Boy, that alternator is in an odd place...

[blynzoo]

I was replacing the alternator in a friend's 2000 Hyundai Elantra (hey, not everyone is a millionaire, my man drives what he can afford). On a whim, I realized I did not know the location of the alt in the protege and took a look.

WOW!!!! I dont think they could have made it any harder to get to/replace. I am dreading around 100K when I decide to replace it. remember when all the acc/aux parts used to be EASY to get to on a car? Hell, in old V8's you could change the WATER PUMP in under an hour. I did the alt in my 91 Olds in fifteen minutes. And that's from popping to dropping (the hood).

I just thought it was interesting, the way things are crammed into compacts these days.

[/pointless rant]

 

[Replica]

I'm still trying to find my distributor.

 

[Poseur]

My ford mechanic friend (remember ford used our engines) will b**** and moan nonstop about working on Probes. He Was explaining to me the Alternator technique the otherday, he found a shortcut. In ford's book it takes somethinglike 2hrs (so that's what he gets paid for) but he found a way to do it in 1. Soon's he's back form his 2weeks in the reserve, I'll ask and postup if applicable to our cars as well if anyone's interested.

 

[osudewd]

For real. You need the dexeterity of an octopus to work on these engines now.

 

[msubullyfan]

WOW!!!! I dont think they could have made it any harder to get to/replace.]

(mswerd) Yeah, I noticed that the day after I bought my P5. It almost looks like you could get to it easier from under the car. However, having spent some time there, I know you can hardly reach the freakin' oil filter!

Don't think I'll be changing my own alternator in my car!

 

[protegeV]

For real. You need the dexeterity of an octopus to work on these engines now.

you ever looked under the hood of an SRT-4?

seems like you gotta pull the engine to change the oil(nervous)

(lol2)(lol)(laugh)

 

[rodslinger]

I remember changing alternators on those old Probes. It's been a long time but I think I remember having to disconnect the right/lower ball joint so you could push the wheel back and move the axle out of the way enough to get the alternator out... Pain in the ass they were.