Rebuilding/painting your alternator.

[seq4x4]

So last night i got bored and wanted to see how an alternator works. After that i thought i may as well clean it up and paint it. So heres what i did. After iv finished typing this up im going to put it on the car to test it.

First of all youll need to remove your alternator from the car.
1 x 15mm to remove your belt. 1 x 10mm to take the brace of the top. 2 x 13mm to undo the bolts that hold the alternator to the tensoner. 1 x 13mm that holds the alt to batt wire on. 1 x plug on the back that plug into your brushes.


Once its out you will need to remove the pulley. You need an allen key, 8mm in size and a socket, preferably with a spanner fitting on it, i used a 5/16th socket.


Once thats off youll need to take the brushes out. This is done with a phillips head screw driver.


You will to remove that plastic cap where your power wire goes. Its a 15mm.


Next you will need to remove the 4 phillips head screws from the front.


Once those are out, there is 4 more screws to take out. This will free up your front guard.


Now your looking at this. Grab hold and wiggle that unit free.


Now youll see 3 phillips head screws on the bottom, youll n eed to take those out then you can take the back guard off.


At this stage you can clean and paint the guards. As you can see, i did mine in aluminum.


After looking at all the components, i noticed a fair bit of surface rust on things. So i busted out the sandpaper and wire wheel.

Some before and after shots.
Before:

After:


Before:

After:


Before: Believe me that there was surface rust on there.

After:


Once finished cleaning, you may as well replace your brushes where your there. Then reassemble and youll have a smick looking alternator.

[KingDiamond]

Looks good man... A lot of people chuck out an alternator when it stops charging.. A lot of the time the brushes are just worn out and need replacing, they are about $10 and most auto electricians will sell them to you...

[seq4x4]

Thats exactly right. The reconditioned ones on ebay pretty much do what i just did, not 100% if they change the bearings tho.

[wamboin23]

just a few things to add.

an easier way to remove the pulley is either a rattle gun, or undo the four main screws, seperate the two halves, then clamp the rotor in the vice, and just crack the nut in the pulley.

the screws you undo aren't phillips heads, they are pozi-drive. they are pretty much a phillips head with straight cut sides. phillips head screwdrivers will slip and strip the head more often than not.

also alot of Bosch units fitted to the Ecotec's etc ive rebuilt have a problem with the placement of the slip ring on the rotor. It's a good idea to take about .5-1mm off the top side of the brushes in the new regulator, stops problems with uneven wearing.

and bearings should be replaced when a unit is rebuilt, they are pretty much shot by the time the brushes are worn out.

but, good job, it's a good write up.

[edals]

FIRST !!! DISCONNECT THE BATTERY !!! i forgot this once, then my tools shorted and almost welded the tool to the engine lol

But Great write up mate will come in handy for me soon both my cars got 200k on them im sure they will go soon.

[bogan_vk]

great write up, definatley going to have a crack at this myself..i usually replace the brushes myself but have never recoed the whole alternator..

[drewVHSS]

Hope the end result will be a bit like my vn 5.0L alternator:

[shane_3800]

so after pulling it apart did looking at the rectifyer tell you how it works

[VK SL 3800]

The front bearing is a prick to get off, the puller will not fit under it.

[drewVHSS]

The front bearing is a prick to get off, the puller will not fit under it.

Rattle gun does the trick, if you dont have one. Most mechanics will rattle it off for you for free.

Edit: Sorry didn't read your post properly, though you said front pulley. not bearing... disregard!!!