SteveWalker
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| posted on 29/7/11 at 11:11 PM |
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What a wonderful day off - Not!
Having worked a 44 hour week over four days, so that I could take Friday off to take the kids out. I actually ended up spending a chunk of the time
trying to sort out my wife's Matiz. 
She's had the charging light staying on intermittently, but then going out, but yesterday she drove home, left it parked for twenty minutes and
then it wouldn't start. That night I foud there was nothing, not a hint of a light working, no instruments, etc. My first thought was a diode
gone in the alternator and the battery discharging through it - which proved to be correct, a steady 3.75A discharge, once I'd actually managed
to get some charge into the battery.
This morning I came to remove the alternator, only to find that some b*****d designer has positioned it between the back of the engine and the
bulkhead. With the top bolt almost totally innaccesible to anyone with normal sized hands; the the battery lead bolted on with the warning
light/control wiring in the way; the warning light/control plug positioned so that you cannot feel the retaining tab, nor see it in any way; and the
alternator bracket being too close to the bulkhead to let the alternator past - with one of its bolts innacessible as it is under the alternator.
I finally, at the expense of much pain, got the top bolt out and both the bottom ones. Much effort, finally allowed the alternator to be moved
sideways and tilted just enough, while fighting other wires and hoses catching the lugs, to get a position where I could remove the battery lead.
Having removed the lead, further manipulation got the plug to where I could see it and remove it. Finally I got the alternator out - this involves
getting it to turn and twist through gaps a fraction of a millimetre wider than the alternator and indeed by the time it comes out, it is upside down
and pointing 180° in the wrong direction.
All this took almost three hours.
At that point I sent my father, who was round as tool passer, to go and get an exchange one. He took our youngest son with him, while I took his two
older brothers to the swimming baths for an hour and a half.
Having sourced a replacement and now knowing the manouvres, I got it back in twenty minutes or so of more skinned knuckles, cuts and bruises. Started
it up and found that the damned regulator on the new one was faulty!!!! 
Back out and off to supplier, who was just closing and couldn't do anything 'til morning.
The only good thing is that I'm now practiced enough to do it quickly.
Kids are due at swimming lessons tomorrow 09:30 'til 10:00, then I've got to sort the car and finally I've got to fibreglass a flat
roof, while my dad's around to help before he goes to house-sit for my sister on Sunday.
I wonder what else will go wrong?
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jollygreengiant
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 07:37 AM |
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Take care when fitting/handling the alternator, some of them 'break' if the pulley is turned the wrong way. Not sure of why, but they just
do, pick the alternator up, spin the pulley to check the bearing, fit the alternator and find that it just doesn't work. Reason, when the
alternator was spun by hand, it was spun the wrong way.
Beware of the Goldfish in the tulip mines. The ONLY defence against them is smoking peanut butter sandwiches.
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adithorp
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 07:58 AM |
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Sounds like an average day at work to me... Except at the end I've usualy got to deal with an old bloke, moaning about the cost, 'cos he
used to be able to get an alternater for "2 and 6" and fit it to his Cortina in 20mins.
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
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Ninehigh
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 08:15 AM |
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That must be an old bloke thing, they used to complain to me that last time they got a taxi home it was £2.30 (it was a £2.50 minimum when I started
there)
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snapper
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 08:20 AM |
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I know your pain.....
V6 Galaxy water pump 10mm to long to remove with the engine in situ, I had to undo all engine and gearbox mounts to shift far enough to remove the
pump
Then the thermostat housing is almost inaccessible.
Mondeo TDCI starter motor 4 hours to remove 2 bolts and some wires.
I eat to survive
I drink to forget
I breath to pi55 my ex wife off (and now my ex partner)
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Peteff
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 08:30 AM |
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You want to swap it for an old Mitsubishi Colt  My daughter crashed her Corsa a while back and I bought a 2000 Colt 1.3 to keep her on the road as
she needs a car for work. The engine bay is a wonder to behold, you can nearly walk round in it
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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rusty nuts
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 08:43 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by snapper
Mondeo TDCI starter motor 4 hours to remove 2 bolts and some wires.
Try taking off the fan housing, it gives you loads more room to do the job. You'll probably end up doing the job again in a few months if the
starter was covered in debris from the DMF.
Oh the joys of working on modern cars!!
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 09:36 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
Take care when fitting/handling the alternator, some of them 'break' if the pulley is turned the wrong way. Not sure of why, but they just
do, pick the alternator up, spin the pulley to check the bearing, fit the alternator and find that it just doesn't work. Reason, when the
alternator was spun by hand, it was spun the wrong way.
First I have ever heard of this, seems incredibly unlikely. An alternator, by it's nature will actually produce a current in both directions,
though it's typically designed to run only in one.
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jollygreengiant
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 11:36 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Ninehigh
That must be an old bloke thing, they used to complain to me that last time they got a taxi home it was £2.30 (it was a £2.50 minimum when I started
there)
Nah, taxi fares started at 80p when I started. then about a month later they went up to a pound and we thought great we got a wage rise.
Beware of the Goldfish in the tulip mines. The ONLY defence against them is smoking peanut butter sandwiches.
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jollygreengiant
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 11:45 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
Take care when fitting/handling the alternator, some of them 'break' if the pulley is turned the wrong way. Not sure of why, but they just
do, pick the alternator up, spin the pulley to check the bearing, fit the alternator and find that it just doesn't work. Reason, when the
alternator was spun by hand, it was spun the wrong way.
First I have ever heard of this, seems incredibly unlikely. An alternator, by it's nature will actually produce a current in both directions,
though it's typically designed to run only in one.
Yep its true that most will be ok rotating the 'other' way but, (this was about 11 years ago and I think it was Daewoo related) there ARE
a couple of alternators about where this IS the case, spin them the 'WRONG' way when you do the motor mech bit to check that you have got
a 'good' alternator with not bearing fault and low and behold when you fit it it will be 'Dead'. Never got to the bottom of
why, but, this was the explanation from the manufacturer/supplier. (We only fitted manufacuter/lucas/bosch/valeo units not recons.)
So go figure.
Beware of the Goldfish in the tulip mines. The ONLY defence against them is smoking peanut butter sandwiches.
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matt_gsxr
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 12:45 PM |
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Reminds me of my 1998 Audi A4 Tdi starter motor hell, at least I liked that car.
Nothing worse than nasty jobs on cars you hate.
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SteveWalker
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 10:43 PM |
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Just to follow up. Got the replacement this morning and found it much harder to fit - it has a square edged plastic cover on the back, like the
original, rather than the curved metal edges of the earlier replacement. It makes getting your hand to the top bolt even harder.
Finally got it on, works fine. Came to replace the "access" panel behind the offside front wheel and one of the plastic clips has broken.
If I leave the panel off, the wheel can throw stones straight into the belts. Put it on without the clip and airflow will rip it down onto the
driveshaft. So I go to the local car parts shops and each says, "we've given up stocking them, as they're all car specific now, so
you'll have to go to the dealer." With very little time before the parts desks shut (why do they shut early on the only day that most
people have free to do work on the car?) I rush off. "What's the registration?" they ask. I don't know I answer, it's my
wife's, she's not had it long and I'm not used to it yet. "We can't find it on the system without" comes the
reply. They get very uppity, when I start getting annoyed with them! Finally, someone actually goes in the back and returns with a variety, all too
small. They then send me to their depot, which is open half an hour longer. There they disappear for ten minutes and re-appear with a diagram - of the
wrong year. Another ten minutes and they come back with the right diagram. The top two holes (both 6mm) are labelled for two different fasteners
(why?) and the bottom one, the one I want, is unlabelled!!!
After much searching, they give up and do what any reasonable place would have done in the first place and just get me a fastener of the right size
from a different car (an Astra van), so proving what I said all along - there is no need for each manufacturer to have numerous different fasteners,
all unique ot them!
Two bloody hours to get a fastener!
The consequence being that my fibreglassing of the flat roof is only half complete and I just have to hope that there is no rain tomorrow.
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jollygreengiant
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| posted on 30/7/11 at 11:46 PM |
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Cheer up, I had a Fiat van in the workshop once for new discs and pads (front). Pads were not a problem. The discs however.
The discs however, well, there were three listed, but only one with the right diameter. Ordered, fitted, but fouled caliper carrier on the inboard
face. Checked the listing book and checked with the suppliers who then sent down the other options. They didn't fit either, one being vented the
other fouled on the out board face but was wrong diameter anyway. So contacted the dealer and supplied the all-important Recambi number and chassis
number. Same problem with the first set, fouled in-board. Alternate fouled on the out board, third set vented so no go. In the end we ordered
after-market discs, sent them to a machine shop and got them skimmed on the inboard faces to fit. All it proved is that the manufacturers occasionally
don't know what they fitted on their product.
Beware of the Goldfish in the tulip mines. The ONLY defence against them is smoking peanut butter sandwiches.
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