[CooleyCorporation]

Help please i can not get to altenator in car to remove bolts are on tire side of engine area and i cant get to them any sugestions plus i dont know which bolts loosens serp belt please if anyone one could send pics or better direction for way to get to bolts would be big help

 

[chittychittybangbang]

How to loosen serp belt:

after that it should be pretty straight forward. You need a special tool to remove the alternator pulley from the alternator.

 

[Robotek]

There are some bushings that hold it tight too. Just wiggle the alt off after removing the bolts.

 

[CooleyCorporation]

The last bolt

ok so the pulley on the alternator just fell off and all of the inside of the pulley is stripped so thats probably the cause of the problem (not enough tension on the belt to run the alternator). However the cost of a new pulley is just a little under buying a new alternator that comes with the pulley. So I still am struggling to remove the entire alternator and just replace it all. I have the electrical lines removed, the belt tensioner was pushed in order to remove the serpintine belt, so thats off, and the top bolt on the alternator is off as well. All thats left to remove is a bottom bolt on the alternator. The problem is that the bottom bolt is directly behind the belt tensioner itself with literally a 1/8" clearence until it hits the backside of the belt tensioner. So I cant fit a wrench, finger, nothing over the head of that bolt to remove it. And even if I did get ahold of it, theres no place for the bolt to back out. I guess what I am saying is something elses needs to be removed like the belt tensioner itself. If that is what needs to be done please let me know, and how to do it. Any other ideas are wlecome.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

If the serpentine belt tensioner has to come off I believe it's just 3x 13mm bolts.

I'm not a huge fan of autozone rebuilds because they seem to put out more bad ones than factory rebuilds. If the existing alternator works, I'd keep it and put on a new pulley, unless you have 180-200k miles or so on the original alternator. In that case the voltage regulator brushes are probably worn but a new voltage regulator on the same alternator is a possibility.

also, moving to the mk4 VW forum since a 2003 is a mk4 car.

 

[CooleyCorporation]

still on it

ok i have taken off tensioner and removed 2 bolts from alternator but alt still seems securly in place i cant figure this out

 

[chittychittybangbang]

The bushings around the bolts are probably clamping the alternator. Try prying the bushings so that they're a little loose. You can also wiggle the alternator around its mount to help loosen them.

I believe you have to loosen the AC compressor and the radiator fan. They are held in place by 2 bolts and a few torx screws. Don't disconnect the lines, just loosen the AC compressor and have something support it from underneath so that it's not hanging by the AC lines.

 

[CooleyCorporation]

ok alt is out and new one is in do you happen to have a belt diagram so i can put that back in thanks so much for all your help its a 2003 jetta tdi gls

 

[Robotek]

Taken from the FAQ writeup on timing belt: