Tegger replaces his alternator

Did I ever tell you aftermarket sucks?

Through no fault of my own, I ended up with two aftermarket reman
alternators (NAPA), both of which failed very quickly. This time I said
screw the aftermarket warranty, bit the bullet and bought a genuine Honda
reman.

And this one I installed...myself. First time for this type of project.

I can now say, with total confidence, that there is absolutely NO way of
removing the alternator in the 1991 Integra without first removing the left
driveshaft AND the alternator's lower bracket.

As with my suspension repairs, I found my electric impact gun and my
balljoint tool to be worth their weight in gold. With them, the job was a
piece of cake. Without them I don't think the job would have been possible.
The spindle nut is torqued to 134 ft lbs, and requires at least twice that
to remove.

The factory manual wants you to remove the damper fork entirely. I wonder
why, as the entire driveshaft was easily removable through the fork without
even removing the pinch bolt. Perhaps my (aftermarket) inner CV joints are
smaller in diameter than the OEMs were.

The patient is resting comfortably, as is the surgeon.

Pics here:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/alt_replacement/

 

so where would you put the a/c and the power steering pump?

 

I thought I would have to do the same in my 98 civic, ie remove driveshaft
etc.... but I didn't. I simply got the alternator loose, then removed the 2
bolts on the alternator-engine block bracket, and it pretty much fell in my
lap.

Not so lucky on my wife's 87 prelude though.... with that one I had to remove
the driver side upper motor mount to allow me to shift the engine over enough
to make room to get the alternator out.

Tegger, would this option have worked in your situation at all?

t

 

PS, I used an alternator from the wrecker... $90 and I spent $5 on brushes
and $3 on new bearings before I put it in.

The wrecker alternator had 118000 kms on it, the civic had 198000kms at the
time. Now its at 271000kms, still goin strong!

My next replacement will be a honda reman, or I will take mine in to a shop
to have reworked provided the diode is still good.

t

 

Now you know when I have posted in the past saying the alternator was
a PITA to do. There was absolutely no need to place that component in
that location, they should have been able to get it in front like the
Accord of that year. I'm curious, were you able to get the spindle nut
off with your impact gun? If so what's the model...I may invest in
one. I had to use a torch to get mine off and that was after 3 tries!


Nick

 

My DeWalt (model DW293) is capable of 325 ft lbs of torque. It buzzed the
spindle nut off in literally seconds. NO problem. I wasn't able to drive
out all the staking the last guy put in the spindle nut, but that didn't
matter to the DeWalt.

I don't want to appear like a shill for DeWalt, but that electric impact
gun is absolutely, astoundingly amazing. It has never failed to shift ANY
bolt I've ever attempted to remove. Occasionally I have to go back-and-
forth for a minute, but so far everything's always come loose. Some day I'm
sure I'll run into a bolt it can't move, but so far that hasn't happened.

The one and only drawback to the DeWalt is its considerable heft and bulk.
It's a foot long from square drive to end of motor housing. It's therefore
useless in an engine bay or other tight spot, but for bolts where you have
lots of room for the beast, it's wonderful.

It was $200 at Home Depot.

 

Can't do that with the 'Teg. The alternator is directly above the inner CV
joint.

Believe me, alternator removal is most assuredly impossible unless you
remove the driveshaft and the alternator bracket.

No. There is absolutely NO room ANYWHERE to remove the alternator unless
you remove the two parts I list above. You cannot remove the alternator
from above. IMPOSSIBLE.

I did study the situation thoroughly to make sure.

Somebody once posted here that his dad or someone had managed to remove his
alt upwards, removing the brake master cylinder to make room. That is
impossible as well.

 

On Tue, 13 Mar 2007 20:14:55 -0700, jim beam


They are both in the front and above on my 95 Accord with the
alternator...the engineers could have done the same, might have needed
to extend the vertical size of the car a few inches but there is
definitely room.

 

Did I mention why my cutoff date for Honda(s) is 1983 where the
alternator replacement is a whopping fifteen minutes or so...

<G>

JT

 

You didn't mention it and you don't need to. Stop making people jealous.

 

I've got it down to a science with my '87 Accord(s). Gotta remove it, slide it
across the crossmember, over the engine mount, and out the far side of the
engine, but I can re-and-re within half an hour now (after LOTS of practice).
Most of that time is getting wrenches into that tight space to get everything loose.

Might hafta look into that DeWalt impact gun, but until then, I LOVE my
MasterCraft (Canadian Tire brand) cordless impact gun. For a 14.4V tool, it's
amazingly efficient (rated 1050 in-lps.)... and lightweight, and compact... and
strong! It once acted as an inadvertent jackstand when I was using it on an
exhaust clamp and left it sitting under the frame rail when I let the car down.

 

That's 88 ft-lbs. Might as well use your fingers if you expect that one to
budge a spindle nut.

The DeWalt does 325 ft-lbs, or 3900 in-lbs.

Love my DeWalt. LOVE it. Kiss kiss kiss (eww, greasy)...

 

I recommend "moving on up", like I did to a '90 Legend from my '88
Accord a couple of years ago. That's if you don't mind giving up 50% of
your gas mileage. The alternator is on top! The timing belt change is
still a b*Tch.

P.S. She just turned over 66K miles. -D)

dan

 

No way!

I love my ol' Honda tin. Anything after 1983 starts with the *real*
idiot lights, computers, real cramped quarters and too much complexity.
Besides, I like 40+ mpg!

The kicker is that so far, all repairs actually have been accomplished
by using my gut instincts of old vintage cars of the 1950's and 1960's...

<G>

JT

 

Well sure, but what do you expect for 14V?

Would you two like to be alone?

 

I finally got around to trying to find out why the crappy aftermarket
alternator I recently removed went bad.

First thing I did was pull the rear cover and the brush holder.
Well, guess what I found?

Check out these slip rings:
<http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/alt_replacement/l-bad_alt_slip-rings.jpg>
See the inner ring? It was rough like sandpaper.

And now the brushes:
<http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/alt_replacement/k-bad_alt_brushes.jpg>
Look at the short one. That's the one that was riding on
the inner slip ring. It wore down below spec just five months after
installation.

I wonder what else was bad on that alt.

Don't ever buy aftermarket shit.

 

Here at Honda Car Talk, nothing beats "Slide Shows by
Tegger."

Man I love that second photo in particular.

"So I was just hangin' out in the ga-rage, and so I thought
I'd dissect the old alternator for an afternoon of
adventure... Maybe give ol'Elle a thrill with a few
snapshots of the guts... "

 

That's just brutal.

I'd take it back to where you got it and drop it on someone's foot.

 

<holds flashlight under chin>

Behold...the horror...