Nissan once again finds ways to make something difficult to remove and install by putting bolts in stupid places, other crap in the way, and openings big enough for midgets' hands.

Installing a new alternator on a 100-degree day.....SUCKS!



That is all....carry on.

 

Why dont you hire a midgit mechanic?

 

Child labor FTW

 

Having an extended warranty FTW!

Doing it yourself FTL!

 

why did you have to replace your alternator anyways?

 

104,544 miles on the car....extended warranty ran out 4,544 miles ago

besides, it's just as much of a PITA leaving the car with the dealer and dealing with all their BS.


um.....because the old one was not recharging the battery

 

OT...who is that in your avatar?

 

www.emptyspiral.net

 

Never seen that asked before...

 

The Japanese have small hands...smell like cabbage. If you are an adult male your hands take a beatin' getting into all of those tight spots. Working on American cars are a lot easier, especially Jeeps.

"Hi, I'm Little Cletus"

 

well usually u got to get the car up on the lift to change the alternator, another way to take the alternator out is to take out the radiator, and the radiator fans and youl have enough space to work on the thing

 

There is only one way to do it:
1. remove splash guards below alternator
2. remove wheel well splashguard (pass. side)
3. remove AC compressor bolts, move compressor out of the way as much as possible
4. remove serpentine belt
5. remove radiator fan assembly (not radiator)
6. then you can just wrangle in there and get to the alternator bolts, and squeeze the alternator out of there, turning it at a bunch of wierd angles.

you can't just drop it down on a lift, since the AC compressor sits right below it....

 

I feel your pain, did that s**t at 65k. But it was a 75* day in Wa.

 

thank god I had the extended warranty when i got mine changed

 

i managed to finangle mine out without loosing an AC condenser bolts. and without removing the splash gaurds. It took us awhile and I hated my car for oh about 1.5 mins

 

It would have made it much more convenient to put it on the driver side, closer to the starter. All you have to do is remove the air box and voila!

 

wonder why you had to do that.

 

Now that would just be toooo easy and who wants that? +1 on 100degree weather. I wanted to tackle installing my own remote start alarm, but I think I'd rather not experiment in this heat.

 

"Obey my dog!"

 

I hope i'm correct on this, but the side with the starter doesn't have the belt that drives the accesories (ie. AC, powersteering...) so your idea wasn't an option

 

did you find a new one at Home Depot......?

 

Re-read my post and identify the operative word.

 

Just wanted to make it clear just in case you didn't realize.

 

Oh great, I can't WAIT until I have to replace mine.

Did you drip sweat all over your engine bay, Josh?

 

Feel your pain had to change mine at 90K, and im 6'2. After i got done doing this my hands looked like i was playing with razor blades. The worst part for me was removing the clip at the top i almost cut it, then i was laying under the car let the alternator hang and the stupid thing just fell out, lol almost hit me in the head. Hey whered you get it for 160 most places out here charge like 280 for remans. Oh big thanks again for blackbird for hooking me up with the alternator from him

 

Where'd I say I got it for $160? I paid $270 for the alternator from Nissan dealer (a local autoparts store quoted me $190 but I'd have to wait a day to get it in)....

 

id bet its easier than the alt on a v6 escape.

 

working on our alternators is definitely a PITA, much more difficult than say, most hondas. the position of ours in the engine bay completely discouraged me from upgrading my electrical system

 

that sounds awfully homoerotic the way you structured that sentence

How bout this statement instead: You musta been sweatin your ***** off with this heat wave.

 

How about: I bet you got so hot you had to take your shirt off, you were sweating so much?

 

Irish I replaced mine yesterday as well. ***** hot out. I had a ***** of a time with the idler pulley. I put the lower bolt through the alternator into that locking nut with the flap" You know the nut I am talking about" I put the flap facing the back instead of the bottom of the alternator. Long story short the idler pully was than obstructed & would not tighten I had to undo the ac compresser again lossen the lower bolt which was horrible to get to just to rotate that nut. With your car idleing what volatage is your battery at? Mine is at 13.48 with the car running at idle no lights on & no radio. I believe it is kind of low . Was figureing it should be at like 14.3 or around there. If my serpintine belt was loose could that be the cause? What is yours running at now?

 

I did the same damn thing with that stupid nut.....

Mine was reading about 13.5 as well with the car on, but that was with the radiator fans on and all other electrical off. When the fans went off it was still about 13.5. It was at 13.3 with AC, all lights, fans, radio on, cellphone plugged in, MP3 player plugged in....so as long as it's over 12 with all that crap on, good enough for me.

 

it should be 13.1-14.5 at 1500+RPM

 

and i also looked this up. suggested labor time is 1.6hrs.



pull the radiator next time, instead of the compressor

 

you might want to look under the hood one of these days....those instructions would not work.

removing the radiator would involve antifreeze all over the place, for one. For two, it would be a major PITA. Even with the radiator removed, you would STILL have to unbolt the A/C compressor and move it about 4" out of the way (lines still attached). Trust me, it is not possible to get the alternator out with the A/C compressor there, unless you have some seriously specialized tools. The upper alternator bolt CANNOT be accessed with any tools in my EXTENSIVE tool inventory, until the AC compressor is moved. Trust me on this.

In any case, the AC compressor is pretty easy to unbolt and move...the bolts are right on the front and are easy to break loose.

According to the Haynes manual, you can do it on a 4th gen with the AC compressor still there and without removing the radiator fan shroud. On the 5th gen though they need to be moved....

 

lol i miss read it never mind lol yep these cars were ment for people with little hands to work on

 

I did one on an 01' I only had to unbolt the compressor and move it aside, but didn't undo any kind of radiator shroud, or fans. It didn't seem like the easiest job ever but it wasn't that bad, It only took like 45 mins. I guess i'm just use to working on my DSM, If you don't like tight spaces don't ever offer to do a timing job on a talon.

 

Absolutely essential to wear good mechanics gloves when working under there.

Bet you wish you had my old beretta (the car - not a gun to shoot the car) - alternater was right there in the WIDE OPEN. A real snap to change.

You know why? . . . . because Chevy knew the damn thing needed to be changed out every three fricking months so they made it easy.

So far, my 96 is on the original alternator after 200k plus; and my 2k too after 110k. {insert loud knocking on wood sound}

 

heheh everyone has a problem with that stupid nut.. I busted my tensioner pulley! LOL. Anyway, no need for the radiator to come out. Take the 4 screws holding the compressor, push it foward towards the front of the car and turn the alternator till it comes out.

Andy

 

Haha, now that's MUCH better.

BTW, I've only changed one alternator. The one on my '93 Nissan P/U. It wasn't that hard to do, but I bet if I had the V6, it would've been tougher.