E34 Alternator

[Danog22]

I just came through a rather daunting task of swapping out the alternator on my 1994 530I touring (E34). (it has the 3.0L M60 engine). I don't have the Bentley shopguide for my car, as I've only had my car for a few months. I'm getting one asap! However, given the info that I could find online, I dug in and began the work. He's a brief description for anyone getting ready to attempt the same. I would love to hear suggestions from anyone else that's done this same repair; especially tips of how I could've made it easier. 1. disconnect the negative lead from the battery (better know your radio code, cause you're going to need it later). [support your car safely on jackstands] 2. in the engine compartment, remove the fan shroud. 3. drain the coolant, and remove the upper radiator hose. 4. remove the bolts holding the oil filter canister. This won't give you much movement or play, but enough to help out. 5. Remove the fan blade (either loosen and remove via the large nut holding it on, or as I chose, remove the 3 bolts holding it to the actual wheel to remove just the fan blades (need allen wrench and calases on your knuckles!) 6. tape in a protective lining for the radiator, so that you don't damage the fins......I used a square piece of cardboard. 7. on the under side of the car, remove the splash guard covering the front of the engine compartment. (4 10mm nuts). 8. remove the air cooling hose/pipe that's connected to the alternator. 9. loosen the serpentine belt tensioner bolts and release the tension. 10. remove the drive belt. 11. remove the 3 bolts (13mm) supporting the alternator 12. not the alternator is nearly free....there are 2 wires connected to the back of the alternator that must be removed. You'll need to slide the alternator forwad and tilt back to even see the connections from the under side. Good luck doing any of this from above, without much more dismantling. remove the 2 nuts holding the 2 wires. Now the alternator is free floating. 13. I found that even now the alternator won't come out without some dismantling from this location. I found it necessary to now remove the rear plastic housing so that the air cooling port was not in the way while trying to remove the unit. There are 3 nuts that you'll need to remove (8mm). 14. Now the fun part. Getting the alternator turned, and up and out. This took the longest for me, as I didn't want to damage the radiator in any way, but there is very little room to remove it. It will want to hit the radiator, or the belt pulley wheels or the oil filter cannister. It will come out, but take your time and twist and turn it. Be patient!! Once it's out, sit down and drink a beer! You deserve it! Reverse the instruction to put it all back together. Good luck if your hoping to have an autoparts store test the alternator for you. This 140amp alternator won't fit on most of their testers. O'Reilly's said that they don't even sell an alternator for this car, and thus wouldn't test the old one. Most places want about $200 for a rebuilt alternator plus the core charge. I ordered mine online from:
S.G.S Auto Electric Repair, Inc.
" Top Quality Parts At Discount Price "
12400 SW 128 ST Ste. 1
Miami, FL 33186
Tel: (305) 232-0942
Fax: (305)232-0934
info@autoelectricpart.com
www.autoelectricpart.com

I paid $122.95 with $14.61 shipping ($137.56) with no core charge. I had a great experience. I only had to move the belt pulley over from the old one to the new one. It was even a Bosch, and not some other off brand.

Good luck........ don't forget to refill your coolant, and you might want to replace the 2 drive belts while you've got one of them off. (the compressor belt didn't need to come off, but if cracked you might want to replace them both while you've got it all apart). Let me know if you have questions, I'll try to help if I can. I'm only a Saturday driveway mechanic.