The alternator on my car went kaput. Nowhere in my area would do the job for less than $800-something, and most places were quoting $900-$1k.
So I looked up how-tos on YouTube and it looked like something I, a woman with zero experience or knowledge of working on cars, could do.
I got a remanufactured alternator for $180 and got to work following the tutorials I’d found.
It certainly did not go smoothly, but I managed it. It took me 6 hours to get the alternator out, mainly because every goddamn bolt holding the parts in place were basically cemented in. I had to use my foot to stomp one loose because I didn’t have the strength in my arms.
Today I spent another 4 hours trying to put in the new one and all the parts back in place. And I did it!!
Except for the power steering belt. That fucker would not go into place, and trying to force the belt tensioner back took every ounce of strength I could muster.
All that work. All that time and effort and THE VERY LAST STEP to get my car up and running defeated me today. I had to get a task rabbit guy. He’s coming tomorrow to get my belt back on.
On one hand I feel proud that I made it this far. On the other I feel like a complete failure because it turns out I couldn’t complete the task myself.
Anyway, how was your weekend?
Sounds like your car did not defeat you, and like you kicked a lot of ass. Serpentine belts are a giant pain in the ass - fought with one myself today. Just gotta have the right tool, which in this case is one of those that gets used once every 5 years unless you work on a lot of cars. You did great, and should be proud of what you accomplished!
Yeah, I show off my belt tensioner tool to visitors every chance I get, since now that I’ve used it once, its purpose is mostly ornamental.
Oh, that makes me feel better that I’m not the only one that struggles with them. And yeah, I was so jealous of the people in the video for it. Thanks for the pick-me-up, I feel better about it.
I hate serpentine belts. Even with the right tool (rented from the auto parts store), the tight clearances always make it a royal pain in the ass.
Ah, fuck, I didn’t even realize you could rent those!!
…but I’m done, I’ll let the guy I hired online just come do this part for me, my hands are groud meat at this point.
Way to go! You weren’t defeated, you did the whole job you were able to. You can get a short length of pipe that will slide over your wrench handle to give you extra leverage in cases like this.
I worked as a service writer in a shop full of mechanics (all men) and they all had a breaker bar wrench for these situations.
Also, if you’ve got the DIY bug now and you take on more projects find a store (Harbor Freight is good if in the US) that sells cheap tools, buy them there and if you use it enough to break it, then go buy the more expensive/better made version.
Saves from spending lots on a tool you rarely use.
Look forward to fresh content on “just rolled into the shop” 😂
Jk - sounds like you got it installed by yourself though! Congrats. Only thing I have touched on my car is cleaning the battery terminals.
Props on getting so much done!
trying to force the belt tensioner back took every ounce of strength I could muster.
You need a breaker bar. Already have one? You need a breaker bar and a pipe 😀
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Something I learned as I got a little bit older. It’s worth paying for things to save yourself the pain in the ass. I trade a dude weed to mow my lawn.
It’s worth paying for things to save yourself the pain in the ass
Agreed, but it’s also worth knowing how to do things yourself, so you have the choice. On a car, the cost for some jobs is almost all labor, so having the option to do it yourself is great, plus it’s a skill you can teach your kids.
With a breaker bar, OP could have had the alternator out and the new one bolted in place in an hour. The belt might still be a problem, but spending an hour, then paying someone $100 to do the belt, feels a lot better than spending 10 hours, then paying someone $100 to do the belt.
Yeah, and because I know how to properly change the oil in my car, I’m happy to pay someone else to do it
Grass 4 grass
Sure doesn’t sound like a failure to me. Sounds like someone who was able to put in the work and the time and saved a bunch of money!
As someone who works on vehicles a lot, not a profesional mechanic but have a couple older vehicles that I’ve been repairing and modifying including rebuilding the engine in one so far, I can say getting belts to cooperate and go where they’re suppose to is often one of the most difficult and frustrating parts of repairs. There’s most of the time very little room to get to where you need to and the belts are tight even when they have as much slack as possible. This weekend I replaced a timing belt, water pump, motor mount, and serpentine belt on my fiance’s car and ignition coil packs, and dropped a gas tank to replace a fuel pump on a coworker’s truck. When I was putting the serpentine belt on my fiance’s car I got frustrated with it and moved on to something else for a little bit and then when I had nothing else except the belt and reattaching stuff that would be in the way of the belt, I went back to fighting with it. Especially for doing your first vehicle repairs you’re likely missing tools that would make the job way easier so you’re essentially doing the job on hard mode so getting as far as you have is still a major accomplishment. Some advice though, before you get the belt on go back over all the bolts and try to make sure they’re as tight as you can get them. Without having a torque wrench to make sure they’re as tight as they’re suppose to be it’s difficult to tell if they’re fully tight especially if you’ve been fighting with it and are physically worn out at the time. I’ve had times where I tightened bolts as much as I could but was so exhausted I didn’t have the strength to get them tight enough but didn’t realize it at the time.
Hey, thank you so much! Yeah, the mechanic that’s coming tomorrow is paid by the hour, so I’m going to have him check all the bolts for me, cause yeah, I am a bit worried the vibration from driving every day will loosen the bolts if it’s just my strength that’s tightened them.
Thanks for the words of encouragement, I appreciate it.
All bolts in a vehicle have a torque spec from the manufacturer. You can find these in the service manual that you may be able to buy from a dealership, or in a Chilton or Haynes manual for your car. Once you know the torque spec you can use a torque wrench (you should be able to rent one from an auto parts store) to make sure the bolts are tightened down just right.
Also next time I’d suggest using blue LocTite on the threads of your bolts. This acts as a mild “glue” to keep bolts from backing out. That can be found in any hardware or auto parts store as well
With car stuff it’s always “easy” in basic steps but it’s the knowledge and expertise how to handle all the exceptions to the process that is why labour costs what it does.
There’s tips and tricks for different car models but stuff like what to deal with a stuck bolt where even if I know what to do I probably don’t have the right tools.
I’m not sure getting the tools is worth the once every few years job.
It’s not too dissimilar from electronics work. Like laptop or cellphone repair. It’s easy… But what’s hard is troubleshooting when it all goes sideways on you.
Fuck 0’ model VW Beetles… that’s all I got to say. Shittiest electrical ever, and the entire car is held together by friggin plastic clips.
That’s really most european shit. Toyota and honda are the best.
So I’m not meaning this in a mean way, but don’t you have any friends that you could collaborate with? Even someone to chat with and search up youtube while you are under the car would have been fine.
I moved here a year ago, and ive made friends, but they’re all women. I work mostly with men, but they’re not into fixing cars, and im not close enough with any of them to reach out and ask for help on a weekend. I did consult a friend in my hometown, but there’s little he can do over the phone.
Luckily I only had to get under the car once, to try ad get the wrench I dropped out of the undercarriage. I didn’t find it and got so filthy. The job was done under the hood. :)
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That’s so awesome. I’m down to save money where I can, so I’d be up for more projects if it comes down to it. and yeah, I was a bit shocked that I was able to figure out how to get some of it done, so that does feel good. Thanks for your comment. :)
That’s a major success and you should be super proud of yourself! You saved a ton of $$ and learned something new - total win-win!
Hey thanks. Yeah, the one thing I’m happy about is that I saved about $500 this weekend, if my car starts, that is. Here’s hoping! Thanks for the perk up!
Good job! Sounds like it was your first time and things generally well.
This weekend a patched a hole in drywall for the first time and i feel like i did a pretty good job!
Things went well in that I didn’t break anything except for a corroded bolt. I also dropped a wrench own into the under carriage somewhere, so that’ll be fun to hear rattling around.
Dry hole patching is hard, I’m glad things went well for you too!
Twenty years ago I could have done that in my sleep. Now days I know I could not get as far as you got. Good job.
ETA: to be more clear.
Thank you. :) I’m lucky at this moment that I had the time and energy to get most of it done. :)
Had to correct my first comment. It was I could not get it done as much as you did.
Without the right tools and equipment. It’s hard work. Even with the right tools and equipment, it’s a skill.
My dad was a mechanic. Why I use to be able to do it because he loved doing it and that means us doing it. lol.
My uncle was one, but he retired before I was old enough to learn much from him. Lol, it’s good he had you helping him though!
That where I learned the right tools and equipment make a huge difference. It’s funny basic mechanics was must have skill when I was a kid. Brakes, spark plugs, etc.
Now they last so long, it’s not as important to know. My kid asked me about something on an old key chain. I said it was a spark plug gap tool. Last time I used that was 20 years ago
You should be so proud of yourself! That’s a major accomplishment doing the research and figuring it out yourself.
Thank you! YouTube is literally a god-send. So many videos for car-specific fixes.
If the only thing wrong after your first DIY repair job is a belt, yoy DID do a good job. What you experienced was quite normal, and you have now gained experience for the future.
I’m so glad that that seems to be the consensus, I was getting gown on myself there for a bit. :) thank you!
Hey, you did more with your car than I, a Y-chromosome-haver, could have ever done. I’m impressed! I couldn’t change the oil in my car, let alone the alternator.
As for my weekend (no one else answered, but what the hell), it was sort of bittersweet. My mom is 81 and lives about an 75-minute drive away, so I only get to see her once or twice a month for a couple of hours, but I was actually able to spend about six hours with her on Saturday. We had a long chat, then my daughter got antsy, so we all went to the beautiful new library branch and then she dropped us off at the local mall and we all said goodbye. It was really nice, even though I know there won’t be too many of those nice times left. Then I got to show my daughter A Hard Day’s Night and Airplane! on Sunday and Monday. So that was pretty fun.
