Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Maintenance thanks, ray (alternator how-to)

so, i did an alternator swap this weekend.

i spent some time going over all the alternator-related posts beforehand. helped tremendously. i printed out ray's how-to and got busy.

i pretty much followed ray's procedure to the letter, with a few deviations. to express my appreciation for everyone's help, i'll post a little feedback for ray's how-to.

these represent my experience on my '98 v6 and may not reflect other's experiences.

1. i didn't remove the tie-rod end. it absolutely refused to budge despite all my best efforts. so i removed the stabilizer bar link rod upper connection (where it meets the strut). getting the alternator out and back in through this opening was relatively easy.

2. coil pack removal - the how-to states to use a 9/32 socket. i used a 7mm and found it to be a bit more snug, but this is a trivial point. both sizes will do the job.

3. the thick wire connector on the back of the alternator was a 10mm nut for me (how-to states a 7mm).

4. alternator pulley swapping (from original to replacement) was not covered in the how-to. this won't be an issue for many, as some remans come with a pulley attached already. my reman unit from ford ($180) did not. it would be nice to have some guidance or best practices to refer to when faced with this situation. this turned out to be a non-issue for me, because the ford unit was defective (binding while trying to spin the shaft) and i wound up buying an autozone unit ($165) which had a pulley attached.

again, many thanks to this forum for all the information and guidance contained within it. there's no way in hell i would've tried this without the how-to or other forms of guidance.

a few statistics:

total job time: 8 hours (took my time with many breaks - also weaseled in an oil change)

total cost: $165 for alternator + $40 for various tools, etc. (bought a few more extensions and swivels)

my dealership wanted $450 for labor alone. insane.

frustration factor on a scale of 1 to 10 - about a 7 for me.

The binding may have gone away when the pully is installed. That was the case a few years ago when I worked on alternators frequently.

The easiest way to remove the pulley is with a 1/2" impact wrench, like the one used to remove wheels. Hold the pully and alternator with a rag or leather gloves and spin the retaining nut off with the impact wrench. It comes off very easy that way. Make sure to transfer not only the pulley and nut, but also the spacer that goes on before the pulley and also the lock washer that goes between the pulley and the nut. Often the parts guy at a Ford dealership will help you get the pulley transferred. I did a lot of them at no charge for parts customers.

[quote=j

2. coil pack removal - the how-to states to use a 9/32 socket. i used a 7mm and found it to be a bit more snug, but this is a trivial point. both sizes will do the job.

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Probably because everything on the car is metric.