Changing My Alternator

[Jack Pritchard]

Hi

I'm just about to change my burnt out alternator for a new (ish) one on my 1997 Lexus GS 300 and of course the first thing I'm going to need to do is slacken or loosen the belt.

I've located the belt tensioner but looking at it I'm not quite sure what to do with it or even if I need a special tool.

Any help or tips on this matter would be greatly apreciated.

Many thanks :)

[TigerFish]

There is a link in my signature to a tutorial I did for changing the belt, it should help you out.

[Jack Pritchard]

Thanks :) I've bookmarked the page and will have a go when the weather clears up. Fingers crossed..

[Steve]

let us know how you get on!

[Jack Pritchard]

Changed it over this morning. Just a couple of bolts and a couple of wires to disconnect but still took me over an hour and ripped my hands to shreds :-/

Slackening off the belt was easy thanks to TigerFish.

Volt meter (which I installed myself as for some reason Lexus doesn't think we need one) now reads just under 15v instead of the 12v it used to read :D

Thanks to all..

[steve2006]

Excellent result apart from the physical damage to your hands.

If the bearings in your old alternator are OK it may be worth stripping it down and seeing if it was just the brushes which have worn down, if so you could replace them for under a tenner and then have a useful spare.

[TigerFish]

Good stuff, glad you got it all sorted.