Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Maintenance DETAILED Alternator how to WITH MANY PICS

Pics were left full size for detail...
as thorough as possible..

Tools needed:
3/8 breaker bar.. no getting around this...
7mm socket
15mm deep socket
13mm socket
10mm socket
2 socket swivels
1 socket wrench
at least 2.5 feet of socket extension, but preferrably in the following sizes

1 one foot extension
1 eight inch extension
2 six inch extensions
1 three inch extension

1 jack
one jack stand (or suitable holder)
lug nut wrench or tire iron
small, but long, pry bar of some sort
1 SMALLLLLLLL flathead screwdriver.


Procedure
For the purpose of this how-to the following terms will be used:
FORWARD: towards the front of the car
REAR: towards the rear of the car.
DRIVER'S SIDE: facing the left of the car, while looking forward. not actually ON the left of the car... just FACING the left. for instance.. "the inside of your passenger tires are facing the driver's side."
PASSENGER SIDE: opposite of driver's side.

• Loosen the passenger side front wheel lug nuts.
• Jack the car up, and remove the lug nuts completely. (store the lug nuts in a memorable place.)
• Remove the tire, and begine the process of removing the 2-piece lower splash shield. There are two 10mm bolts on each piece: the front piece's bolts being located on the top of the splash shield, and the rear splash guards bolts being located along the bottom of the frame.
• Remove the tie-rod end bolt by using the 15mm deep socket (a shallow socket WILL work, but does not sit completely flush on the bolt head when it is tightened completely, and will cause excess trouble when re-tightening the bolt yourself)
  
• Once the bolt is out, place the pry bar UNDERNEATH the tie-rod end, and OVER the wheel hub, to pry the tie-rod out of its spot.. If needed, use a soft blow hammer to tap the tie rod out WHILE prying upwards, as shown below:
  
  
• Insert your 3/8 breaker bar into the serpantine belt tensioner, located JUST higher than the opening you made when you removed the splash guards, and just forward of the cv joint. Do this from the bottom of the car, vice the engine bay.
• once inserted, turn the handle clockwise to remove the tension on the belt, and remove the loop from the A/C (most lower/forward pulley, then remove from the alternator, then re-install on the A/C (by relieving tension and looping it on to the pulley, then release the breaker bar) to keep the belt from coming undone on any other pulleys.
  

This is where things went from "the usual way" to "my way", and I found it MUCH easier, in the long run, after trying the usual way for about 2 1/2 hours.

• Pop the hood, and undo the POSITIVE battery cable. (loosen it enough to slip it off the terminal...)
• look directly behind the engine, and locate the coil pack. It is the small, black, rectangle box that has all six spark plug wires running in to it.
• Unplug each wire, and note which went where. (there was originally a diagram on the coil pack itself, but it may have faded... in case it did, the diagram is as follows
  
  
  FIREWALL
  |4 6 5|
  
  |3 2 1|
  FRONT BUMPER
  
• with the spark plugs removed from the coil pack, you can now remove the four small bolts that secure the coil pack to the block. Use a 7mm socket and a small extension to raise the socket wrench above the coil pack, to allow you to turn it. TAKE NOTE that there are two seperate items that were also secure by two of those four bolts.. the radio noise suppressor is on one side (small grey-ish plastic clip with a metal braket on it) and a ground strap on the other... REMEMBER THIS..
  THE COIL PACK REMOVED:
  
  
  
• Set the coil pack aside, and locate the long black plastic rectangle that has the majority of any wires you see running in to it.. It will be secured to the block in two places via 9/32 bolts. Loosen and remove both bolts and raise the box off of the mounting posts. (movement of the box completely is not needed, just enough to have some room...
  
  
• Using a socket wrench and a 13mm socket, place the socket wrench down between the engine and the firewall, locating the large bolt that holds the top of the alternator bracket. The head is located on the DRIVER'S side of the bracket (not to say its on the DRIVER'S SIDE of the car... just that it FACES the driver's side, vice facing the outside of the car, towards the passenger side..)
  
  If you cannot get enough leverage to break the bolt free, place your deep socket 15 over the handle of your socket wrench, then place an extension into the socket, to create a longer handle. Keep stacking extension after extension until you have enough leverage to pop it off.
  
  
  Don't wrestle with it.. if it is too tight, don't round off that bolt or you are suckin' the big one. Just spray it with a can of PB Blaster and let it sit 20 minutes or so. then get more leverage, like so:
  
  
  
  Although you can only see the deep socket, there is actually a socket wrench under there, and the socket wrench is attached to the bolt.
  

Once this bolt is removed, you will do the rest of the bolts from underneath the car.

slide underneath the car, coming in from the passenger side, just rear of the hub. Slide back until your head is about even with the Y-PIPE of the exhaust. Look for the rear-motor mount as well.

• you will need to connect a bunch of extensions together, and some swivels to get the right angle for the following two bolts.. With your head about touching the rear mount, look up through the frame itself, across the passenger axle
  and locate the BOTTOM bolt of the bracket. It will be facing the driver's side like the last one, and is a 13mm as well.
  
  I had to use the following combination of extensions/swivels:
  SOCKET WRENCH-1 FOOTER-SWIVEL-8 INCH-13MM. If you can't quite get the right angle, consider reapproaching from another starting point, instead of adding another swivel, because they suck up alot of your twisting force in a hurry. They tend to bind up at too great of an angle, as well.
  
  THESE BOLTS ARE TIGHT....
  
  There is another, smaller, bolt that is towards the top, but not as high as the upper bracket bolt. it is a 10mm bolt facing the driver's side, and can best be described as the following...
  
  
  
  
  See the shiny white reflection from the flash, on the upper right of the pulley? right about there, there is a bolt on the opposite side. You can also see the lower bracket bolt sticking through after having been installed.
  
  To remove this bolt, I need more extension, and another angle as that was too much STRAIGHT up to angle towards to bolt.. slide FURTHER to the driver's side, and slightly forward, and you will have your head right under the y-pipe. See the blue wire that is attached to an O2 sensor, on the TOP of the Y pipe? slide your extension contraption between the O2 sensor and the precat (where the exhaust curves straight upwards), then head straight to that little sucker (it is an almost dead shot to it, at about a 50�º angle..
  
  I used:
  SOCKET WRENCH - 1 FOOT - 8 INCH - 6 INCH - SWIVEL - 6 INCH - 10mm
  
• once these two bolts are off, sit back, grab a beer (or soda) and give yourself a hand.. Its all down-hill from here.
  
• okay.. now to get that sucker out: using your prybar, either place it on TOP of the alternator from the engine bay, and use a heavy mallet or hammer to knock it out (at least loose), or pry from the wheel well and pull it downwards. There is a small washer/spacer between the alternator and the bracket itself, and they are split, like a locking washer, and that makes the alternator bind up on the way out AND in..
  
• Once it comes out of the bracket, loosen the wires on the INSIDE of the alternator (driver's side)..
  
  there are three wires...
  
  one is a plug that you have the REMOVE THE COPPER WIRE going across it, then slide the plug off.
  
  the second is a small plastic grey plug that is VERY fragile. use your small flathead to lift up on the tab that is recessed below the surface level of the alternator, and then slide the clip off, as well..
  
  The third is held on with a bolt (7mm, IIRC) THIS is why you removed the positive battery terminal.. huge sparks and fuses blown if you didn't.
  
• Ok, wires are off, and the alternator is ou.. I said the alternator is ... is... ack its stuck... Have no fear, just fenagle your way around with it, and it will slide out eventually. (see why we removed the Tie-Rod end, now?)
  
• Installation is the same as removal, with one note:
  
  The alternator is heavy. holding it up, and trying to get it in the bracket is a pain.. it binds really bad.. lay on the ground and slide it up, trying to keep it lined up as straight as possible, even though the stiff wire keeps it kinked to one side. Once it is even slightly in both upper and lower brackets, use your pry bar, and place it underneath the alternator, PAST the alternator and to a location right above the CV JOINT boot. If you refer to the exterior view of the alternator you can see right where that bolt that is part of the CV joint is located. (right underneath the tie-rod.) Place your bar there, and then raise up the bar to lift the alternator into the bracket more.
  
• once in the bracket and lined up.. use one bolt, and run it through from the PASSENGER SIDE, this time, just for a second. it will verify that you are completely lined up, before getting under the car, snaking a swivel mess in there, and then being off a hair. Once the bolt takes all the way in, back it out about a 1/4 of the way.. Bolts cannot be left with the heads on the passenger side as they will interfere with the serpantine belt...
  
  
• Now you can slide under the car, and start the bolt from the driver's side, until it takes, then remove the outer bolt and finish.
  
• Reloop your Alternator belt using the breaker bar once again.
  
• put the splash guards back on the car.
• replace the plastic fuse holder on to its posts, re-tighten..
• replace the coilpack, REMEMBER THOSE TWO ADDITIONAL PARTS!!!!!
• re-attach the spark plugs in the RIGHT order..
• close the hood...
  
  

DONE!

Enjoy your beer, some more..


Ray

Ray, even though I don't have a duratec, that's awesome that you put that how-to together. If we ever meet, I'm buying you a drink.

On another little nite, be careful when messing around with those vacuum hoses, underneath the engine bay.. they are old, and could be QUITE brittle... snapping one would be a hay-day repair and won't be fun, especially if you didn't KNOW you broke it....







Thanks, Kremit..

Opinions, anyone? Good, bad, too much...too little?? "talk about blah-blah blah in more detail", take out blah blah blah...??

I just wrote it with the intent of showing a complete novice the ropes, and allowing them to tackle this job from a BEGINNER's point.. the current how-to was straight-to-the-point and factual, for what it had.. but I wanted more detail, and more "this is WHY you are doing what you are doing..."


MUCH thanks to Toadster for his how-to, as I wouldn't have tackled this job without HIS blurb, as well.. maybe my blurb can do the same...



Ray

Can The Moderator Sticky This Or Place It In The How-To Section...Very Well Done Ray!!!!! I NNever Thought Of Hitting The Top Bolt From The Top Of The Bay Like That....I Had Been Doing It The Harder Way With The Extentions From The Drivers Side Of The Car!!! Still Was Averaging About 45 Minutes Though Which Isnt That Bad In My Opinion...

I dread the day I have to change my alternator in my Duratec.

Haven't had to do mine yet either, but Beyondloaded's dad can attest that I spent a couple hours on their garage floor replacing an alternator in their SE.. Boy am I glad I have small flexible wrists or that would have been a REAL nightmare!

Mark

this how-to is the bomb.
thanks for the hard work.

Nice write-up! I especially like the designer color rubber mallet....

Bob

Also comes in Pink, for those times when your wife's press-ons are stuck to her fingers..


Thanks for the compliments, guys... Just leave a little note if you found this helpful, or confusing, and I will be sure to take that for further change, if needed.



Ray

Awesome write up Ray, could of used this a couple months ago when we replaced Steves...