November has not been good to F35063: SLCM and stop light last week; CD cassette week before; very slow leaking front tire (just older than the other three). Yesterday: BATTERY IS NOT CHARGING!

Car tells me 'Battery not Charging;' put in a new battery, still not charging; zero voltage between engine and body suggests ground is good; voltage from false bulkhead connector to engine is 12.5 V just like the new battery, not 14.5V if alternator was charging.

Car starts and runs. (It has a brand new battery).

Pulled down an excellent set of instructions for removing the alternator:


"1 disconnect the battery
2 disconnect the air filter cabin not completely but just enough to get it to set to the the driver side of the engine
3 loosen your tires on the front passenger side and jack up your car remove that tire take off or loosen the splash guard in that wheel well i just loosened it
4 Go to the top under the hood loosen the tension-er so you can get the belt off of your alternator off to do this when you loosen the bold hold it with a pry bar when it loose take the belt off and release the tension-er slowly
there are two screws that hold the alternator on the bracket take those out from the top under the hood one is below on the bottom of the alternator which you will have to get under the car and the other is on top on the side where you had removed your air filter cabin there is a NUT IN THE BACK WHICH YOU HAVE TO HOLD ON THE SCREW ON THE TOP WHICH IN BACK OF THE ALTERNATOR
5 some people may have a splash guard in the undercarriage remove that
6 wiggle your alternator and it shall come some what free
7 go back to under the hood and reposition your alternator and take the positive boot off the harness and remove the nut and remove the wire from the alternator
8 from under the hood of the car again take the clip that was next to the nut you just removed off the alternator with a pair of pliers be sure not to squeeze to hard you may break the clip this will take off the second harness

9 take the alternator though the body of f the car and slide it though the lining of the wheel well

Repeat backwards to reinstall "


Only two problems: the 13 mm bolt on the bottom is so badly rusted in, I broke two sockets without budging it; the upper 10 mm bolt might move if I could find a wrench with enough throw range to move it. Frustrated beyond belief!

Did find a couple of remanufactured alternators on eBay (one for $105 inc shipping looks pretty good). But if I can't get the old one off . . . .

Car may be a candidate for the boneyard.https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/i...icon_frown.gif

 

I feel for you Jim. Sometimes it takes some time. I guess you've used PB Blaster on the rusted bolt ? and it isn't rounded off is it ? If not, new socket and more leverage might help, or heat if you can get it in there.

 

You would be best off using an impact driver on that bolt. They are much better at loosening stuck fasteners. Alternatively, an oxy-acetylene flame (or both!) Forget ordinary blow torches, they are not as good.

One of those will get it off. More force will probably just break it off.

 

Tnx for the kind thoughts , Jim. Yes, PT Blaster. I am thinking a half inch 6 pt impact 13mike mike might work; not sure about the 10mm. Either way, going to turn it over to my independent. Assumes he will do it; if not, local AAA. Interesting enough, for five minutes it charges, then something heats up (14.17V, then sudden drop to 12.5V; which is straight voltage on new battery -- diode? Then the message.).

But time to look for something less worrisome: maybe lease a new XF or LR4. At my age, busting *** trying to remove rusted bolts is a nonstarter!

Mark: can't get in to use either an impact or torch, without taking half the car apart.

 

Ya changing the alternator was time consuming compared to other cars I have changed. Horrible location unless you have a lift! But changed mine out about two months ago and is running great.

 

Before pulling the alternator off, you may want to consider changing the voltage regulator. Those are more likely to die first before the alternator. I believe the voltage regulator is held onto by two screws at the back of the alternator.

 

FIXED! Took crate to a starter and alternator guy (Browning in Virginia Beach); under an hour. "The 13mm bolt was easy; 10mm was really difficult; lots of corrosion!" $272.50 included a rebuilt alternator.

F35063 avoided Jaguar Heaven, once again.

The tech did say that the guy on the Jag forum (I had given him a copy of the thread) who said he could do it in 20 minutes was doing on a car fresh off the assembly line!

He had to recut threads on the upper 10 mm.

 

I changed the Alt in my 2000 XJ8 last August. On here somewhere is a thread where you take the alt out the side by removing pass tire and inner wheel cover. Novice here it took about 45 mins to remove. Had it rebuilt for about $75.00 with 2 year warr. Reinstalled in
about 45. Works great.