Car's been in the garage for about 4-5 weeks now, chasing one issue after another, albiet slowly as I've been both busy and lazy and its been cold out. Closing in on it though...at least we've had quite a bit of actual winter weather lately that I wouldn't normally drive the car in anyway.

Alternator seems to be making a bearing squealish noise. I've systematically replaced or removed all the other rotating things on the front of the motor and the alternator is the last thing. Battery still seems to be charging ok, I get 14.2 or better at the battery with the car running and at warm idle. I've got the front half taken apart for oil cooler issues so its probably as good a time as any to pull the alternator out. Question is, are the bearings user servicable or should I opt for a new alternator? I don't know if mine is OEM or not, never had it out to look, but what is the OEM brand? I thought it was probably Denso, which Amazon sells for about $215, but after looking through Harper Jaguar's parts catalog and doing a bit of googling, it might be that the OEM is a Bosch? Given that its a bit of a pain to R&R, maybe the most sensible thing is to just replace it since if the bearings are making a racket, the brushes are probably on the worn side too?

Also, I've seen a few instances where people seem to have replaced their alternators but still get the "Battery not Charging" message on the display. Is there anything additional that needs to be done to pair an alternator with the car apart from disconnect the battery, remove and replace? There's no marriage that has to be done in the car's ECU is there?

Thanks!

 

DENSO.

I just take my XJ/XK alternators to my local rebuilder (https://www.facebook.com/highviewrebuilders136/) and she uses TOYOTA parts for the Jaguars.(she knows which ones)

You take a chance with some rebuilt units not having the correct regulator assy and end up with BATTERY NOT CHARGING message.

 

Thank you sir! I'll hunt and see if any rebuilders exist locally.

 

The alternator bearing and voltage regulator inside can be replaced , I had both of these items go

You can place your hand on the alternator pully ( after stopped ) to feel if heating up / bad , my bearing gave up smoke on the earlier inline 6 version

Don't hit too hard with a hammer to split open the 2 aluminum halves . ask me how I know

Watch your belt tension to not stress the bearing in service

The parts can be found here out of Texas

High output alternator, Alternator & Starter Parts - Search

Use your Denso ( Bosch ? ) part # in the web page search box

VRs are dodgy if good as a new part and I had bad luck twice from 2 different E - bay vendors

You can take your off car alternator to the common auto parts store and they have a spin up machine in back with full feature alternator readouts like diode faults and such

With the alternator there is a small fuse ( 5 amp ? ) on the car for the alternator , takes power to make power ( 120 amp )

The battery not charging light may be a dirty small wires connector on the alternator shell as it comes out of the voltage regulator inside , you can remove and reinstall connector several times to abrade the electrical contact surfaces

 

Thanks Parker.

My alternator seems to be charging fine, I have no error messages, just a couple of recent Facebook posts I saw with people who replaced their alternators and got the charge warning message and one person who insisted that the new alternator had to be married to the ECU to correct it (which I wasn't buying).

 

I'm not aware of the engine ECU having anything to do with alternator in how the alternator specific works, but I don't have this model

 

x308 does not have ecu controller alternator.

 

Nope, didn't think so. Thanks everyone!

 

Thank god it doesn’t.

So the 4 cylinder turbo gas Ingenium (2017+ F-Pace anyways) has a solenoid activated variable electromechanical water pump. What a pos. Variable everything can go jump off a bridge.

 

The newer designs leave me cold as well.

 

I second motorcarman on local rebuilder (or DIY like Parker if you are up to it). The only downside is like my nearby shop often takes a few weeks or a month. But buying "rebuilt" from the local auto parts shops is a bit dicey. Sometimes they only replace the one component that is faulty, clean it up, box it up and ship it out, i.e. not a full rebuild. They can cut corners and still offer "lifetime" warranties because they know statistically, the part is going into a car that's already got a bazillion miles on it, something else is likely to send it to the crusher before their part fails again or otherwise, it'll be sold to a different owner soon enough anyway. (And I can't tell you how many times I've had to wait a half hour to check out at Oh Really's while they try to find a customer's warranty information in their database because they don't remember their old phone number or know anything else useful to search.) Going to a local alternator/starter shop you won't get a lifetime warranty, but you can get an itemized list of everything they replaced/upgraded.

 

You may not even have an issue with the alternator and just fine but the engine external crankshaft harmonic balancer pully assembly slipping internally making the squeal , HB can be rebuilt at very special shops around the nation

The V8 engine piston stoke angle configuration may not even have a HB depending on design considerations , I don't have the V8 but the earlier inline 6 which definitely does and causes problems of internal HB slippage from reading others

The way to test it is to mark with white paint mark the 2 or 3 pulleys including the timing gear teeth if this model has them that they line up together before engine run ( good hard run with A/ C compressor on and heavy electrical load ) and after engine off see that the marks line back up , no belts removal needed

If good test remove alternator to the common auto parts store for a spin up test ( free ) , this test not under real world conditions of heat and electrical load but " may " hear squeal , depending on how the alternator belt pulley is side loaded in the spinning test fixture

A specific alternator shop should in most cases would know what they are doing in the alternator world and that's what you want

I am very satisfied with my local alternator shop in technical knowledge on what they replace in the alternator assembly and even whole car issues components vs. buying a quote " rebuilt " alternator and I would not even trust new alternator as they are junk

You can take alternator to both free test and compare notes , the alternator shop likes questions as that's there jam as professionals and you are asking and not just stocking duties , but that's kind of pregidis , but there are some in the auto parts store that know what they're talking about

 

I can feel and hear the bearing in the alternator when i turn it by hand, so I'm (fingers crossed) fairly confident it needs to be rebuilt.

Problem is getting the darn thing out. Wire and plug came out fine, bottom nut and bolt, easy enough. But that top 10mm bolt seems to be frozen in place. I put a 6 point impact socket on it and applied steady pressure for a bit, its really not budging yet and i REALLY don't want to snap the head off it. I've fought with it for the last hour and decided to stop before i break it. Left it soaking in PB Blaster on both ends, maybe tomorrow will be better. I suppose if i snap the bolt, at least the alternator will then come out and i can remove the bracket and maybe get the rest of the bolt out or replace the whole bracket if necessary.

Is it possible to remove the whole alternator bracket with it still in there? Looks like two bolts are easy, third one maybe...is there a fourth behind the alternator?

Any useful tips here?

 

Can you pull (rotate) upwards on the bottom of the alternator to loosen the bolt?

You could also reinstall and tighten the bottom bolt. If you continue to loosen the top one without the bottom bolt, the loosening action could potentially set the alternator at an angle (albeit a very small one but, every little bit helps) and guarantee to shear the bolt. This is just what I’d do. Maybe spray some penetrating oil overnight?

 

Its soaking now in penetrant. I'll try putting the bottom bolt back in though, great suggestion. Thanks!

 

Patience is the key! There is a nice video of someone who had a struggle but one in the end!

 

Thanks Pete! The video describes my situation nicely, so I'll try the heatgun later when I get back to it. Locktite would explain everything.

 

Heatgun seemed to be the deciding factor. I ran it on high for a bit and preheated the housing for the threads and the bolt began backing out nicely once it got moving. It was a bit tricky getting the alternator itself out after it was detached, I can't imagine how some people can claim to have take it out through the wheel well as the alternator is almost twice the size of the opening through the suspension, but a few twists and turns and it came right out the front.

Located an actual rebuilder, dropped it off after work last night and he called me by 7pm and said it was done, so I ran back and picked it up. He said the rear bearing was a pain to get out and that some of the brushes had actually come loose. All fixed, pulley spins freely and silently now $81. Should be able to reassemble Friday evening. Looking forward to driving the car again, its been awhile, but on the other hand we've had on and off snow and other sloppy weather, so this forced storage kept a lot of salt off the sheetmetal.

 

Well, that beats the RockAuto price of $200. Glad to see you were able
to get that done locally as the $200 does not include shipping.