My alternator is cactus, and I've got a 'new' one on the way (hooray for ebay!). In the meantime, I thought I'd pull the old alternator out so the new one can just go straight in when it arrives. Nice idea on paper...

I've got the alternator off and sitting loose in the engine bay, but I'm buggered if I know how to actually get the thing *out* of the engine bay! The aircon pipes seem to be too much of an obstruction to pull it out the top (which seemed the logical way to go at first), but failing light and heavy rain meant I ran out of time to see if perhaps underneath would provide better chances of success.

Anyway...is it possible to get the alternator out easily, or do I have to remove other stuff first? If so, what?

Wriggle it left, wriggle it right,
Do the hokey-pokey and she'll be right!

Comes out the top, carefully move rubber hoses aside. (2.6L 4 pot)
Go down for a V6 alternator.

or you could just reef it out. then bend the pipes back straight again after =D

Mmmm,
changed one the other day on a TJ wagon (6G74). Took the front bank timing belt cover off as well as the top alternator mount bracket and put a couple of rags over the timing belt so it didn't get damaged then bent the A/C pipework sideways about 2cm and presto out it came.

Cheers
Peter

hmmm...not really giving me much confidence! Might leave it to the weekend when I'll have the time to jack it up and have a proper look underneath and see how that goes. Unless these cars were built by monkeys, there has to be a way to do it that doesn't involve engine out or bent pipes.

hi not sure but there is a bracket that goes from the bottom of the intake manifold down to the lower part of the engine if you undo three of these bolts and just swing it out of the way it should come out easy from under the car

Most jobs on a Magna, from changing spark plugs to rebuilding driveshafts or replacing clutch plate should start with these simple instructions:

To Change Spark Plugs (or alternator, or whatever)

STEPS:
(1) Remove engine and gearbox from vehicle.
(2) Rest. Have a . . .:beer:

Most jobs on a Magna, from changing spark plugs to rebuilding driveshafts or replacing clutch plate should start with these simple instructions:

To Change Spark Plugs (or alternator, or whatever)

STEPS:
(1) Remove engine and gearbox from vehicle.
(2) Rest. Have a . . .:beer:

To change spark plugs on a 2nd Gen V6.
1) take spark plugs out
2) put new spark plugs in
Nothing has to be removed on a 2nd gen v6 in order to change the plugs:kb:

+1

Same for 4 Cyl :)

if you remove the brace and coil from the side of the engine then you can wriggle the alternator out quite easily

What coil? The obstructions from above are the brace and the aircon pipes, no coil there that I can see. The obstruction from below is the driveshaft.

Just to clarify, this is a V6 TS that we're talking about.

So short of pulling the car half to pieces, how do these damned things come out? There's got to be an easier way to do it!

Try removing the top mounting bracket that bolts to the head. Once this is out of the way you'll have more room to wriggle it around.

Ok, so call me a bit slow...finally twigged re the coil, and now understand what you mean re the bracket (the clarifications re 'the bracket bolted to the head' helped, thanks). :facejump:

I can see how that gives more wiggle room, but if that's the way the alternator is coming out the clearances must be pretty damn tight, because it isn't looking to me to be any better than the way that's blocked by the aircon hoses.

Either way, the light is gone now and I've got work to do inside, so I'll have another look at it in the morning.

Who'd be daft enough to be a mechanic and have to put up with this nonsense all day long??? :eek2:

Ok, so call me a bit slow...finally twigged re the coil, and now understand what you mean re the bracket (the clarifications re 'the bracket bolted to the head' helped, thanks). :facejump:

I can see how that gives more wiggle room, but if that's the way the alternator is coming out the clearances must be pretty damn tight, because it isn't looking to me to be any better than the way that's blocked by the aircon hoses.

Either way, the light is gone now and I've got work to do inside, so I'll have another look at it in the morning.

Who'd be daft enough to be a mechanic and have to put up with this nonsense all day long??? :eek2:


lol i do it all day

I've got a gen 2 V6 but have never had the "pleasure" of needing to rip the alternator out. It's a Mitsu made one, isn't it? I know the Bosch unit on the 2.6L die at about the 190,000 mark from experience, but how long does the Mitsu V6 unit last?

At least the v6 starter motor is way easier to pull out than the one on the 4 cylinder.

Maybe if we converted the Magna to rear wheel drive by turning the motor through 90 degrees we wouldn't have these problems? lol

Yep, the V6 starter is a piece of cake - I've pulled mine out on the side of the road while lying in a gutter filled with water from the pouring rain, and it was still a pretty easy job all things considered. You do need to know where everything is though, or else field removals get a wee bit trickier.

The alternator, on the other hand, is a prick.

As for how long it lasts, I don't know if previous owners have had any serious issues but it's got just over 360,000km on it now, so I'd imagine it's at least had the brushes done a few times.

i'm the autosparkie that puts up with this sorta crap all day long.... and much worse..... tis a cakewalk really

i'm the autosparkie that puts up with this sorta crap all day long.... and much worse..... tis a cakewalk really

As you know, I finally clued in re the coil. I removed the bolts and pulled aside the bracket that the coil bolts to, and can now see what you actually meant in your previous post. However the remaining bolt on the brace that sits below this bracket is causing a major headache - the remaining bolt holding it on the right side of the bay is tighter than a lawyers wallet, and access is poor to say the best, which makes it somewhat tricky in terms of applying sufficient force to break it loose. If I can just work out how to do that, I might be on the way to success...

Maybe if we converted the Magna to rear wheel drive by turning the motor through 90 degrees we wouldn't have these problems? lol

Then we could call it a Sigma.

gahh!

Success at last. I'd got so used to seeing obstructions that I was trying to remove bits that it turns out weren't actually in the way...

Okay, so for a definitive list of steps to remove the alternator (for anyone who stumbles across this thread with a similar problem):

1. Disconnect battery negative terminal.
2. Remove plug from rear of alternator, along with the cable that is bolted on.
3. Remove the idler pulley above the alternator (the nut is actually the locknut for the tensioner, plus it gets in the way if left in place)
4. Loosen the tensioner bolt until you can remove the drivebelt from the alternator pulley.
5. The ignition coil is situated above and inwards from the alternator. Remove the two bolts at the top and the three bolts at the bottom and move the whole assembly off to the side (it will sit nicely on the left hand side of the engine bay out of the way).
6. Remove the upper alternator bolt (connecting it to the brace which is bolted to the block).
7. Remove the lower alternator pivot bolt. This one is quite long and slides in from the rear. Access is a bitch from the back, so it might be easier to push it through from the front until you can reach around and under and pull it through the rest of the way).
8. The alternator is now free. Pull it clear from the engine, and then wriggle around and take it out from the top. There is an aircon hose that will still be in the way a bit, but it's flexible enough to push aside easily to get the alternator out.

That's it. Installation is the reverse. You will need 12mm and 14mm sockets and some short extensions, but otherwise that's it. It's actually fairly straightforward once you know what to do, despite the frustration of the problems encountered when you're still working it out for the first time! Thanks to all who have given suggestions, and hopefully this will assist someone else in the future.

you have learned much young grasshopper :ninja:

Told ya it just needed a bit of a wriggle . . . . . . .lol lol (<- notice how these 2 laugh at the same time?)

Thanks for the details - will save me some head scratching when its my turn to do this job.