90 Q45 - Need alternator removal help

[BradM]

I'm getting ready to pull my alternator on my 90 Q45. A search of posts for a step-by-step instruction with tips didn't give me anything. Could someone who's familiar please post removal steps? Can it be removed without evacuating a/c lines? Trying to save any headaches before I start. Thanks.

Brad1990 Q45, 215,000

[Q451990]

Can it be removed without evacuating a/c lines?

Absolutely. I have R&R'd mine twice without even unbolting the compressor. I understand that if you remove the compressor, the flex lines feeding it should allow it to just hang there while you replace the alternator. I think you have to remove the battery and radiator hose. Unfortunately it's been several years since I did this (at least five) so I don't have a good step x step process to tell you. One tip that I do remember is using superglue to hold the nut on for the alternator cross bolt. It's a real pain to hold in place while you put the bolt back in. I had to have my dad (with much smaller hands) help with that part when I did this before.

Just be sure you're using factory parts for the replacement alternator. Aftermarket remans have serious reliability issues.

Heath

[BradM]

Thanks Heath, Read about the glue on the back of the bolt. Will call Scottsdale Tues to get alternator and brake pads. Got the belt off, battery out. Just wanted to see if anything else had to come out before I pulled the last bolts on the alternator. Looks tight in there.Brad

[natsoundup]

I second the superglue.... I don't think there is anyway to do it, otherwise.. I think removing the fan shroud also helps....but the battery and radiator hose have to go...

it still takes patience...

[BradM]

Alternator off. Now I have to wait for the mail to bring me a new (reman) from Scottsdale. Thanks for the advice. Will try the glue as suggested. Should I change the battery cables since I'm there? They seem OK, BUT are original. Anyone know the price?

Brad

[DrewQ45]

Heath,

How did you take your alternator off? When I removed mine, I had to go from underneath, removing the tension rod on the passenger side then dropped the AC compressor leaving the lines still attached.

...Drew..

[Q451990]

It's been quite a while since I last did this (maybe 1999?), but I'm pretty sure I didn't remove the tension rod - and I know I've never pulled the A/C compressor on a Q. I don't think I pulled the radiator either, but I probably removed the hoses and brackets to flex it forward as much as possible.

Heath

[DAEDALUS]

The alternator needs to be rotated in place to clear the mounting flanges from the mounting bracket. Once rotated enough, it can be pulled straight out. It's a frustrating job; I prefer to do it with the compressor out out of the way.

[maxnix]

From the Yahoo board. I like the masking tape on a long screw driver hint :

This is a post to help out others DIYers. I couldn't find alot ofinfo on how to remove the alternator (alt) on my wife's 1994 Q. I'mvery mechanically inclined. I have been working on Volvos, Porschesand other foreign cars since I was 15 (I'm 32).

Why on earth did some genius at nissan decide to put the alt betweenthe ac compressor and the engine is beyond me...

Due to the way the alt has an open design, the engineers should'veput the alternator on the bottom and it would've helped to add somesort of heat/oil shield (oil from the valve cover gasket was thereason mine failed at 148k) to let the oil roll off the shield (oldervolvos had a heat shield that actually did that).

Now that I 've got that off my chest....

1) remove the battery and the tray.2) remove the fan and fan shroud. go ahead and remove all your belts.3) remove the pastic trim pieces at the top front of the engine.4) tighten up all accessible valve cover bolts.5) there is some item in front of the alt that looks like a oilfilter, remove the bolt that holds the clamp and extend the unitupward to give yourself some extra room.6) remove the top left bolt holding the alt housing7) remove the bottom right bolt. There is a self locking nut that ison the backside. Don't worry you'll hear it drop on your accompressor. You can retreive it once the alt is out.8) lift the unit upward (you might have to use a hammer or prybar toget it to move) and wiggle the unit forward9) there are two more bolts on the back that hold a wire shield.hard to get to. but keep wiggling forward you'll finally have room toremove your alt connectors and then the bolts holding the wire shield.10) take a break. gather your self.11) reverse the procedure.12) the hardest thing for me was getting that self locking nut backin place. I used a really long screw driver and some masking tape tohold the nut. Masking tape is weak enough to allow you to tear thescrew driver away once you are able to thread the bolt a couple ofturns. I found an opening below the ac compressor that allowed me toview the threaded end of the bolt. It was time consuming getting thebolt to align with the nut.

It took me about 10 hours to complete.

While I had everything out I noticed that my waterpump was leaking.

Replaced it as well. Very easy to do.

1) Drain coolant2) remove 5 waterpump bolts.3) Clean engine surface where waterpump was removed from.4) install new waterpump with gasket and silicone sealant.

It took me 1 hour to complete (that includes drinking a beer whilewaiting for the coolant to drain).

So for about 11 hours, I saved over $800.

[DrewQ45]

Max,

I have to disagree. A lot of time can be saved by doing it while laying on your back...(no pun intended) Removing the tension rod (and misc other parts I believe) then dropping the compressor makes things a whole lot easier. One thing I think all those who have done this can agree on is that YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS AGAIN ANYTIME SOON... therefore, do not buy aftermarket!!!

I found this out from an Infiniti tech after I had spent hours and hours removing it from above. Though I had removed the old unit from above, I installed the new alternator from underneath and cussed myself for not going that route in the first place. I would have shaved 2/3 off the time if I had done the whole/most of the job from underneath. Sorry, can't post step by step since it's been a few years now. Please don't be fooled, it's still a major PITA when going from underneath but it's the lesser of two evils. I never cussed so much in my life. The whole time I was doing it, I remembered how it had taken 1/2 hour to change the alternator on my old Camry... Toyota had it sitting right on top smiling at you so all you had to do was pull the bolts and disconnect the wires. I know I might get flamed for comparing apples to oranges but having owned quite a few Toyotas, I came to respect the way their cars were designed in a well thought out sense so they are easier to service (in a general sense).

....Okay...I'm ready... tell me all about the Lexus timing belts.....hehehe

...Drew....

[Q451990]

No doubt some cars are easier to work on... my friend's 99 Pontiac Sunfire has the alternator sitting right on top. Funny thing is that when he bought it I said something about how easy it would be to r&r. It died on him on the way up to Charlotte to see a Buffett concert in 2002 with about 40K on the odometer (missed the tailgate and 75% of the concert). Went up the next day to get it out of the towing impound yard, took the battery out and got it swapped under the warranty at Advance Auto... went back, started the car and confirmed that the alternator wasn't charging. Went to AutoZone and got a reman. Whole swap took about 20 minutes after I had the parts in hand - and that was with some learning time on getting the serpentine belt off! Even my mom's Maxima is easy with the alterntor on the bottom... I guess there's some reason to bury it in the middle - maybe it was easier to route the A/C lines that way?

Heath

[DrewQ45]

Heath,

The idea is to buy a car that is easy to R&R but rarely will ever need it. That makes it a ++. There are some cars that you actually want to buy remanned parts for rather than the dealer POS cause it just might last longer and be cheaper to boot.

I parted with the Camry because I couldn't kill it no matter how much I abused it. After 10 years, I was just plain tired of it. I remember flooring the car for 15-20 minutes straight while running through NC on a trip back to ATL from NY. At 125 MPH, the limiter would kick in and the car would buck like a mule, drop the revs then climb right back up to the limit and start bucking again...All the while spewing out black smoke at WOT. My cousin was behind me in an Accord which was equally tenacious. They were daily beaters and we just didn't care. All these cars want are semi-regular oil changes and keeping the oil + coolant level correct. You could piss in the radiator and it wouldnt care..... Mine was a 5 spd and I would gas it up, fly the clutch and lay rubber just to take out my frustrations. I finally gave it away to a girlfriend who's POS Eclipse had gotten repo'd....It was already smoking from worn rings with only 80K on the clock. She was at the dealer religiously for her oil changes/maintenance but never took my advice to use syn oil only in the Shytsubishi. Anyway...she ended up giving the camry away to some dude years after we broke up (lol). While driving home from work, I saw it fly past me the other day with the trunk flapping and more rust than an old boat but still running strong.

Oops...sorry, this is a Nissan/Infiniti forum isn't it? Back to the Q. I firmly believe that in line with the high sticker price it first carried, the Q45 was designed with two main objectives...make big money on the sale, then make triple that in the service Dept . For one, it was as an LS400 beating (or so they hoped) high performance/luxury beast and the second was to maximize the return flow of $$$ back into the dealer. There seems to be a conscious effort invested into repelling all but the hardiest DIY'er purposely incorporated into the design of the car. How else could one explain the difficulty associated with simple tasks such as changing the oil or the plugs??? Think about those plugs and the time you spend fiddling with those little allen keys for hours just to get the plate off. Nissan could have taken many sensible routes to avert some of the maladies faced when working on the car. What about the fact that common replacement items such as the Alternator and hoses, (under plenum) are buried deeper than fort knox's septic tank beind items that will shred your hands into mince-meat if dare to try squeezing to reach them. From a DIY standpoint, the car is a nightmare and downright ridiculous. If you think the dealer is being ridiculous wanting to bill you umpteen hours for what should seem like an hour in a regular car, try doing the job yourself. Nasty suprises are in store for the unsuspecting casual buyer who picks up an old Q simply because they like it with..with no mechanical inclination. Hope you pick a good one cause one in poor cond will break you in more ways than one.

Okay, enough of this negative tirade. Non Q owners must understand why we put up with it. The key is that rush you get and the symphony that plays when you punch the gas.... there is nothing like it...so....No matter how much the bastards try to deter me, I'll have you know that.....

I STILL LOVE MY Q!!!

[maxnix]

G50 was designed for Japanese corporate executives who had them meticulously maintained regardless of the cost, not for secondary and subsequent DIY American owners.__________________Brian1995 Q45 & Q45t & 2000 Q45

Discover the power of the button!

[EWT]

Heath,There seems to be a conscious effort invested into repelling all but the hardiest DIY'er purposely incorporated into the design of the car. How else could one explain the difficulty associated with simple tasks such as changing the oil or the plugs??? Think about those plugs and the time you spend fiddling with those little allen keys for hours just to get the plate off. Nissan could have taken many sensible routes to avert some of the maladies faced when working on the car. What about the fact that common replacement items such as the Alternator and hoses, (under plenum) are buried deeper than fort knox's septic tank beind items that will shred your hands into mince-meat if dare to try squeezing to reach them. From a DIY standpoint, the car is a nightmare and downright ridiculous.

While the Q isn't the easiest car to work on I've ever wrenched on, it certainly isn't the worst. The alternator on a Q45 is a piece of cake compared to the alternator on the Aurora I made the mistake of buying between Q1 and Q2. Most of the nuts/bolts could only be reached with a wrench (no clearance for a rachet much less an air tool), could only be turned a little bit at a time, and one of them was behind the exhaust manifold and was nearly impossible to get to (and was impossible to replace once the new alternator was in place unless you pulled the motor). It took me the better part of 8 hours, and the parts guy at the dealership told me they drop the engine/transmission/subframe to do them because access is so difficult. I can do the plugs on a Q in 1-1.5 hours. There are a lot of fastners to remove, but it's not that hard. If you want hard, try changing the plugs on an LT1 Camarobird. Some common jobs like water pump replacement are downright easy compared to most cars, especially compared to ones with transverse motors. I really don't think there was a conspiracy to line techs pockets when they designed the car.

Eric

[Chally]

Mine just blew! Cost for a new one, $1250.00.Most painful alternator removal I've had to perform.

Must agree totally with Camry removal. Soooooo simple.

[Q45tech]

Mine lasted 235,000 miles and was still fine when I swapped it for a new rebuilt one..[just starting to make a slight bearing noise]......in fact in ended up in another car as a gift plus labor that was 18 months ago........it must have 255+k by know.

Obviously people are not keeping them spotlessly clean and the air vents free of crud [[use a powerwasher with soap [lightly] then wash with plain water, while engine running]], nor the corrrect tension nor changing their battery the moment it starts to weaken.

Lack of maintenance pure and simple. We see it all the time so much crud and dirt........no belly pans, valve cover and other leaks.

Don't have much sympathy for people who allow accessories to fail [AC, PS, alternator] they are bullet proof if maintained.

Changed the AC oil again last week [vaccuumed out 3 ounces and replaced----spotless]...........so far 10 ounces have been exchaged in 18 months since new /used compressor install. Still as built oem evaporator.

38,800 miles till 300k.

[Chally]

My alternator was clean with hardly any dust on it & definately NO oil! It is a case of worn brushes. (being replaced)Must say, I've had 3 battery failures, all from poorly made batteries. They all literally broke inside without warning. You can be happily driving somewhere, stop the engine & no start!I too, wash mine occasionally. Didn't know if it could harm the bearings, (some oldies were unealed) but did it anyway. Will be doing it more often from now...

[Chally]

Seems as if I again am the unlucky one. Nissan has NEVER sold a regulator for these alternators in Australia, to the point, they put it on the Obsolete list.

[Qcentric]

I've read the process previously copied--however, I've got all the bolts out except one of the heat shield bolts and the wiring to the alternator. I can't seem to get the alt to move forward...any tricks to the trade? Can you drop the AC compressor slightly by removing the 2 bolts from the bottom--will this free up any space to get behind the alt?

[DAEDALUS]

The front and rear mounting flanges of the alt *tightly* sandwich the mounting bracket that's (I think) the same bracket the compressor is bolted to. You have to rotate the alt in place to clear the bracket and then pull it forward. You can remove the compressor, just don't remove the freon lines. And don't stress the lines; hang the compressor with a stout cord and secure knot or something similar.

[Chally]

My Field Winding was broken! Very unusual. Replaced the Regulator etc. & it worked OK until a large load was put on it & it just turned off.On further checking, the Field winding seemed to be cutting out intermittently. How??? not even the sparky knows how or why, so we now need to get the field windings re-wound. (so much for keeping it clean eh?)