What did you do to your Volvo today? Topic is solved

Post by **bmdubya1198** » 06 Nov 2017, 15:53

Tried to put my lower alternator bolt back in.... again... for the third time. I think I have more hours into this one screw than the entire car since I bought it. I can't walk away from an incomplete job... and I have it in pieces now. The last time I was this aggravated with this car was when I couldn't break loose the inner tie rods.
I'm about 5 minutes from bringing this to the crusher.

Post by **abscate** » 06 Nov 2017, 18:24

Deep breAths and step away For a few when frustrated.

Have you cleaned the bolt thoroughly with a wire brush ?

Take one of the other bolts and try it in the thread to see if it's a bolt or a thread issue

Post by **abscate** » 06 Nov 2017, 18:27

1999 T5M

Snicked the exhaust cam back one tooth on the belt to eliminate P0014
Much better idle and pickup.

Post by **bmdubya1198** » 06 Nov 2017, 21:13

abscate wrote: ↑06 Nov 2017, 18:24 Deep breAths and step away For a few when frustrated.

Have you cleaned the bolt thoroughly with a wire brush ?

Take one of the other bolts and try it in the thread to see if it's a bolt or a thread issue

The bolt is correct. I've been waiting to get it with my next order from eEuro (because $10 shipping on a $3 bolt is insane) but fortunately Skandix had the dimensions for the bolt listed. Great for future reference on a bolt size! Got it at the hardware store today for $0.92 and didn't have to wait a week.
The reason it's such a pain is because the bracket is not easy to line up. You have to thread that lower bolt into the power steering bracket as you're putting the bracket on, which makes it very tedious. After watching Robert's video this time (like I said, round 3. Or maybe 4 by now...) he showed these things very well! I had it in the first time, but I had to take it back apart because I dropped a nut, which I could have retrieved with a magnet if it was the original nut and wasn't from Lowe's.
Anyway, ended up pushing the car into the garage next to my other Swedish hunk of crap. The weather forecast for tomorrow doesn't look to be in my favor...

Post by **abscate** » 07 Nov 2017, 02:06

Loosen everything else to help?

Is it a thread starting issue or a line up issue? Sometimes you can help by putting a little chamfer on the threads of the bolt this way...run a hard steel nut down onto the bolt, then file a chamfer on the threads end, be aggressive, now oil and run the nit back off to clean and " cut" new threads. Clean up with wire brush

Post by **bmdubya1198** » 07 Nov 2017, 08:01

The issue is lining up the alternator on its bracket. I had everything apart, and I had the bolt through to the PS bracket (where it threads in) but after taking it apart again, the bolt came loose and now I need to remove the bracket again.

Post by **850 LPT** » 07 Nov 2017, 09:00

bmdubya1198 wrote: ↑07 Nov 2017, 08:01 The issue is lining up the alternator on its bracket. I had everything apart, and I had the bolt through to the PS bracket (where it threads in) but after taking it apart again, the bolt came loose and now I need to remove the bracket again.

I just replaced the alternator in my XC a while back, so I know the pain you are having. What made it a little easier was to take all the stuff above the alternator out, including all the brackets, idler puller, ps pump etc. I also took the rad. hose off to gain as much space to work in as possible. It's a lot of parts to put back together again, but is wasn't really frustrating that way.

Probably doesn't help you now, I know.

Post by **ZionXIX** » 07 Nov 2017, 10:20

bmdubya1198 wrote: ↑07 Nov 2017, 08:01 The issue is lining up the alternator on its bracket. I had everything apart, and I had the bolt through to the PS bracket (where it threads in) but after taking it apart again, the bolt came loose and now I need to remove the bracket again.

A couple more posts and you can start a dedicated thread titled: "The Infamous Lower Alternator Bolt", "A journey of pain, self discovery, and most importantly retribution". totally joking but yea I know how much of a pain hard to reach bolts can be. Especially when they are easy to remove and impossible to replace.

Post by **bmdubya1198** » 07 Nov 2017, 15:23

Haha, I'm sure plenty of others on here understand the pain! This could be its own thread!
Finally got it back together this morning, and thank goodness the rattle/buzzing from the loose alternator is gone! If that hadn't fixed it, I think I would have done some serious damage to that car...

LOB · Post by **LOB** » 08 Nov 2017, 12:39

bmdubya1198 wrote: ↑07 Nov 2017, 15:23 Haha, I'm sure plenty of others on here understand the pain! This could be its own thread!
Finally got it back together this morning, and thank goodness the rattle/buzzing from the loose alternator is gone! If that hadn't fixed it, I think I would have done some serious damage to that car...

Since Haynes writes that replacing the alternator is an easy "two spanner" job, I started replacing my alternator outdoors late one summer afternoon in Sweden, a part of Sweden where we have billions of blood sucking gnats during July. At 3am, when I was almost done, I had several hundreds of bites all over my face and arms and started to regret that I trusted the Haynes manual....

Remember using one meter of extensions on my ratchet to tighten the lower bolt on the alternator bracket.

What did you do to your Volvo today? Topic is solved

Re: What did you do to your Volvo today? (now Sticky!!)