Holy freaking pain in the ***!!!!!! The bolt at the top of the alternator isn't comin out!!!! Got the bottom bolt out. I took the nut off the back of the top bolt, but how does the bolt come off????? It has threads and the front of it (end that faces the radiator) is rounded. The back part of the bolt has a square end. Special tool needed???? Can't believe how hard this has been!!!! I'm about to give up and get it towed to the dealership.

Ahahahah hahaha...the madness !!!!! The top bolt is part of bracket. It does not come off...the alternator slides off of the bolt. I spent two and a half hours trying to figure this out. I hope this helps someone cause I promise, the manual and all the phone calls to the dealership will be to no avail. It wasn't until I was ready to cut through the bolt that I decided to slide the alternator on it and it literally fell off....boy did I feel stupid

Can't help sorry but is JTIS any help?

The service manual never mentions anything. It just references a picture with two arrows pointing to it. Mine was stuck on there and from the angle I was in I couldn't see it just slid off.

That's not the way it's supposed to work. Someone must have been in there and bashed a carriage bolt in when they did not have the right bolt.

Special tool for that job is BFH-5LB.

correction ... three months later

while researching the difference between the X308 and early X350 alternators,
i had a good look at pictures on ebay of the mounting brackets for clues

it seems the mounting brackets are identical except that the X308 version
uses a top bolt, while the X350 version uses a stud

mea culpa

the good news for X308 owners is that the higher amp alternator from the
X350 ought to fit although the hookup may be three wire on the X350
regulator while the hookup on the X308 is a two wire.

BFH-5LB equate to Big Fat Hammer 5Lbs, per chance ???

pretty much .. although a more effective word is used in place of Fat.

anyways, on sale this week only .... $300 for JF members.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate that!

The Alternators look different on these EPC pics:



Alternator and mounting bracket:



Is it true that the alternator has to be shifted backwards in direction of the gearbox after loosening 2 nuts and 1 bolt ?

Yes.. The #2 nut in the second picture is what needs to be removed. The threaded stud for that nut does not come off. It is part of the mounting bracket. The alternator simply slides off that bolt once the nut is removed. It would have been helpful to have this diagram that you posted. The diagram I had was not that detailed.