Jeff Horton
Member
- Messages
- 4,272
- Location
- The Heart of Dixie
I bought this a few weeks ago for a song. Alternator was (I hope) bad. Not in bad shape, low miles for it age but nasty dirty outside. Needed a major cleaning and after I washed it, it still needed washing again!
Interior is good with some minor issues. GREAT sounding stereo!! My plan is a quick repair. Drive it with a For-Sale sign in the window and make some good money for the my labor. Not my kind of car. This is it after a a lot of scrubbing. '93 Caddy STS with the NorthStar 32 valve engine.
ANYONE SEE THE ALTERNATOR IN THERE??
Today I started tearing it apart and that is a good description of what it takes to get an alternator out! RF tire off. Remove access panels in the wheel well. Remove the battery, body braces. Motor mounts. and assorted other parts just to gain access to or I should say be able to see the alternator.
The arrow points to where the alternator was. I got it loose. That took probably an hour and half that spent on one bolt I could barely see and barely reach. Then once it was loose I could flip it over and remove the wires. Guess what? It will not come out. There isn't enough room to remove it from under the engine.
Options were remove the AC compressor which is just as hard to get to. Remove the engine.... not an option. Then I keep looking and decided removing the radiator was least objectionable option. Well this thing must cool every component on the car. Two coolers inside the radiator and two more additional cooler of some sort in front of the radiator. The the A/C condenser is attached to the radiator and that means you have to drain the freon out to remove the radiator so you can detach the condenser! Stupidest design on the car!
Here it is 4.5 hours latter with a alternator ready to go be rebuilt. Believe it or not this was not as bad I was expecting. Knowing now to remove the radiator, that would have save at least a half and hour because of all the space it opened up to work. It would have made the removal of the alternator easier.
The GM dealer quoted $1,200 labor to replace it. A local shop said he charged $600 for the last one and refused to do another. So I knew it was going to be big job and that is how I got the car so cheaply to start with. But it wasn't nearly as bad I was expecting, not that it was easy! I am glad to have it off!!
Interior is good with some minor issues. GREAT sounding stereo!! My plan is a quick repair. Drive it with a For-Sale sign in the window and make some good money for the my labor. Not my kind of car. This is it after a a lot of scrubbing. '93 Caddy STS with the NorthStar 32 valve engine.
ANYONE SEE THE ALTERNATOR IN THERE??
Today I started tearing it apart and that is a good description of what it takes to get an alternator out! RF tire off. Remove access panels in the wheel well. Remove the battery, body braces. Motor mounts. and assorted other parts just to gain access to or I should say be able to see the alternator.
The arrow points to where the alternator was. I got it loose. That took probably an hour and half that spent on one bolt I could barely see and barely reach. Then once it was loose I could flip it over and remove the wires. Guess what? It will not come out. There isn't enough room to remove it from under the engine.
Options were remove the AC compressor which is just as hard to get to. Remove the engine.... not an option. Then I keep looking and decided removing the radiator was least objectionable option. Well this thing must cool every component on the car. Two coolers inside the radiator and two more additional cooler of some sort in front of the radiator. The the A/C condenser is attached to the radiator and that means you have to drain the freon out to remove the radiator so you can detach the condenser! Stupidest design on the car!
Here it is 4.5 hours latter with a alternator ready to go be rebuilt. Believe it or not this was not as bad I was expecting. Knowing now to remove the radiator, that would have save at least a half and hour because of all the space it opened up to work. It would have made the removal of the alternator easier.
The GM dealer quoted $1,200 labor to replace it. A local shop said he charged $600 for the last one and refused to do another. So I knew it was going to be big job and that is how I got the car so cheaply to start with. But it wasn't nearly as bad I was expecting, not that it was easy! I am glad to have it off!!