Replacing Alternator - 1997 Festiva

[michnet76]

Hi all.. the alternator in my wife's Festiva has died... I'm planning on replacing it tomorrow but every time I look at it I just can't figure how on earth you're meant to get in there to get it out!... so I'm hoping someone can give me a quick rundown on how to replace an alternator on a 1997 Festiva (australian version). It also has aircon and has the coolant pipe running around the top rear area of the motor.

Does it come out from the top or bottom?

Thanks in advance for any tips

[NicholasJackson]

Welcome.

Where abouts in australia are you?

Going off memory there should be a plug you have to unclip then unbolt the ground wire i think it is, with a 10mm socket. Then again off memory there should be 2 bolts both 14 mm taking those out and it should come out of the bracket.

Hope that helps.

ps theres heaps of space bottom side.

Nick.

[michnet76]

Hey Nick... I'm from the Riverland in South Oz.

So you'd recommend removing from the underside of the car? Cool... I'll load it up on the ramps before I pull the old one out then.

I thought replacing the alt on my EL was bad enough a couple months back... these Festi's are twice as tight to get into!

Cheers
Carl

[michnet76]

All done... wasn't as hard as anticipated. Once under the vehicle I was surprised at how much access there was to it. Looking down from the top it doesn't look like it!

For others searching for this info;

Upper mount bolt: 12mm
Rear Positive lead nut: 10mm
Lower mount bolt: 14mm

The wiring harness connector on my particular model didn't have a metal retainer clip, just a plastic retainer lug that you push it on remove.

Cheers
Carl

[Ken]

I removed mine from underneath. I actually replaced it with a GMC truck Alt ( Had to change the bracket a little and by pass the plug with a wire) so I could get enough juice to run a very very very powerful Audio system I installed and still have the head lights work.

[Nerd Racing]

^^ I was going to say 12mm on the eggs.