Gen 2.5 Alternator HELP

[Monterado]

My alternator started to go bad in the middle of a 1000 mile road trip in Southern Colorado. I replaced my battery (Group Size -24 / 700CCA) and made the 7 hour drive home by the skin of my teeth last weekend. My battery will stay charged (11v-12v) at high revs, but voltage drops at lower revs with my lights on. So far, I have been able to jump start and drive her short distances as needed.

I just ordered a new M350609D and it's on it's way. Can anyone point me in the direction of a thread or a post that details the replacement process? Or, if you have any advice, I am all ears. Otherwise, I can lean on my manual. My local dealer quoted me $575 installed which made me laugh.

I have poked around on ExPo and found some chatter about peoples issues w/ their 2.5 alternators, but I haven't found anything that is too informative.
I know enough that I should only use an OEM part. My dad replaced a couple of Montero alternators with ones purchased from parts stores and we had bad luck.

Thanks in advance!
CB

 

[jeep-N-montero]

It is pretty straightforward, simply loosen the belt and unbolt the old one, then bolt in the new one and tighten the belt. And of course you will want to determine what caused it to fail in the first place.

 

[Salonika]

I'd do a good cleaning job on all electrical connections while you are at it.

 

[KyleT]

Oil leaking from the front valve cover or cam seal can kill it fast.


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[jaccox23]

Remove the air box and you get a fairly straight shot at it. The bolt to loosen the tensioner is easily accessible from beneath the car with a 10 inch extension. It's relatively simple to swap them out and a good time to see what's leaking and from where

 

[nwoods]

1. Remove front skid plate..... which means loosen or remove rear skid plate first. This is the worst part of the job
2. Open air cleaner lid, remove filter. Loosen clamp at intake manifold, loosen all the way the long four or five bolts from bottom of air cleaner. Pull up and rotate air intake tube and box out of the way. Or disconnect MAF harness and a vacuum line or two and set the whole assembly to the side.
3. From above, with a long ratchet, loosen the bolt in the middle of the bottom tensioner pulley. I think it's a 14mm.
4. From underneath, using battery powered driver or impact with a 10" or longer extension, move the tension pulley down all the way to reduce tension completely. The Impact just speeds this up, it's not required to break it free, there's almost no resistance in loosening the tensioner.
5. Remove drive belt, inspect
6. Remove lower front bolt on alternator. 12mm?
7. Remove upper bolt (different size socket required). This is the long one that holds the alternator up. Be sure to have a strong hand under the Alternator when you pull this bolt out. If the alternator doesn't drop into your hand, wiggle it off the mounting tabs.
8. Squeeze release the control socket harness from back. Watch out for little orange gasket in harness to fall out!
9. Unbolt the power cable.

There is no step 10. You should be done in less than 15 minutes.

Use dielectric grease on power cable connection when you put it all together.

 

[KyleT]

Unhook the battery first too.


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[Monterado]

Thank you all very much for the details! I really appreciate it. I just replaced my seals, pump, belts, and the hoses that go to/from the oil cooler, so there shouldn't be any oil drip.

How much do i need to worry about the the drive belt tension once I reinstall? Do I need a belt tension gauge to measure the deflection, or can I use my judgement?

 

[rahee006]

i just did it a couple days ago.

here are the pictures.



there should be 1/4th of an inch flex in the belt.

how much did you pay for the alternator?

 

[Monterado]

$200 on parts.com You?

 

[Monterado]

Did any of you experience issues with the tension pulley? I got everything installed, but when I tighten the pulley adjusting bolt, I noticed that the bolt and the pulley slide out of position and appear to be loose and out of alignment. The pulley adjusting bolt sits in a notch, and when it is loosened it can move around or slide out of this notch. When I tighten the pulley adjusting bolt, the tension from the belt causes the bolt to slip out of this notch and causes everything to be out of alignment.

Once I slide the belt on, should I first tighten the 14mm fixing nut in the middle of the tensioner pulley? I assumed this was to be tightened AFTER the pulley adjusting bolt if I follow the directions provided by nwoods in reverse order.

See below.

 

[nwoods]

Yes, this happens to me too. You just need to muscle it a bit, holding the socket extension in place as you tighten it up. Helps to use a power drill or impact to tighten it up quickly so its less like to "walk out" as it tightens. HOWEVER, you don't need to power drive it down so its tight. You are just trying to move the pulley far enough to tighten the belt. You are NOT trying to tighten the tensioner nut down to were it won't turn! A properly snugged tensioner bolt is only that, snug. Not very tight. Once set, then, and only then, do you tighten the nut on the pulley itself.

 

[Monterado]

Thank you so much. I was getting a little worried that I messed up that pulley. Headed home from work now to hopefully get this thing buttoned up.