M60s and alternators

[632 Regal]

Absolutely SUCK!

Read every trick, still a no go.... did I mention this SUCKS?

[ryan roopnarine]

attach a riding lawnmower alternator somewhere on the belt drive to make up for the lack of output, and you'll be good to go.

[632 Regal]

tell me about it. worst 2 hour project I think yet, no wonder I have put this off for 3 years. To pull it out you have to really manhandle the oil filter deal and it still dont move far enough out of the way. Eventually I got it out but then what? the bottom has the steering pump in the way and the top sure has a lot of crap in the way. Eventually fished it out from the top. Installation went much easier, not sure why but that's okay. Old alt was burning out lights and ****, boiling the battery, smelled pretty bad. Checked the voltage, went up to 20 at 3k, didn't want to rev it any higher than that for fun.

1-10 id say this is a 7.5 or an 8. Anything 8 or more goes in for fixin, this had to get done right away.

[Tiger]

You did take out the fan and the cover right? I never done it yet on my car.

[632 Regal]

You did take out the fan and the cover right? I never done it yet on my car.

Ingredients:

remove rear seat bottom
disconnect battery
observe all the battery acid and vent hose that blew off
remove Fan
remove shroud
engine cover
intake boot from manifold to the filter
surf net for a clue
remove bolt & nuts on filter housing
remove outer belt
remove belt tensioner
alternator bolts
wiggle alternator around for a long time
surf web for more clues
try again damaging several fingers
surf again
remove waterpump pulley
the 2 vacuum lines that cross there
unhook upper rad hose at rad
Surf for more clues
study bently for the umpteenth time*
remove inner stud on filter housing
wiggle without profanity but red face
*Bently says clockwise but they are WRONG!
surf web, think porn is more constructive but don't give in
pry on filter housing again
wiggle alternator again
call son and have him manhandle filter housing while I wiggle alt
doink! Success!
Just like removing a bad under the bone wisdom tooth with a stick
install in reverse order saving much time not surfing.

the install went very smoothly with son holding housing towards fender,
I do not think I could have done this by myself in all honesty.
I mean it would have gotten done by me cutting the other filter stud off
and using a shitload of bungee cords or something, or perhaps the wife
<(^_^)> but she's kinda short and with the car on ramps you never know.
Removal from underneath looked to be way more trouble then it's worth. Under is only good for the bottom alt bolt and handling the alternator in and out of the birth canal (besides obviously the wiring).
The alternator is much bigger than I thought when actually trying to get it out of it's birth hole. This I assume is why I waited 3 years to do the job, 3 years ago I was getting fluxuating voltages and bought the new alternator. Car was fine since but in the morning the belt would slip and make noise I assumed till voltages were better. Yesterday 18-20 volts at 3k and climbing endlessly wow, not good.

Results are better than expected, no belt noise at startup. The car, even though I put the snow tires on seems quieter. Forgot the radio code today so I watched (the foglight message) the MPG thing on OBC, I averaged 24MPG which is much higher than the standard of 19-20ish. Engine is very quiet even at idle... just very weird to tell the truth. I have not monitored the voltage for 3 years so I do not have a clue what was going on that whole time.

[Mr._Graybeard]

I pulled the alt out of my 540 for a regulator replacement last spring while I had the water pump out. I'm afraid that made my project less entertaining -- although it may have been a lot funnier with you narrating, Jeff.

I suppose that blown-off battery vent hose came from charging the battery at 20 volts. Glad you didn't notice the presence of all that free hydrogen when you were lighting up a smoke.

Does your 530's alt have that black plastic cover on the back for the air duct like the 540? It adds to the fun at removal time.

Moreover, when I took the back cover off my alternator I found it had trapped a shitload of animal and vegetable matter -- dead bugs, leaves, etc. Considering that it gets hot enough back there that BMW decided it needs forced ventilation, it gave me pause.

Anyway, the V8 alternator isn't BMW's finest engineering moment, that's for sure.

[Jr ///M5]

http://www.bmwtis.com/repair/main/741en/index.htm Did you look at this before starting the deed Jeff?

There are quite a few pain in the ass jobs like this one, for example, the E39 and E60 PCV or Cyclone valve. Recently, it froze on Lori's E60 from condensate and unfortunately froze in the open position. In this position, the oil in the sump is sucked up into the cylinders and pumped through the exhaust. She noticed the smoke from the exhaust about 5 miles from work one cold windy afternoon and called me. I immediately told her to pull it over and I would call for a tow truck. The next day I checked the car and the oil wasn't even touching the dipstick. When I replaced the valve with the cold weather version, (it's all wrapped in foam insulation) and drained the oil, there was only about 2 quarts left out of seven.....the last time it happened was on the E39, the valve froze in the closed position, overpressurized the crankcase and blew the valve cover gasket and proceeded to pump oil out all over the exhaust manifold, filling the cabin with smoke. That time I told her to drive it back home. Again, only 5 miles away from startup, and avoiding a $200 tow bill.
The job itself does rate up there on the "suck-o-meter" at 6-8 hours of standing on your head as they thought a good place for it was underneath the intake runners behind the throttle body connected by 4 hoses.
Sometimes I hate BMW's.....

Have a Merry Christmas Jeff,

JR

[Tiger]

Yike! Maybe I should change my alternator while I change my waterpump in future... LOL

As of right now, of all the years I have owned this car, the battery is still alive... usually they last only two years... this one is going 4+ years.

[tim eh?]

Ingredients:

remove rear seat bottom
disconnect battery
observe all the battery acid and vent hose that blew off
remove Fan
remove shroud
engine cover
intake boot from manifold to the filter
surf net for a clue
remove bolt & nuts on filter housing
remove outer belt
remove belt tensioner
alternator bolts
wiggle alternator around for a long time
surf web for more clues
try again damaging several fingers
surf again
remove waterpump pulley
the 2 vacuum lines that cross there
unhook upper rad hose at rad
Surf for more clues
study bently for the umpteenth time*
remove inner stud on filter housing
wiggle without profanity but red face
*Bently says clockwise but they are WRONG!
surf web, think porn is more constructive but don't give in
pry on filter housing again
wiggle alternator again
call son and have him manhandle filter housing while I wiggle alt
doink! Success!
Just like removing a bad under the bone wisdom tooth with a stick
install in reverse order saving much time not surfing.



As frustrating as this may have been for you it made for an excellent read!

I'm on my 3rd battery in less than 3 years :(

[yaofeng]

If you have pulled the alternator as many times as I have you won't complain as much. The trick? Remove the power steering pump pulley and drop the alternator to the floor.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1364995

[632 Regal]

If you have pulled the alternator as many times as I have you won't complain as much. The trick? Remove the power steering pump pulley and drop the alternator to the floor.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1364995

the power steering unit even if removed would not have made the clearance on my car. The rules and instructions seem to be car by car. No way the alt would have made it out the bottom.

Yes it had the mass plastic deal which is like a log into a fireplace too small.

[yaofeng]

the power steering unit even if removed would not have made the clearance on my car. The rules and instructions seem to be car by car. No way the alt would have made it out the bottom.

Yes it had the mass plastic deal which is like a log into a fireplace too small.

Do not argue with sucessuful repair experience. Have you tried it? Why don't you try it and argue your point?

[632 Regal]

Do not argue with sucessuful repair experience. Have you tried it? Why don't you try it and argue your point?

trying to quit... arguing over a moot point is, well.. moot.

Have a great holiday!

[bmwrp8]

I think you need an ice cold beer jeff:D

[yaofeng]

Don't feel bad. I went through no less trouble than you did. Initially I fished the alternator from the top between the engine and the radiator scratching the radiator fins and my knuckle pretty badly. After a couple of times I found a less painful way. It is still a PITA. Just a little less so.

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/500521/

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/370372/

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/189257/

[Claude]

As frustrating as this may have been for you it made for an excellent read!

I'm on my 3rd battery in less than 3 years :(

Tim i don't remember what you reported about that but is it a higher drain current then normal that you have and did'nt succeed to spot ? Or a regulated voltage not high enough when the engine is running ? Or ... the worst case : Still a mystery ?

[tim eh?]

Tim i don't remember what you reported about that but is it a higher drain current then normal that you have and did'nt succeed to spot ? Or a regulated voltage not high enough when the engine is running ? Or ... the worst case : Still a mystery ?

it's worst case but I think I am getting closer... I stopped killing batteries once I started watching obc test09 on a regular basis. I am working on chapter 18 ("Sisyphus vs the E-box") of 'charge trek' at the moment.

(preview)
Recently I bought a little ammeter gauge and rigged it up to the alternator charge wire. Just the engine running everything else off I am drawing 30 amps on a fully charged battery, which I think is maybe a lot for just the essentials. The alternator will give me up to 65 amps at idle which I think is what a decent alternator should give.

Anyway, I kind of nosed around diagrams looking for what would be drawing current while just the engine is running and most stuff points to this
http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7024&stc=1&d=1261685957
where F,L,and J go to things like the fuel pump and injectors and critical stuff like that.

So then the other day when it was really cold I noticed (because I'm always watching the voltage:() a sudden voltage drop right when I shifted out of park... and I can't remember which diagrams I was looking at but the electronic transmission control seemed to point toward the dme also.

So then I posted this. (http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42281)

I have ordered a main relay ($16) and when I get the chance I'm going to look at all the power connections around the E-box like the fusible link and as far as I can tell the main connection is underneath the relays or the DME box. It might be a while before I have a chance (read feel like) going there seeing as I live in a frozen wasteland and it gets dark at 4. Besides, I discovered today (since I am already rambling now) I have bigger problems - my ds carpet is soaking wet (aaargh that is the worst thing in this climate) - it's not the sun roof drains... aaargh.

Anyways - thanks for asking! :D I'll go chime in on the Xmas thread now - Yeah Jeff, you thought YOU had problems.

[632 Regal]

Do not argue with sucessuful repair experience. Have you tried it? Why don't you try it and argue your point?

Spelling must be difficult for you, but it's okay I can still read it.

Not arguing with your experience but a few things I noticed along the way. theres the battery to the alternator that runs under the intake that 'on my car' looks like it takes a hit over time. Looks squished yet fundamentally intact.

I don't know how the wires are routed behind the alternator, they just shove back into the birthing hole or perhaps escape to bake on the exhaust area? Like you say perhaps as I said the Batt lead has some corrosion going on compromising it's condition?

Just a shot man, awaiting a personal attack reply.

been here done this, :D

[yaofeng]

I don't quite understand your question. But here is a few thousand words reply.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_540/DSC_2742.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_540/DSC_2741.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_540/DSC_2730.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_540/DSC_2728.jpg

[632 Regal]

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_540/DSC_2728.jpg

Excellent! Not that I want to rush out and pull the intake again, my power wire crosses over the water tube around the middle. Have no little yellow wire holders either. I see how this is supposed to go and will try to route the wire like that next time.