Alternator removal - Arrrrgh!

[100Dollar240]

I'm sure this topic exists somewhere, but my keyword "alternator" search found nothing pertainent. I began the process of attempting to replace my '93's probably original alternator with a new one. The car's up on metal ramps, the fiberboard belly pan is off, & I fumble with the lower bolt, finally removing it. Hmmm..... can't see any more bolt-heads down there. Let's go topside. Can't see much here, must be buried under all this, uh...crap. I remove all them hoses attached to the air intake. I swing the air intake out of the way & say "hello" to the throttle body. Uh,oh; more little rubber hoses, & the radiator hose sure takes up a lot of work space. Well, at this point, I still don't see any bolts except for what looks to be the horizontal belt tension adjuster. At this point, I decided to consult a higher power, the on-line guru. I'm from the days where you opened the hood, there was the unencumbered alternator staring you in face with two SAE bolts clearly visible. I guess the good old days died with emission controls & down-sized cars. So....at this point, what else needs to be removed in order to at least find the bolt(s) that remain? Any trade secrets to make this, what I thought would be a simple job, actually simple? All free advice certainly welcomed.

Ron.

[180fan]

pull the tensioner bolt, and there's also a lock bolt that goes through the tensioner block thing perpendicular to the tensioner bolt. Those two should come out, and since you got the lower bolt off, it drops pretty easily from the bottom. Take off the lower piece of the fan shroud that lets you drop the shroud from the top. That lower curved section and the alternater comes out the bottom more easily than clearing up the clutter topside.

[Altiman94]

the first time you do this its gonna be a crapton to get the belt back on. I just used a screwdriver to pry it back onto the waterpump pully and then tightened it with the tensioner on the alternator.

[100Dollar240]

Thanks for the tips, guys, but I got the thing out two days ago, & got the new one back in tonight. I was trying to avoid pulling the radiator hoses, but I just couldn't that tensioner bolt to re-thread from underneath, so I had to drain the coolent & pull the hoses out of the way so I could see what I was doing. I didn't find the belt to be a problem at all, as I loosened the tensioner a good inch & it slipped over the pulley with room to spare. It was a contortion to loosen the three electrical connectors until I angled all the connecting points downward after totally unbolting the unit.Oh well, I got dirty, & wet from spilled coolent, but maybe I learned something about Japanese auto mechanics 101. Oh, one more thing - it appears that my dash idiot amp light is burned out, which is why I didn't know the alternator had died until the car crapped out. Is that bulb another nightmare to get at, or is there a "trade secret" out there to save my sanity.Thanks again, Ron.

[Dattebayo]

Just pull all the buttons off the console behind the steering wheel and get a short #2 phillips head screwdriver and remove the screws hidden inside the top of the speedo display area. Then you gotta remove the plastic piece under the steering wheel (the kick guard) down by where your knees are usually. Unless you are upside down. Take off the steering wheel.Remove plastic around steering column. You will need a slightly longer phillips.Then remove all the screws or what ever around the black plastic liner around the speedo display and pull up and out. You will have to coax it out gently, it wont be easy.

Then look in there and see the screws that hold the cluster in. remove the cluster and twist and remove the bulb from the back.

So yeah, its about an hour or more to replace. Just tedious.

[100Dollar240]

Thanks, 2BN - looks like fun for the future.

Ron.