94vertluvr Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 PLEASE tell me the mechanic was wrong when he said it would take 3.2 hrs to RR my alternator? If so, some GM engineer needs to be SHOT! WT....! I drove my car all day yesterday noticed as the day wore on the volts kept dropping normally they are between 13 and 14; by the end of the day they were around 6 and was having trouble starting; also this is a new battery. Can someone please direct me to instructions on how to 'easily' LOL replace this myself? Or do you think it might be something else? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 Look in the faq section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94vertluvr Posted October 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 LOL Figures it'd be there! Duh! Does anyone recommend a higher output alternator than the 105 amp original? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych0matt Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 That is correct though, the 3.4 alt is a pain to get to. I'd been quoted a few hundred to have someone to do it, and if I recall it was 3-4 hrs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 I would have found the link for you but I am on my phone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94vertluvr Posted October 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 I found it..thanks Jeremy! And, wow 45 mins to 1 hr from Slick!!! That means 2 hrs for me or better!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bg35765 Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 If you don't have a set of gear wrenches, buy one before you do this. Some of the bolts you have to remove have very tight clearances and I was not able to get a socket wrench in there. Â Even after doing this once, I don't think I could do it in less than 2 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 I did it 3 times in a period of 6 months. I had it mastered pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94vertluvr Posted October 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 Helpful thanks! I don't have a set of those but will b4 I start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94vertluvr Posted October 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 Is there anything else I should look at replacing while I'm in that general area that could likely go out and save me time in the long run??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carkhz316 Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 Slicks writeup = FTW to the EXTREME! Saved my butt about a month ago replacing mine on the '92. Never did one before on 3.4 DOHC and it only took me about ~1.5 hours. Slick: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94vertluvr Posted October 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 Very Cool man!! I'm hopeful that I can fit into that slot too!!! Thanks slick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 I found it..thanks Jeremy! And, wow 45 mins to 1 hr from Slick!!! That means 2 hrs for me or better!!! Â If you can do it in 2, you're way better off than me! Following Slick's instructions to the letter, it took me 8-hours. Well, maybe 7-hours and 50-minutes, but close enough. Most of it was spent moving that bolt in the back a millimeter at a time and dropping the wrench and having to find it with a magnetic pickup tool every 2-3 millimeters. Â I don't know what a "gear wrench" is, but maybe that's where I went wrong. I used a standard 6-point box end wrench on that rear bolt (even a 12-point would have been much better). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 I have both a set of regular gear wrenches and flex-head gear wrenches. Probably some of my favorite tools. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 Ah, I wondered if that's what they were. I thought they were just called a ratcheting box end wrench. 12pt, ratcheting, and flex-head... I can think of a million times something like that would have come in very handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94vertluvr Posted October 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 Picked up the metric flexible ones today; hopefully that will be all i need for this job; will pick up the SAE when more cash comes in. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 Slicks writeup = FTW to the EXTREME! Saved my butt about a month ago replacing mine on the '92. Never did one before on 3.4 DOHC and it only took me about ~1.5 hours. Slick: Â If more mechanics read W-Body.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOT2B GM Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 On LQ1 auto cars, the crank sensor and knock sensors on the back of the block are accessible with the alternator out. Â On 5 speed cars they are accessible all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galaxie500XL Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 I'm debating preemptively replacing my alternator while the transmission is out being rebuilt...I'm not currently having problems, though. Good idea, or bad idea to replace the alternator if it's old while it's accessible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94vertluvr Posted October 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 (edited) Well let me just chime in here; it took me a few hours to get the d...m thing out last nite; mainly because of one bolt on the back! Had I known it would be like this when I recently had the engine put in this car I would've had the mechanic replace it then and been done with it!! I had a local shop rebuild it this morning, $85 - money well spent to have it done when you have free'er access to that area and peace of mind that you hopefully won't have to address it again! (crosses fingers n knocks on wood!) Edited October 12, 2010 by 94vertluvr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 I did warn you my personal experience with that bolt in the back was not good! Getting it back in took just as long, if not longer than taking it out because I had trouble getting the alt aligned so that the rear bolt would go in. Be sure not to thread the other two bolts tightly until you get that rear one in. In fact, I needed to leave them quite loose which I didn't realize so I had to do a lot of lifting/lowering of the subframe because that top bolt needs the subframe up to get to while to get to the other bolts I needed the subframe lowered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94vertluvr Posted October 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 YES YOU DID!!! Thanks for the heads UP! I even had a time trying to find that back bolt which threw me off by about an hour! Hell I think the engineers of that used to work for the circus or something!!! I've read in a couple places that that bolt can be left out with no problems. Thanks for the heads up on the alignment of the bolts as I'm about to go out and give my best shot at getting it all back together!!! One thing I did find particularly helpful was from bg35765 those gear wrenches he mentioned worked great on the rear bolt once I found it!! So, if you have to replace yours again that's what I'd use for it; worked like a charm. I'm wondering if you can put the 2 bottom bolts in while the subframe is down then raise it up and put in the upper bolt??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderw31 Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 I'm debating preemptively replacing my alternator while the transmission is out being rebuilt...I'm not currently having problems, though. Good idea, or bad idea to replace the alternator if it's old while it's accessible? I replaced mine while the heads were off because I could then pull it out the top. Dunno if it really needed it, but I saved a lot of time and labor if the old one was close to failing. I say do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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