My car is a 3 legged bitch
- Thread starter CHRISHOGGALYPSE
- Start date
big deal, do it yourself for like $100 or however much your alternator costs. i swapped alternators out like 10 times, its a 30 minute job. your battery posts should've been cleaned anyway, you probably killed your battery and destroyed the alternator with dirty posts and bad ground wiring. get it all fresh and cleaned up and a new battery and keep up maintenance on it, your alternator isnt meant to constantly charge a crappy battery, you'll kill it fast
yeah, not that easy. It's a 1999 maxima. I have big hands and they cramped that bitch in there. I gotta take off the serpentine belt and the a/c compressor just to unbolt this thing. It's probably take a good couple of hours but it's not that bit a deal.
These alternators weren't great on this model from what I read. It's got 140k miles on it so it's due. It was a brand new battery and the posts were clean because they were cleaned when the battery was replaced. The alternator wasn't charging the battery and started killing it.
These alternators weren't great on this model from what I read. It's got 140k miles on it so it's due. It was a brand new battery and the posts were clean because they were cleaned when the battery was replaced. The alternator wasn't charging the battery and started killing it.
Well I'm into it now and just found out that my car really is a 3 legged bitch. You have to take the a/c compressor off and remove the fans just to get to the damn thing pretty much. On top of that, I can't even get to where the rear bolt is, which the only good tutorial online just happens to not have a picture of that part (because you can't even see it). Wack.
http://www.motorvate.ca/node/20
http://www.motorvate.ca/node/20
I just don't have the time. I would've done it to save the money but I have hours and hours worth of homework to catch up on. It's not just the saving the money by doing it myself, gas prices are steep and my other car is a 96 Chevy Tahoe. I don't really wanna be commuting in this thing til my car is fixed.
Why on earth would you put the alternator above the a/c compressor though? How many times have you heard people say I replaced my a/c compressor this weekend as opposed to saying their alternator went out? Makes no sense.
Why on earth would you put the alternator above the a/c compressor though? How many times have you heard people say I replaced my a/c compressor this weekend as opposed to saying their alternator went out? Makes no sense.
What a pain in the ass, I replaced the alternator in my Saab 95 and you need to remove the half shaft just to get that thing out. It took me like two days just to do the alternator, that is why I love a rwd car I did the alternator in my BMW in 30 minutes in the parking lot of my apartment complex. There have already been a few things on the Saab that I wouldn't touch and had to take it to my mechanic to get fixed and I feel comfortable doing a lot of shit on most cars.
I feel you. My first car was a 1990 Caddy Eldorado. Front wheel drive V8 and that bitch was crammed in there. My water pump went out and it was like 770 bucks to get fixed cause you had to take off so much stuff to get to it, the labor was expensive.
I also had a spark plug blow up in that engine. They took it out and found that 3 different brands of spark plugs were in the engine. The 4 in the back were behind and underneath the engine and had never been replaced. 190,000 miles on it when they found those. No wonder they blew up
I also had a spark plug blow up in that engine. They took it out and found that 3 different brands of spark plugs were in the engine. The 4 in the back were behind and underneath the engine and had never been replaced. 190,000 miles on it when they found those. No wonder they blew up
Well, I got done with my finals and decided to do this damn thing myself. I had to take off that "snorkel" piece going to the air filter box, the fans/fan shroud, the a/c compressor without removing the lines for the refrigerant and finally got that damn alternator out.
I'd just like to say that I laughed and got pissed at M Butcher for suggesting this should be easy. No matter what angle you looked at it, you couldn't even see one of the bolts and I could barely get one hand in there to get to the 2nd alternator bolt. It sucked getting it out and it was 20 times harder to get that back on.
But it's on, it works and hopefully it's all good now.
I'd just like to say that I laughed and got pissed at M Butcher for suggesting this should be easy. No matter what angle you looked at it, you couldn't even see one of the bolts and I could barely get one hand in there to get to the 2nd alternator bolt. It sucked getting it out and it was 20 times harder to get that back on.
But it's on, it works and hopefully it's all good now.