I'm about to attempt replacing my alternator on my 2000 Maxima. I've read the helpful write-up linked within. I may wind up taking it to a garage - they have quoted me $150 for the labor.

I haven't even looked under the hood yet, but seems that many DIY'ers wind up stripping the idler tensioner pulley nut. Whether I do the job myself or have the garage do it, I'd like to replace this nut so it will be easier to remove in the future. I see it's a 14mm nut - but how exactly to find a good replacement? I assume I can go to the parts dept. at a Nissan dealer and they can find an exact replacement, but will that be any better than the original?

Any tips as to exactly what nut to order online, perhaps via eBay or something?

Thanks!

 

You should:

1. Spray the daylights out of the tensioner with pb blaster. Let soak.
2. Loosen pulley nut.
3. Then, carefully work on the adjuster nut. I forget which way to turn it but you will immediately get slop on the belt.

​​​​​​Don't gorilla arm it and you should be ok.

 

People strip it because it's a little hard to get a wrench on and pull it at the proper angle. If you're careful with it you should be ok.

If you do strip it you can use one of the strut tower bolts in it's place. Those are good bolts too. The car will be fine until you can replace the strut tower bolt.

I usually go to the local U-pull it yard for nuts and bolts. I've got a drawer in my toolbox with pretty much every nut and bolt on the car all organized by size/thread.

 

Thanks, guys. I am a bit klutzy with mechanical stuff, which is why I think I'm likely to have trouble with that nut myself.

 

I'm relatively mechanically inept and I had no problem with the bolt (but I am west-coast-best-coast where rust isn't an issue).

The key is loosening the pulley lock nut before adjusting the belt tension. And as said before, don't gorilla arm it and you'll be ok

 

Here's a video that should be helpful (it was for me):

 

Thanks, Aaron. The video does make removing that nut look easy...but to be honest, it makes the rest of the job look harder than I thought! He shows removing the fan on the radiator as well as the mass airflow sensor - didn't think any of that was required on the 2000 Maxima. And everything looks hard to reach. I don't have small hands.

I'm sure I could replace my alternator (have done other minor work like replace the radiator). The problem is, it might take me many hours of frustration, based on past experience. I might punt and have the garage do this one for me.

 

To be honest, the pulley, tensioner, and belt area is cake. Atleast it was for me. The rest of the job for me was a pain.

The hardest parts were, believe it or not, getting the electrical connector out of the alternator and loosening the air conditioning compressor and wiggling the alternator down from the car. For some reason I really struggled with that. Second time would be a lot easier, but it most certainly took me a few hours to do the job.

Of interest might be to consider getting yours rebuilt at an electrical shop and forgo buying from parts store. Mine was rebuilt in an hour for $70.

You don't have to remove any air intake stuff or radiator stuff. There are lots of posts on here in this job, search and you will find lots of pointers.

You can do this, but give yourself lots of time and be patient.😀

 

CAN ANYONE HELP? I LOOSENED THE 14mm long bolt too much. On the back of the ps pulley. It came out.. not it won’t screw in.. DOES SOMETHING NEED TO BE LIGNED UP OR SOMETHING? If so I would appreciate the help

 

I replaced my alternator not too long ago (first time replacing one, ever) I don't remember which one was the idler tensioner pulley but I do remember being frustrated with the AC compressor and finding a way to prop it so it doesn't fall out while I crammed myself under the thing on jack stands, and also a *lot* of those bolts are going to be very difficult to remove. All in all it took me about 4 hours to do but I have only hand tools and didn't really know what I was doing, bits of videos here, writeups there, Haynes, fsm.. I regret doing it honestly. Not worth the frustration.

All I can suggest to you is go out and buy a good alternator and find a decent mechanic (not necessarily a shop) who has air tools and proper equipment and he'll get the thing done in an hour, hour 20 minutes tops. And that's adding a half hour to dealing with the seized bolts. Shouldn't cost very much.

 

I've been using a long 14mm combination wrench on those forever cause it works great! The only thing I would recommend is that long combination 14mm or a super shallow 14mm, 6 point socket and a 3/8" breaker bar....

 

I am in this hell currently. I'm working at the alternator, and I was prepared for a difficult fix, but didn't expect to get stuck on what is practically the first step. I've completely rounded the 14mm nut on the tensioner pulley and have tried everything short of just destroying the nut (and ruining the threads on the bolt it's attached to). At this moment I don't really see any other option because the clearance is too narrow to fit a bolt extractor socket.

Looking at this for a reference as to what the backside of the pulley looks like. If I destroy my pulley I might have to buy this and replace it all.
https://www.1aauto.com/nissan-infini...waAurQEALw_wcB