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changing the damn alternator

deez

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May 29, 2004
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1,150
Location
Chico, CA
Okay, I am greasy, buzzed, and pissed. How the hell do you get to the lower bolt on the alternator to change it out?? Can they make an alternator any more difficult to change??
 

TRBODSM

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Feb 4, 2009
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278
Location
Northglenn, CO
I just get a shallow socket connected to the ratchet and wiggle it through by the dipstick and take it off. If your car is warm you might want to wait a little bit until it cools down. Make shure you disconnect the battery before you start taking anything off. Ive known some ppl that forgot to do that and blow their alt fuse when they are taking the power wire off the alt and accidentally ground it.
 

deez

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May 29, 2004
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Location
Chico, CA
ya, its all disconnected. and the f'ing nuts to disconnect the electrical just spin the studs in the alternator. this car hates me.
 

raptorWagon

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May 17, 2007
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Oak Harbor, WA
Once you get the nut off on the bolt, 12mm if I remember, then you will just have to wiggle the alternator up and down with one hand and pry with a flathead to back the bolt out. I know the first time I did it, it was a pita.
 

deez

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May 29, 2004
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Chico, CA
PITA big time, every time I work on this thing I want to sell it and get an old muscle car again. but then again, they done have power windows and ac
 

deez

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Chico, CA
ok, do I have to remove the fender liner to get that bolt out?
 

raptorWagon

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May 17, 2007
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Oak Harbor, WA
Quoting deez:
PITA big time, every time I work on this thing I want to sell it and get an old muscle car again. but then again, they done have power windows and ac


lol, I don't have powersteering(dry rack) or AC in mine.

It makes life easier, think you can get away with it on, but I don't remember, just take it off.
 

Galants are a little tighter than dsms for an alternator job but try a v-sux mercury cougar someday!!!!
 

chucklesas

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Feb 14, 2003
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Dayton, OH
Quoting deez:
ok, do I have to remove the fender liner to get that bolt out?



You might have to depending on which way the bolt is facing. Also, I think the belt might be in the way too. Been a few years since I've done an alternator in the car.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

deez

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May 29, 2004
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1,150
Location
Chico, CA
ok, I am drunk on oatmeal stout and its going back together. thanks for the help guys!
 

deez

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May 29, 2004
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Chico, CA
I ended up doing that too, that helped a ton.
 

turbowop

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Apr 29, 2001
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11,971
Location
Yakima, WA
I don't remember the exact combination I use, but I think it's a 3/8 ratchet, a shallow 12mm socket, and a ~6" extension to get to that nut without removal of anything else. And I can usually fanagle my arm up under there without raising the car. That said, my car is clean and there is no rust under there, so YMMV.
 

deez

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May 29, 2004
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1,150
Location
Chico, CA
So this was pretty incredible. The car has 183k on it, and it turns out it was the original alternator. Wow, thats impressive! And some of you know I have been fighting a stumbling issue for some time. I drove it about 7 miles today and the idle is MUCH better. Not one issue. The true test will be after the computer resets and relearns everything and with the lights on, but its a huge improvement. For anyone who experiencing stumbling issues, even if the voltage checks out fine like mine did, change your alternator.
 

Terry Posten

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Dec 16, 2003
Messages
9,009
Location
Davenport, Iowa USA
Yep, I had the same issues with stumbling with a small battery.

The alt does help but just look at the wire size that connects the alt to the battery. If your battery is not performing at rated power, the alt wont run the car at optimum because the wire is just not big enough to power everything we stick in our cars.

Think about how much we pull out of our power system. Most have a few gauges, some sort of tuning computer, high flow fuel pump, radio/amps, cell charger, all the dash lights, headlights, tail lights, and the ECU with all the injectors and misc sensors. The AC and ABS pumps pull major power when activated.

If your battery or Alt is not up to peak performance, you will have issues that are intermittent and can be a nightmare to troubleshoot.

Hope you have finally found your problems.
 

Quoting deez:
The car has 183k on it, and it turns out it was the original alternator.



Whats amazing is the power steering crush washer didn't fail before 183k.
 

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif Whats the deal? I can do an alt swap in about 45 mins. This includes removing the IC hot pipe, power steering pump, belts and driver motor mount. I bet I could cut a couple mins off if I had air tools and was angry.
 

raptorWagon

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May 17, 2007
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Oak Harbor, WA
Quoting Smitty1457:
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif Whats the deal? I can do an alt swap in about 45 mins. This includes removing the IC hot pipe, power steering pump, belts and driver motor mount. I bet I could cut a couple mins off if I had air tools and was angry.



That's the nice thing about no PS, less stuff to take off to do this, oh and I don't remove the hot pipe or motor mount at all. I can slide it out just fine between the mount and the car. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
 

chucklesas

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Feb 14, 2003
Messages
1,895
Location
Dayton, OH
I'm not looking forward to the day I upgrade my failing 135amp alternator with a 150amp model. It is currently attached to where the AC used to be. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to remove my intake manifold to do the alternator replacement. YUCK.
 
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