I've done numerous searches on the site but no where have I seen anyone do a how to for alternator replacement on a 2.7L engine. After my battery light kept coming on for the last time I decided to go ahead and take it to the dealership. $300 for the remanufactured alternator and I know they were going to charge me for the belt as well. The belt from autozone is around 25.00 and a remanufactured alternator is around 105.60... that’s what my receipt showed. Anyway I decided to do a how-to for alternator replacement.
The Haynes manual works well so I would advice you get one if you haven’t already. Disconnect the negative battery cable first… trust me. I put on the parking brake as well as put “stoppers” behind the rear wheels to make sure the car wouldn’t role. I supported only the front of the car on jackstands. Basically my car looked like this….
![Image]()
that’s from when I did the crankshaft replacement… except alternator is on the drivers side so I took the driver side wheel off instead of passenger like the pic shows… (thanks weaponX for that)
first thing to do is remove the splash guard.. Not really hard to do just remove four bolts holding the guard on.
![Image]()
There’s two on each side like these….
Once those are off you have to remove the two screws in front of the radiator for the cooling lines. They look like this…
![Image]()
it takes some effort to get them off due to no room whatsoever but I believe a 10mm gets them off. I had to pull down on the plastic to get my tool in there to remove it, but once its loose you can practically turn them both by hand…
It takes some pulling to get the splashguard off, but it’ll eventually slide out easy… (putting it back is a PITA) pay close attention as to how you remove the ends of the splash guard off… you’ll need to know for reinstallation.
The radiator and the dual cooling fans sit on this so once it comes off the book says support it on jackstands…. I say no. Since I didn’t have any extra jackstands I used a hydralic jack just like in the above picture. It came in handy due to the lack of room to loosen the pulley for the belt and even the bolts to get the alternator off. I ended up at times moving it down to access the pulley’s bolt as well as the top bolt that holds the alternator on.
I went ahead and removed the three bolts holding the alternator on FIRST, but I would recommend loosening the pulley first this way it makes removal a lot easier… I forgot to do that part.
![Image]()
(my old alternator and old belt)
Once the pulley is loose start removing the bolts holding the alternator on, (this is where the hydraulic jack came in handy due to me having to move the radiator up and down to get all the bolts off (it takes some time and cursing but take your time and you’ll get them off)
A Problem I came into was taking the alternator bolts off didn’t mean the alternator wanted to budge. I had to hit it numerous time (like tap on it with my fist) and wiggle it for it to come off…. Btw, be careful pulling it out because due to the lack of room to get it out of the car, I ended moving real slowly taking lines and pushing them back some to squeeze the alternator out, which I needed room through the wheel well (which is why the driver side wheel was removed!
![Image]()
(my old alternator out of the car)
![Image]()
The new remanufactured alternator….
![Image]()
Looks pretty!
Sliding the new alternator in the car the same way line up where it sits and put the LONGEST bolt (the one that connects the alternator at the very top in first. I didn’t do that and that last bolt wouldn’t go in so I had to redo it until I put that one in first. The other two will go in quite easy once that last bolt goes in. I went ahead and bought a new belt since my old one popped out at me when I got the alternator out….
It takes some effort to put the belt on but I found it best to make putting the last part of the belt on the pulley the best (though I think that’s what your suppose to do). I ended up pulling my muscle putting the belt on but it slide in and I tightened the bolt to the pulley and all was well. Do not tighten too tight! Once that’s done go ahead and reinstall the splashguard… (now to save you the trouble I ended up with by myself) have someone help you put the splashguard back on and bolt the four bolts back on because its too big and bulky for one person. I ended up supporting the splashguard with my back and bolted one side in and moved to the other side to do the same. Getting it to line up from then was easy then I went and reinstalled the cooling lines to the guard itself with the two 10mm lugs.
Reinstall the tire, drop the car down… reconnect the battery cable and before you start the car, I heard it was recommended to get it recharged (depending on how dead the battery is or how new it is too when the alternator decided to take a crap. When I started mine it hesitated some but eventually ran smooth and the battery light went out.
Spent a total of about $130.00 but the experience was priceless….
Btw, don’t say you can’t do it… I’m 23 years old and did it in 100 degree weather… talk about dedication! Lol hope this helps some who need to do replacement.. Any problems just PM me…
The Haynes manual works well so I would advice you get one if you haven’t already. Disconnect the negative battery cable first… trust me. I put on the parking brake as well as put “stoppers” behind the rear wheels to make sure the car wouldn’t role. I supported only the front of the car on jackstands. Basically my car looked like this….
that’s from when I did the crankshaft replacement… except alternator is on the drivers side so I took the driver side wheel off instead of passenger like the pic shows… (thanks weaponX for that)
first thing to do is remove the splash guard.. Not really hard to do just remove four bolts holding the guard on.
There’s two on each side like these….
Once those are off you have to remove the two screws in front of the radiator for the cooling lines. They look like this…
it takes some effort to get them off due to no room whatsoever but I believe a 10mm gets them off. I had to pull down on the plastic to get my tool in there to remove it, but once its loose you can practically turn them both by hand…
It takes some pulling to get the splashguard off, but it’ll eventually slide out easy… (putting it back is a PITA) pay close attention as to how you remove the ends of the splash guard off… you’ll need to know for reinstallation.
The radiator and the dual cooling fans sit on this so once it comes off the book says support it on jackstands…. I say no. Since I didn’t have any extra jackstands I used a hydralic jack just like in the above picture. It came in handy due to the lack of room to loosen the pulley for the belt and even the bolts to get the alternator off. I ended up at times moving it down to access the pulley’s bolt as well as the top bolt that holds the alternator on.
I went ahead and removed the three bolts holding the alternator on FIRST, but I would recommend loosening the pulley first this way it makes removal a lot easier… I forgot to do that part.
(my old alternator and old belt)
Once the pulley is loose start removing the bolts holding the alternator on, (this is where the hydraulic jack came in handy due to me having to move the radiator up and down to get all the bolts off (it takes some time and cursing but take your time and you’ll get them off)
A Problem I came into was taking the alternator bolts off didn’t mean the alternator wanted to budge. I had to hit it numerous time (like tap on it with my fist) and wiggle it for it to come off…. Btw, be careful pulling it out because due to the lack of room to get it out of the car, I ended moving real slowly taking lines and pushing them back some to squeeze the alternator out, which I needed room through the wheel well (which is why the driver side wheel was removed!
(my old alternator out of the car)
The new remanufactured alternator….
Looks pretty!
Sliding the new alternator in the car the same way line up where it sits and put the LONGEST bolt (the one that connects the alternator at the very top in first. I didn’t do that and that last bolt wouldn’t go in so I had to redo it until I put that one in first. The other two will go in quite easy once that last bolt goes in. I went ahead and bought a new belt since my old one popped out at me when I got the alternator out….
It takes some effort to put the belt on but I found it best to make putting the last part of the belt on the pulley the best (though I think that’s what your suppose to do). I ended up pulling my muscle putting the belt on but it slide in and I tightened the bolt to the pulley and all was well. Do not tighten too tight! Once that’s done go ahead and reinstall the splashguard… (now to save you the trouble I ended up with by myself) have someone help you put the splashguard back on and bolt the four bolts back on because its too big and bulky for one person. I ended up supporting the splashguard with my back and bolted one side in and moved to the other side to do the same. Getting it to line up from then was easy then I went and reinstalled the cooling lines to the guard itself with the two 10mm lugs.
Reinstall the tire, drop the car down… reconnect the battery cable and before you start the car, I heard it was recommended to get it recharged (depending on how dead the battery is or how new it is too when the alternator decided to take a crap. When I started mine it hesitated some but eventually ran smooth and the battery light went out.
Spent a total of about $130.00 but the experience was priceless….
Btw, don’t say you can’t do it… I’m 23 years old and did it in 100 degree weather… talk about dedication! Lol hope this helps some who need to do replacement.. Any problems just PM me…
