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Old 07-30-2003, 04:22 PM
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pmizell pmizell is offline
Benz Zealot
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 838
Cool WOW

My alternator finally died -- 12 years and 232,000 miles later. Amazingly, the bearings were still in seemingly perfect condition, but apparently a diode went bad (left side dummy lights wouldn't light -- only SRS, Check Engine, and ABS... regulator checked out fine)

I took csnow's advice and ordered from the vendor he linked above. Although, it's only been a day, so far so good. What was a pleasant surprise, though, was that it came with a new pulley attached. It wasn't expected, and I was dreading the thought of busting loose the old pulley.

Installation on the 103 is a snap. I removed the fan shroud, and instead of bothering with the belt tensioner, I manhandled the belt off the top pulley giving me enough slack to remove belt from alternator pulley.

Two long 15mm bolts hold it on, and it is very accessible from underneath, with the right side of car jacked up -- 1 hr to R&R, a very easy DIY job.

Car seems to be running quite a bit cooler, possibly due to more voltage spinning the aux fans -- but it's too early to tell for sure as I haven't had it in stop and go traffic yet.
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-Paul-
'01 E430, Sport 72,000 mi
'98 C280, 126,500 mi
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