I tried to remove the alternator yesterday by undoing the 2 bolts; 1 that hold the top and the 1 below that also hold the water pump.

The problem i was having was not being able to free the bottom from the water pump housing and i didnt want to go crazy at it incase i was missing something. Is it a case of gentle persuasion with a rubber mallet or does the water pump need to be removed, I've had a look in the workshop manual and it's not very clear.

Thanks in advance

 

Where the bottom bolt goes through, it's a snug fit. Use a screwdriver to pry the alternator up.

 

Just did mine this evening. Kind of a pain in the butt. But saved some $$$$

 

Yeah I had to place a small pry bar under mine to get it to go.

 

I put the handle of my breaker bar in there and pry it out. When it is installed, there is a bushing that gets pushed in towards the alternator by the long bottom bolt. This bushing kind-of pinches the alternator in place and is what makes it difficult to remove from the bottom section. Re-installing it will be just as tight, but you can use something to push that bushing out some before re-installing the alternator to make more room to slide the alternator into that bottom mount. Again, I used the handle of a breaker bar to wedge in there and push that bushing out just a little bit. When you torque the bottom bolt back down it will squeeze that bushing back up against the alternator again.

 

Thanks for all the advice, did you lever it from underneath the car against the block? (Im struggling to picture how to do it)

 

No, everything was done from above. I believe to wedge it out I tilted the alternator to the right as far as it would go, then wedged the breaker bar handle in from the top between the alternator and whatever is to the left of it. Then wiggle the bar back and forth to loosen the alternator out.

 

Oh ok, thanks i'll give it a go

 

Yeah I just places my small pry bar that was wedged and tapped in it. The wedge created the space.

 

Be careful while prying not to damage your TPS on the throttle body. Cost me $$$ for a new throttle body when I broke mine prying on the alternator to fix mine. HTH