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+ The ORIGINAL Aztek Fan Club > AZTEK GARAGE (Peer Support) > MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL/OTHER > My Alternator Replacement Write-up
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Author Topic: My Alternator Replacement Write-up  (Read 9801 times)
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coopaz
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« on: October 12, 2013, 11:52:56 AM »
Just got done changing my alternator on my 03.. More involved than most but not tooo bad... Didn't have to roll the engine forward.
1. Take off the serpentine belt...Disconnect battery
2. Disconnect battery post on alternator (13mm) and electrical connector.
3. One 15mm bolt at the pivot point on the alternator.
4. Two 15mm bolts on the back of the alternator by the firewall... Got to them with a ratcheting gearwrench type wrench.. Just loosen the driver's side one because the alternator just slip off the bolt once loosened...and takeout the other one past the threads, but it won't come all the way out because of the firewall, which is fine...
5. Set the alternator to the back, side, or whereever...
The following steps are needed to get the alternator out of the engine compartment...
6. Take off idler pulley assembly. 15mm
7. Take out two 15mm bolts around where idler assembly was and take out a 15mm bolt under where the alternator was and remove the alternator bracket.
8. Now remove the power steering by taking out three 13mm bolts that can be accessed through the power steering pulley..Do not remove the lines
9. Take the power steering lines out of the clip and set the power steering unit down toward the firewall..
10. The alternator can now be finessed through the newly created space... I took mine out plastic side first...
11. Reverse for reinstallation... When you get to bolting the alternator back in, slide the passenger side bolt in first as you won't be able to put it in after because of firewall interference...

Sorry if someone else already did a write up... I couldn't find one and just wanted to share my experience... Smiley
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Coop (Another One)

03 Aztek, Black, 17" American Racing Chrome Wheels, Moonroof, 38% Tint on Front Windows, K&N Cone Filter, Dynomax Muffler, Manik Nerf Bars, Westin Safari Bar w/Driving Lights, JVC CD, Ample amp & 10" Cerwin Vega subs, 6.5 MB Quartz, Sliding Tray-Door Bags-Roof Rails from ebay/boneyard, Montana Leather Rear Buckets, 168k miles.
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Dumpy
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« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2013, 07:34:24 AM »
Thanks for the wright up,
I'm sure it will be used in the near future.
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Yellow 2002 1SB FWD
pearlheartgtr
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« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2014, 06:47:01 PM »
I know this is an old thread but I went through alternator problems last summer. Instead of pulling the alternator, I just changed the brushes. Pop the black cap off and unbolt the assembly that holds the brushes. Solder in new ones and put back together. Took all of 15 minutes and saved me the trouble of pulling the alternator. Usually, when alternators go bad, it's just the brushes. It doesn't hurt to take a look at the brushes first before going through the trouble and money where the brushes only cost about $8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVvPzwtxdrM&list=UUTDErideqzqIZgWYgK-TMkQ&feature=share&index=10

There is a link to his eBay shop where he sells the brushes.
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Tom Moog
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« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2014, 12:35:30 PM »
That's awesome! We have become a society of people who just replace an entire unit rather than to just fix what we have. Glad to see this!
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pearlheartgtr
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« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2014, 04:25:45 PM »
LOL, I couldn't afford to replace the whole unit!
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2002_Yellow_Aztek
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« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2014, 10:48:10 PM »
Just wanted to added from my experience:
I couldn't remove the power steering pump from the intake. The three bolts were removed, but it would not come out of the pocket where it was held. What I ended up doing is I noticed that the windshield wiper cross brace is fairly long. Using a wrench, I moved the wipers such that the wiper arms in the engine compartment were out of the way, and then using a pry bar, I bent the wiper brace up about a 1/4 inch. It's pretty flexible and that gave me enough room to pull/maneuver the alternator out of the engine compartment. Pushed it up to put the "new" alternator back in. I bought my "new" alternator on ebay for $40 bucks. It was from a Rendezvous with 120k miles. My Alternator failed at 215k miles.
If I have to do this again, I'll probably cut the wiper brace above the alternator. Once you move the two halves of the brace out of the way, there's plenty of room above the alternator to remove it. To fix the brace, use a length of either copper or galvanized pipe to make a sleeve with two screws to hold everything together.

- Jerry (2002_Yellow_Aztek)
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pearlheartgtr
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« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2014, 10:54:28 PM »
There's a youtube video using the bent wiper bar technique. I watched just about every video on alternator replacement before I dove straight to the brushes  Grin.
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Tronman
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« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2020, 10:12:22 PM »
I've found the trick when doing anything to the front of the Aztek's engine:  remove the windshield washer fluid reservoir.  You'll have to take out that metal brace, and the battery too most likely.  But once you get all that out, there is enough room to comfortably remove the alternator, possibly without even taking the bracket off.  Of course I took the bracket off first, and futzed around with the power steering which didn't come out of its pocket even after removing the bolts.

This was after I thought maybe removing the coil pack and rotating the motor might make a big enough hole..  nope.  So I put that all back together..

I removed the fluid reservoir because I thought I was going to have to pull the pulley off the P/S pump (I have the special tool to do so) but after removing the brace, then the battery, then the reservoir the alternator just walked right out of there with room to spare.

Four hours later!!   Angry Grin
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