1988 190D: Removing alternator?

- C
- Chanzilla
  
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posted
20 years ago

Sat, Jun 28, 2003 1:30 AM

it's me again. I found a friendly neighborhood MB salvage yard that just happened to have a junk model laying around, sans engine.

The service guy sold me an alternator for cheap. I get home, and start on getting the old one out. Now, in most cars I've worked on, you loosen the alternator, it slides a bit, the belt loosens, and the alternator pops right out. Now, in this piece of german engineering, I've loosened the bolts and the alternator doesn't budge. I took a good look at the bracket, and there's no sliding hole. Further inspection shows what looks like a set of springs on the front of the engine that may hold a pulley that tensions the belt. I'm assuming that I have to loosen that to get the belt loose to get my old alternator out. But flashlight-swapping and head-scratching isn't helping me see the solution. can anyone walk me through the process? The loosened alternator, tools, and rusty "new" alternator is sitting, waiting for instructions.

My car http:

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- Nick Hogg
  
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posted
20 years ago

Sat, Jun 28, 2003 10:43 AM

you must release the tension of the aux drivebelt:

unscrew nut on front of tensioner lever bolt
insert a suitable lever (the wheel trim lever from the toolkit will do) into the hole in the tensioner lever, and press the lever anticlockise until the bolt can be slid back towards the inlet manifold
release the tensioner spring by pivoting the lever clockwise
the belt should now be slack enough to unhook it from the alternator pulley. if it isn't, push the idler pulley back until the belt loses more tension
refitting is a reversal of the above procedure - but if i were you i'd ensure that the aux belt doesn't come all the way off (just get it off the alt. pulley) as it can be a bitch to refit

hope this helps

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- Chanzilla
  
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posted
20 years ago

Tue, Jul 1, 2003 4:58 PM

It all made sense when I figured out what a tensioner lever was. *LOL* Thanks, I did as you said and have a new alternator on. With a new battery and alternator, the car doesn't seem to leak as much diesel anymore.

I still have my old alternator. Is it cost-effective to have it rebuilt and just save it for the next brown-out? I have a rebuilt one in it now, and they didn't ask for the core. It came out of a salvaged car that had been completely rebuilt a week before getting slammed in the rear.