Hey guys. Haven't been here in years because, well, my excuse is I haven't found the time, inclination, necessity or money to begin a more thorough re-furb of my mother's dream car from back in my college days. RIP mom, but someday...I promise. If there's an internet in Heaven (? LOL- I doubt it!), she'll get this.

In recent years "the Yag" as we affectionately refer to ours, with around 100k on it, has been used as an occasional driver to dinner or just out and about, has been through many a problem from radiator fans to fuel pumps an etc etc etc over the years. In more recent times been pressed into, occasional car for a teen to commute now and again

But I digress. Yes, I've lectured her on the issues with trying to keep a vintage car in sound condition, and that it is NOT to be abused, etc, and I believe that she gets it.

Anyways, it's latest problem, which is well beyond my skill set, is that the 35 year old alternator has died according to my local parts shop- battery tester wielding guy, saying zero voltage coming from the alternator.

The last time I was at my high dollar import mechanic many years ago, he did mention what a PITA said alternator replacement is, but I don't remember much more than that. Apparently this is a bit of a "dig" to get to?

The reason I ask, is that though this is beyond my skill set, I do have a very good and trusted, um, how would I say, mechanic who fixes mostly "low end income peoples" vehicles and who has worked on several of my older kid-cars- 05 Accord, 09 Civic, 02 Beetle, and the Mastiff hauler 07 Expedition. But these vehicles obviously are all from this millennium.
So yes he has been a good general mechanic for me for the last 5 years.

The question is, is this alternator replacement truly a "import specialist" type repair?? Every time I go to him it costs a minimum $1000 regardless of the issue it seems. Every time I go to my "hole in the wall" mechanic it's like $100-300. I've read crazy stuff about oil pan dropping and tie rod removal to gain access?

Is this likely to be one of those one minimum $1k repairs, or no big deal for a competent general mechanic??

Thanks in advance, and for hanging in there to the end!!

 

Hi Noclutch,

Alternator is a PITA to get out and refit. It is time consuming, I did mine last year.

Alternator itself is no biggie, a couple hundred bucks here in Oz and pretty much off the shelf of a reputable stockist.

Its just the position of it under the car.

Everything is in the way and you have to reach in to get at it and in my case I was on my back for a couple of hours with dislodged crud dropping into by face all the time. A wonderful experience and memory!!

You don't have to touch the oil pan, but slackening off the sway bar gives you some much needed wriggle room.

Did I also mention that deep inside the engine bay there is hardly enough room to get hands and tools in there let alone a light source.

The biggest cost is a couple of hours labour removing and refitting.

There are no special tools involved, you are just unbolting the old one and then bolting in the new one.

With patience you could do it yourself.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

Besides loosening the anti-sway bar...which I've always found to be essential....the oil cooler hoses might need to be shifted slightly. This is a simple matter of removing the clips that hold the hoses to the subframe.

The main (big) output wire can be hard to remove from the back of the alternator. Not enough slack. This is eased by disconnecting the wire from the "+" post on the firewall and removing to six (or so) clips that hold the wire to the body. This allows the slack needed for wire to come down with the alternator.

Be gentle with the small exciter wire. It's a bit fragile.

With such limited space I've found that using a smaller 1/4" driver socket set is useful for undoing the nuts and bolts after you've initially broken them loose with something bigger

All-in-all it isn't so bad. Just be patient.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks for the insight and encouragement guys!! Nice to hear that it isn't necessarily a specialized procedure, but more just "big dig" type project.
My hunch is that one of the biggest obstacles will be loosening the nuts and bolts that haven't been touched in 35 years!

 

Probably no, corroded in place. Jaguar's "rust protection" works well here. Jag juice aka oil!!


Might check with David Boger at everydayxj for a known good used unit as budget seems important. He is just up the coast a few hundred miles from you. Good guy, posts here with help often.


I like Doug's method of dealing with the wires top side.


Carl

 

"Rust protection" package? Oh yea! I have lots of that going on under my hood! But yea- good for the metal bits it's covering

Thanks again all. I did speak briefly with my budget mechanic, and he said that he actually has done these alternators in the past, and it's just a matter of moving things around to get there. And that is is a lot easier than some BMWs that need the engine lifted up to gain alternator access?? Now that's just plain stupid!