Replacing a 1983 Porsche 944 alternator

My son owns a Porsche 944 he bought from a guy in Pekin.  I thought he was nuts as it is quite old (and I like newer cars...) and I thought we would be fixing it all the time.  Well, two years later we are doing our first repair.

He has been driving to school and back and has, as I recall now, complained of dim headlights.  He also has to recharge the battery every few weeks.  For some reason this did not register until last week. "You need a new alternator" I said.  "No, I don't think so," he said.  A week later he agreed and we went to work.

I found a few pictures on the web but no step by step instructions.  This is a pretty easy repair, but for folks who like pictures, here you go. (oh, and the rebuilt alternator cost $113.00.)

First, putting it up on jack stands is a must because you have to get under the car to loosen the bottom bolt on the alternator.  Some confusion exists on the web concerning the proper placement of the jack stands.  We put them at the front of the frame rails and they see to hold well.  The 944 actually has you lift the entire side of the car and while that is great for changing a tire, it is not so great for jack stands.  Check out the web for ideas on placement.  We took off the skid plate.

Underneath the skid plate was a clean engine (yes!).  We saw no leaks and just a bit of oil under the oil filter.  This past summer we changed the oil without removing the skid plate.  It is possible but from now on we will probably do it.  The jack stands are brand new from Advance Auto Parts ($25).

Ok, so the second step was to take off the air filter box.  You have to unscrew the top of it and then, to remove the box, you have to unbolt it.  Unfortunately the bolts were all stripped on the inside (poor design) so we disconnected the entire bracket on the front.

At the left side of the picture below you can barely see some circles.  These are the bolts that we took out to get the front off.  

The back came off pretty easily.  There was a hose that is connected to the bracket but that came off easily.  After we peeled that back we got a look at the alternator.

This is the final picture of the air box removed.   We just bent it back and laid it on the engine.  There is a cable connecting the air flow meter to the electrical system.  Instead of fiddling with it, it is easier just to leave it connected.  It is not in the way.

Below is the first look at the alternator. The first thing you have to do is to remove the belt.  There is a horizontal belt tensioner that you need to loosen.  There are 2 hex nuts on each end.  Loosen the outside ones and then keep twisting the middle.  The belt will loosen and you can take it off.  

In order to get the alternator off, there are two bolts that need to be removed.  The top one is easy but the bottom one is the hardest thing in this job.  The air conditioning compressor is in the way and need to loosened so it can be swung out of the way.  If you have some cool tools you could probably get it done without doing this, but if you have sockets and straight things, you will have to remove the belt tensioner, swing it away, and then loosen the bolts holding the compressor.  This is all not that bad and makes easier (not easiest) access to the bolt.

After this is done, the bottom bolt is accessible and the alternator comes out.  One more problem (for us).  The new alternator does not have a pulley on it so it must be removed from the old one.  Rats!  I will have to take it to a mechanic as we could not get it off.

So, the entire removal took 1.5 hours. and was a great time with my son.  Tomorrow I will get the pulley removed and we will put it all back together.

Say Goodby to an iDrive...

So how many of you got suckered in to an iDrive?  We built a house about 5 years ago and the builder asked if we wanted the latest garage door opener.  Who wouldn't?  iDrives have been so successful, they are not made by Wayne Dalton anymore.

Well, one of ours died about 6 months ago and we have spent 5 of those months sending the kids out to open it.  It was actually not that bad until it got really cold.  When the car door opened it got a bit chilly in the car and that was no good.  We had the Wayne Dalton guy come out and give us a quote and Wow!   $80 for the quote, $355 to fix it!  Ouch!  So I decided to take matters in my own hands...

Quality was a bit of a disappointment.  The right side lens will not stay shut...

I bought one of these beauties.  This is a Chamberlin Whisperdrive.  $180 at Lowes.  Lowes has a more stripped down model than anyone else and is about $20 cheaper.  And it is really quiet.  We have an apartment above our garage, so as not to awaken the girls every morning, this was chosen.   I didn't want to remove the iDrive because it is built in to the spring that counterbalances the door.  The biggest problem is where to position the new top bar that holds the chain.  As you can see below, it can be positioned right above the iDrive.

The only modification I had to make was removing the paddle thing (actually a security measure) from the bottom of the iDrive.  It comes off easily with a screwdriver.

My dad and I put up the new opener in about 2 hours.  It was very easy.  I suggest not fixing the iDrive.  They are nice, but a good replacement opener is way cheaper.