Yet another cheap as chips 996 fix - Alternator (DIY included)

Dashboard lit up like a Christmas Tree on Friday on the way home from the boozer. At first I thought my belt had snapped but seeing as my aircon and power steering were still active I ruled that out and drove home as fast as I could before my battery went flat. Hedging my bets on it being the original alternator (or it's regulator thingy) that had failed and the fact it was 26 years old over 182k miles I just thought I'd buy a new one. Picked one up off Autodoc for £113 delivered. 150A instead of the 120A original and manufactured by Autodoc's own brand Ridex. Alternator arrived Tuesday morning and had some time to spare today so thought I'd fit it. Took my time doing it and all in was 40 mins. Could've easily done it in half an hour but it was quite warm in my unit. Watched a video on youtube included in that time too: So in a nutshell - new alternator fitted = £113 plus 1 hour labour. I'd be very surprised if there's many other modern cars that can have the alternator swapped over in under an hour. Most these days need the front end of the car removing. Just for reference: 1. Disconnect battery negative first with ignition on to prevent alarm going off when you disconnect. 2. Unplug MAF from airbox and unclip cable and move it out the way. 3. Undo jubilee clip on throttle body air intake pipe. 4. Remove rear earth post that also bolts the airbox down. 5. Remove airbox. 6. Wind tension off tensioner pulley (clockwise) with a 24mm socket and unhook belt off alternator and power steering pump, leave rest in place. 7. Undo the the two bolts holding the clamped pipe above the alternator (seen in video) to give you a bit of wiggle room. 8. Undo by 1 turn the long bolt that goes through the idler puller and right hand side of alternator. Tap the front of the bolt to knock the rear clamping bush in the alternator. Once you shift that back, remove the bolt and pulley. 9. Remover the other bolt on the left hand side. 10. Alternator should now freely wiggle out. Takes a bit of wiggling and toing and froing but comes out from its location. 11. Once halfway out, disconnect the cable on the back and unclamp the Earth cable 12. Remove alternator completely and list on eBay on a wooden plinth for £600. 13. Clean mating face of earth cable. Also, before fitting new alternator, just check the clamping bush isn't sat proud or the rear part of the casting its located in. If it is, just tap it back a bit, otherwise you'll struggle getting it over where it clamps to the engine block. 14. Insert new alternator halfway in. Fit earth cable and plug the other cable in. 15. Slide back in to position, again plenty of toing and froing. 16. When you have it lined up put the bolts back in and tighten up. 17. Clamp the pipe above it back in place. 18. Refit belt over top pulleys, winding the tension off the tensioner pulley again to give you enough slack in the belt to fit over the pulleys. 19. Refit airbox, fit pipe back on throttle body, tighten jubilee clip, fit MAF lead back in the clips on the air box, plug the MAF in, bolt the box down with the earth point bolt. 20. Reconnect battery, positive 1st, negative second. 21. Shut front and rear lids/bonnets. 22. Switch ignition on, set clock, reset front windows by holding the switches in the up position for 5 seconds when at the top. 23. Start it up and check the volt gauge and battery light. 24. Go for a blast.....for the first time the ABS and PSM warning lights will be on because the MAF has been disconnected. After 10 yards of driving, switch the ignition off and then back on again and it should reset the lights. 25. Go for a pint, smile and think 'to think I nearly bought a Range Rover".

Point 12

Alex, do you advise to,use teak or oak for the plinth mate...? Great right-up.......... really easy on a Boxster too....!!!

MDF

Quotes source post: 2823909

Legend

Chips are ex pen sive in your manor…. Ours granted are probably £13 now… Good work on the fix

Great write up! My alternator needed a little persuading with a rubber mallet before it would even move, but it's not a difficult job, is it?

No. Looks more daunting that what it is.

Re: #11...getting that nut off can be a pita as the cable from the starter is JUST long enough to connect to the alternator. So, years ago I bought a 6" battery cable to bolt to the Porsche cable, then wrapped it all up nice and tight. Now I have room to pull the alt out and disconnect that nut without having to contort myself too much. Makes it much easier to "get in there" for other jobs where I have to remove the alt.

I find it's always a good idea to have a good look at the new part before fitting as well as before removing the old one. that then gives you a good idea of what's where and which bits may give you aggro. Once you've fully analysed the new part, the aggro doesn't happen.

Knocking back the long bolt with the tapered nut (step 8) can give grief if the tapered nut doesn't want to play ball. Did two alternator swaps on my 986, second one was under an hour having done it once before. Full access once the firewall carpet and plate have been removed so less gear to get out of the way than the 996. But still an easy DIY task and only needs about 5 tools.