have had the fan out half a dozen times. It is never fun and I always worry about breaking that small nipple. I will likely replace the cooling system hoses in the next year. 10 years is a fair lifetime.
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The new alternator is installed.
There were a few issues, I'll try to list the major ones.
1) do not break off the bleeder valve nipple on the upper radiator hose if you remove the fan assembly. It requires you to bend it and it will snap very easily if you have an older car (done that, new hoses on order)
1a) do not break off any of the fan shroud clips, they are brittle from years of heat and snap if you touch them. I broke one.
2) use cardboard to protect the radiator once you have the fan out as you will be slamming all kinds of tools around near it.
3) getting the old alternator off -- The bottom bolt does truly need to be backed off about 1/4 inch and then hit with a hammer to knock the rear captive nut back just enough to make it clear then rock like hell and it, remove the rest of the bolt and it will come out if you paid your dues. This part took me nearly an hour to figure out even though I knew the tricks.
4) --- this was the worst part for me --- the 14mm box wrench needed on the belt tensioner bolt continued to slip off. any 14mm Box wrench is pretty short, so the box wrench I had was barely enough even with a rag wrapped around it because it was cutting my hand with the force required to move the tensioner. A socket wont work because it hits a metal pipe right in front of the bolt as the tensioner travels you will hit the pipe and cant get full travel. You will need every last inch. A box wrench is the only way. Maybe they make a 12 inch long 14mm box wrench, that would be cool. I was considering cutting a piece of pipe to extend the box wrench to get more leverage.
5) While using said inadequate short 14mm box wrench on said belt tensioner, be very careful putting the belt back on. I ended up busting a finger pretty seriously because the wrench slipped pinning my finger between the belt and the alternator pulley. I had to dig out the box wrench from the bottom of the chassis and tension the pulley to get my finger back from under the belt. You've been warned. It's not pretty.
6) the new bottom bolt will go in with some persuasion make sure it's lined up and give it a smack and then start threading into the rear nut.
If I forgot anything please feel free to correct me.
Also you may all be interested in this:
The alternator (Vaelo BMW original 2009) that I removed had a very obvious failure, and actually appears to be an easy fix.
There is a plastic cap on the voltage regulator which contains two brushes which ride on the commutator. In my case, and seems to be a very common issue, the brushes were totally shot to the point they were no longer protruding from the plastic housing and were unable to make contact with the copper on the commutator. They were in fact stuck in place from built up carbon dust and worn down. Also the commutator was completely gummed up with this graphite grease/powder from them wearing. Bottom line -- it was no longer making any connection so the regulator said "Screw this peace out I'm done I don't know what to do" and stopped working. I do not see any reason that you could not clean up the commutator and replace the brushes and get another 10 years out of this alternator. I will be doing so even though I replaced it with a new alternator. I've seen the repair for 7 bucks you can get brushes and solder them in if you have decent repair skills and can work a soldering iron.
I just thought I'd let you all know of the root cause of the failure and that it appears to be easily fixed, or for a few bucks more just buy the whole regulator assembly.
Due to the 10 year age I decided to buy the whole alternator since it was a deal at $250-$280 |
I just replaced the alternator myself and want to thank everyone that has collaborated. I wish I had read this post but got too excited and it was a bitch to remove.
If you don't happen the lower bolt, get yourself a can of WD40 with the flexible tip. It will become a life saver and will really help getting the alternator out. It really took me like a day and a half (5-10 minute intervals) to take it out so made the job harder than it needed to be.
Also, I highly recommend you get a serpentine belt tool. You can get a loner from autozone or advance for free. It will help to move the tensioner without damaging the bolt, which I damaged a little bit by using a regular ratchet and 14mm socket.