Alternators

That's the bad part, you have to remove the engine to get the alt. out, everything around it is too close to it.

Actually, you don't have to remove the engine, but it must be raised. Place a jack under the oil pan, preferably with a block of wood to protect the pan. Put slight pressure on pan. Remove the engine mount bolt on the passenger side of engine. Lift engine about an inch with jack. Remove alternator from underneath car. You may also have to remove the plastic splash guard under the car on some applications

The third wire is for whats called the sensing or pre-excitation circuit. This wire supplies the initial current from the battery to the alternator's field coil that starts the buildup of the magnetic field that allows the alternator to start producing current.

The tensioner pulley is toward the front of the car, best reached underneath (I had my car up on ramps when I did the replacement, which was a god idea) - I think it was a 13mm wrench used to move pulley toward the back of the car to loosen the serpentine belt.

I then slid the belt from around the alternator pulley so that the alternator could be removed.

the alternator comes out the top of the engine compartment, but to take it out I had to remove the coolant reservoir, and the wiper fluid container to have socket access to the three bolts that mount the alternator. One bolt is on top, the other two are underneath (looking at the new alternator is a good reference to see where the bottom two bolts are located).

There are also two electrical connectors and the nut-mounted positive cable that need to be removed prior to taking the alternator out.

There is not much room to get the old alternator out, but you will find one position in which the alternator can be removed - keep notice if this, as the new one has to go in the same way as the old one came out.

I did it myself - it wasn't too bad, but having a second person around to move the tensioner pulley while I work the belt would have made life easier.

look for your user manual and it should have it in there. if not look around the engine most likely on the cowling for the rad fan or on the bottom of the hood and it should have a diagram.

its a fairly straight forward procedure. remove the negative battery terminal, unplug the connector on the alternator, and remove the nut from the main power wire stud. then pry the wiring harness off the alternator body with a screwdriver. remove the 12mm bolt from the bottom of the alternator, and pivot it toward the engine. then the belt can be removed. once that's done, remove the 14mm pivot bolt and the part can be twisted out. if its stuck on the top, pry it with a big screwdriver, there isn't much you can hurt. installation is reverse of removal.

The tension bolt should not be removed. The four bolts holding the alternator in place need to be removed, the loosening tension bolt will give enough slack to get the belt off.

Piece of Cake!!

remove serpentine belt (search here for answer how to), remove the lower of 2 bolts from the alternator, loosen the upper, rotate the alternator up, remove the bolt.

Install is the reverse.

Depends on the car. Usually, they are right on the bracket that holds the alternator in place.

let the car run and then pull the negative battery cable off. if the car stalls, the alternator is bad! do you know where the bank 1 o2 sensor 2 is?

Burned fuse, bad wiring, electrical short, and just because it's new it doesn't mean it's good

When the ignition is turned on, battery voltage passes down the wire to the alternator to 'excite' the alternator when the engine starts. When the engine starts and the alternator generates a voltage, the light is extinguised by the charging voltage cancelling out the battery voltage coming down the wire. If and when the alternator completetly fails the the light will come back on as there is no sancelling voltage. if the alternator produces a voltage lower than the voltage from the ignition switch then the battery light will glow.

The alternator light circuit is different from the charging part. The charging part goes to the battery, while the light part goes to the instrument panel. There seems to be a grounded wire in the light circuit.

The Voltage Regulator is internal /part of the ECM (computer)..The Computer regulates the alternator voltage.

Voltage regulator or loose wire.

Service Manual shows removal from the bottom. Here's the text of the procedure:

1. Disconnect and isolate negative battery cable at battery.

2. Remove the right front wheel.

3. Remove the underbody air dam.

4. Remove the accessory drive splash shield.

5. Remove the accessory drive idler pulley.

6. Loosen the lower mounting bolt.

7. Loosen the A/C compressor and relocate, pull down and to outboard side of vehicle to make room to remove generator.

8. Unplug field circuit from generator.

9. Remove the B+ terminal nut and wire.

10. Remove the upper mounting bolt.

11. Remove the generator lower mounting bolt.

12. Relocate the battery terminal (1) to the other side of the A/C line (2) for removal of the generator.

13. Rotate generator pulley down.

14. Slide generator down and out of vehicle.

It may be a bad new alternator or it was not connected properly. Have the alternator tested to see if it is actually good.

Change alternator or check alternator brushes

The most common cause of a battery not holding its charge is corroded battery cables. That is the end of the cable which connects to the battery. The battery has a post that sticks up and the cable ends in a hole. The hole in the connector is pushed down over the post and is tightened with a bolt on the cable end connector.

When this connection gets corroded, the higher resistance prevents the battery from receiving the normal amount of current from the alternator and so gradually it dies.

You can buy a gizmo at any auto store that is designed to clean both the post and the connector with the hole. One end does the post and the other does the hole.

BTW, I learned about this from my mechanic who always looked for the simplest explanation for a problem first, and thereby saved his customers a lot of money.

No one will be able to know which arrow points to the alternator unless they are able to see the arrows. Including the pictures with the arrows is important to receive a correct answer.

how do you replace a alternator in a bmw 550i 2006

visit www.newtiburon.com for step by step

You will destroy the voltage regulator if you unplug the battery while it is running, then you will have to replace the alternator anyways.

first thing you will need to do is loosen the belt enough, get a large socket wrench and you will see a pully pretty deep down by the fan so it has to have a pretty long handle as well, once you spot it put the socket wrench in the pully's cut out socket and pull it towards your left and where the hose for your radiator is you will see a bracket put the wrench's handle on the bracket so it stays there, and your belt should losen, now just losen the bolts on the alternator i believe there are two and losen the bolt behind it to remove the cable. remove all other cables, and once the new one is in position. then put your belt back on and begin to move the wrench back and when the pully is back in its noromal position take the wrench out and your done :D i had to do this about 3 times becasue i had to change my alternator due to my system

If you have the owners manual it should show you on page 6-75, it has a diagram of the belt and the belt is on the left hand side of the engine. If you dont have an owners manual the alternator is is on the left hand lower side of the engine compartment, it is right up next to the engine, at least that is where it is on a 1997 olds aurora, so i think it will be in the same spot.

parts and labor it should run you about $300 and change. Replace the drvive belts too.