Removing The Alternator

[Jayton]

Right, I had a crack at changing the pulley today and for the life of me we could not get the pulley undone. We even chipped and bent my 17mm spanner in the process :(

 

We also could not get the alternator off. The metal looks a bit corroded and it looks stuck in there.

 

I took both long 13mm bolts out, pulled up, pushed down. Nudda.

Smacked it with a mallet more times than a rabbit copulates in it's life (in fear of braking the casing with a hammer). nudda.

Pushed, pulled, smacked. Nudda.

 

 

Is there a special technique to removing it ?

 

Anything to make it easier to remove?

 

Crowbar 'praps?

[chrispb123456]

Hi Jayton

Sounds like the two sliding sleeves have seized in the alternator flanges I would suggest a long flat bar and lever it away from the engine. Once you get it off you should be able to free them. Also that bolt that holds the pulley on is extremly tight, I took mine into alternator repair shop they have tool for holding pulley without damaging it.

[Jayton]

Those sleeves you talk about, are they the copper bits that the bolts thread into?

 

If so do the sleeves go into the mounting bracket on the engine or just the alternator mounting points on the alternator itself?

 

I've got the special splined tool to hold the shaft still while removing the pulley and it was indeed welded by age. I'll give it ago next weekend and take the alternator to a mechanic along with the pulley and special tool.

[chrispb123456]

Hi yes they may look a copper colour but they are steel the top one is quite visible the bottom one not so, they are in the alternator not the bracket, some penetrating oil may help and left overnight.

I didn't have a problem getting mine off the car, just made sure to tap the sleeve outward before refitting to the car.

In fact had to take it off and on twice because shop had ordered in the pulley but was the wrong one,so had to put it back for 2 days, I would say it took 10 mins to remove initially.

[Jayton]

Thanks, I'll get some penetrating oil on there Friday night and give it a good old whack.

[chrispb123456]

I wouldn't whack it Jay you may need more than a new pulley use a long flat bar to lever

[Jayton]

tap it with a rubber mallet to free it up a bit then after a good soaking then :(

[westytwo]

tap it with a rubber mallet to free it up a bit then after a good soaking then :rolleyes:

 

 

Just out of interest where did you get a new pulley from and how much was it? Mine is due for a change!!

[gregers]

i got mine from gsf

[chrispb123456]

tap it with a rubber mallet to free it up a bit then after a good soaking then :rolleyes:

 

 

Just out of interest where did you get a new pulley from and how much was it? Mine is due for a change!!

I got mine about a year ago from local starter/alternator repairer cost me

[Jayton]

Got it from VW and cost

[Mirez]

Can you guys confirm what the symptoms are? I've got a rumble when its idling, more of a resonance then anything which dissapears when the engine is rev'd. The belts not bouncing, there is no "alt workshop" message and whilst I can turn the fan blades on the alt they dont exactly freewheel.

[chrispb123456]

Can you guys confirm what the symptoms are? I've got a rumble when its idling, more of a resonance then anything which dissapears when the engine is rev'd. The belts not bouncing, there is no "alt workshop" message and whilst I can turn the fan blades on the alt they dont exactly freewheel.

Hi Mark the rattly rumble noise on mine was the aux drive belt tensioner, it would rattle on first starting and then gradually get less till after a few minutes completely quiet, and also disappeared when engine rev'd.

While it was making the noise there would be a lot of movement of the tensioner, when its quiet there was hardly any movement, after changing tensioner no movement at all.

 

The pulley makes a noise similar to the slipping fan belt noise (shriek) and you get the occasional alt workshop indicator again only after initial cold start, ie alt under load.

Hope that helps

Chris

[gregers]

mark did you read my pm to you?

if not then read up on here for the symptoms etc on how to test the alternator.

 

read my post on the subject aswell,on my findings especially from a vw grease monkey.

[Jayton]

Anyone want to borrow my special tool (ohhh eeerrrr missus), feel free to pay for the postage to and from :)

[Jayton]

Finally got round to trying this again, I pry'd the 143k miles welded alternator off with a mixture of tools, from a Super spanner jobbie to a normal spanner and a ratchet - no smacking with a hammer :(

 

 

We couldn't get the pulley off, so I called a local garage and he said bring the alt down and he'll see what he can do. We both tried for about 30mins to crack it free, he even gave it some heat with a gas torch, but didn't let it glow red as I didn't want the alt fubar'd. it was both of us strapping lads pulling and pushing - it did not budge.

 

He said he can heat it up till it glows and the pulley will probably come off, but this may ruin the alternator.

 

His next suggestion was spray a load of penetrating oil in the splined shaft and to leave it a few days then try it again - well I had only a few hours as I was not in my home town and needed to get the kids home too so when I got back the Outlaws we left it for an hour or so while we had a cuppa. We took another crack and couldn't budge it, my father in law then took it upon himself to start smacking the 17mm spanner near the base of the shaft to 'free' it up...

 

This only bloody worked! :16:

 

But we found a load of string coiled up behind the old pulley... eh?!

 

Getting the alternator back on was another story, I eventually took to it with a sanding pad adapter on a drill to remove a little meat from the bracket as it was impossible to get back on. This worked a treat!

 

So now I have no more creaky steering, oh what joy it is! I still expect it to make the noise, so still drive like I did to avoid the noise :16:

 

I now have a load of photo's so at some point soon I'll write up a guide and post it back on this thread :)