B3030 alternator installation!

Sully2 · Mar 21, 2007

2 men...never saw the "insides" before. From the time the battery got disconnected...it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes when we buttoned it up and fired it up.

Instructions are a JOKE ( and a bad one at that)
Steering wheel DID NOT have to be removed to get to the ..??..rectifier..??...thats mounted on the steering column. It can be reached from the "left side" to get it unbolted and a guy can reach in using that bolt to START it back into the same hole to bolt the new relay down.

Is it worth the cost ( set ME back $217 )..?...Who knows....but at least NOW I have enough electrical power to run SOMETHING..??

Toolguy · Mar 21, 2007

That's decent time. It took me about that long to do it by myself. What did you do about the dipstick? I was able to bend the original to fit around the new alternator. I don't like the idea of having to take the side panel off just to change the oil.

Sully2 · Mar 21, 2007

Toolguy said:
That's decent time. It took me about that long to do it by myself. What did you do about the dipstick? I was able to bend the original to fit around the new alternator. I don't like the idea of having to take the side panel off just to change the oil.

I bent mine also. We might have been able to do it quicker if we hadnt argued so much about which one of us was the dumber trying to understand the "instructions"...lol

MadReferee · Mar 22, 2007

You could have left the voltage regulator right where it was. My dealer said they never remove them as it was too much of a hassle.

Sully2 · Mar 22, 2007

MadReferee said:
You could have left the voltage regulator right where it was. My dealer said they never remove them as it was too much of a hassle.

Sure...could have. But I needed somewhere to mount the relay..so that bolt hole was as good a place as any???

I held the plastic cowling back out of the way and my friend just reached in with a ratchet and long extension and socket and unbolted it...no difficulty at all. Getting the bolt back IN..to mount the relay was tougher....had to start it by hand..and once it was about 1/4 of the way back in...THEN used the ratchet again to tighten it down.

Ive read on here different things about having to pull the steering wheel...etc...and that when the dynamo bracket was unbolted the coolant would run out..etc.. Niether happened in my case. Dont have to pull the steering wheel..or remove the dash or anything like that.

The INSTRUCTIONS...now thats a totally different thing. About as close to useless as they could get!