mkazm83

This was performed on a stock 97 Civic Ex, with a D16Y8, your experience may vary.

The basic diagram you'll be working with.




Step 1: Loosen your driver side lug nuts. (no pic)

Step 2: Jack up your car and secure it safely. I used jack stands (no pic) and wheel chocks. Use your best judgment. Remove the driver side wheel.



Step 3: Once your car is safely suspended, go ahead and remove the negative battery cable, followed by the positive battery cable.



Step 4: Remove the green (4P connector) connector from your alternator.



Step 5: Remove the B terminal by unscrewing the nut. (You can see it on the right of the green 4P connector)



Step 6: Loosen the alternator adjusting bolt.




Step 7: Loosen the upper mount bracket bolt. (the one on the left)



Mine was pretty tight so I had to use my makeshift breaker bar,




Step 8: Remove the alternator through bolt on the bottom. (My car is missing some splash shields, so if one is in the way, remove it), pic is from below.



Step 9: Remove the alternator belt from the pulley.



Step 10: Remove the (blue) wire harness holder from the alternator bracket.



Step 11: Remove the two bolts holding the lower alternator bracket.



You can see one bolt in the foreground, and the socket on the other bolt.



Step 12: Unclip (Like you would a zip tie) the wire harness from the alternator bracket. (Don't cut it as you will need it when you install your new alternator). It's square in the middle of the pic.



Step 13: Remove the alternator bracket from the alternator (No pic)

Step 14: Getting that **** out of there. This seems to be the trickiest part of the removal. I chose to drop it down through the driver side wheel well. Pics kind of document it, but you will need to play around with it a bit to get it out, not hard.









Step 15: Remove the two screws holing the splash guard in place. (your car might have more)




ITS OUT!!!!!!!



Step 16: Remove the zip tie holder from your old alternator, and insert it onto the new one.






Step 17: Push the alternator through the driver side wheel well just as you pulled it out (Might take some massaging)



Then bolt everything up the way you took it off, set your bet tension, and you're all set.




****NOTE****

I found that it was easier to bolt up the alternator to the alternator bracket first, then bolt up the alternator to the lower mount via the alternator through bolt, then I installed the upper mount bracket bolt.

EDIT: If you noticed, I loosened the PS hose bracket, and removed the hose from it, to gain better access.


*******This writeup may or may not contain all necessary steps. Please consult your mechanic prior to performing any mechanical work on your vehicle. The author holds no liability for any injuries or damage caused by following this write up. The reader assumes all liability.********************

Questions, comments?

IF THE PICS GO DOWN PM ME.

DON'T HOTLINK MY PICTURES.

Mingo

iTrader: (1)

nice write up

civic_driver

Excellent write up! Make sure the pics stay in place, don't remove them

matt_sb2000

Nicely done

Warhawk

Great write up man! Thanks!

mechgeneral

hi
i dont have experience with honda civic but i have hard time trying to come off alternator through bolt i tried to hammer it but it didnt want to come off what wrong ? of course nut is off already
email me if you want me to reply asap

ferio252

Thank you for the writeup. It looks so simple in the manual but your actual pictures prove to be helpful

mechgeneral

please help me i am almost going to take out alternator juste one shy of the alt through bolt left how you get it off after you remove nut ?

mundy5

mechgeneral, I used a hammer with a screw driver to push it out. it works, just be patient.

mechgeneral

hi mundy5

me too but no luck :/ it simply refused to slide i think the head itself the form is cube is sticking very hard which look like rust sticking i asked someone who is noob mech to help me swing the alt with prying bar to move alt while i hammer with screwdriver on the bolt but still no luck

mundy5

is there any way for you to use some heat like a torch? Also, consider spraying it with some lubricant like wd-40 and to clean some of the rust off with a wire brush or something. lastly, consider spinning it with a wrench to get it to turn and hopefully start to slide.

bkCali88

Nice write-up thanks!

mechgeneral

lol bkcali88 you were having same problem too ?

mundy5 yeah i have been thinking all day to get some ideas like you mentionned using wrench but my idea was vise-grip to make bolt spinning to break off rust
and i called my friend and he came to meet me but he cant work because his hand is injured from accident so he and i talked about it he hated that honda civic because of that one he explained it is best to torch it but he also mentionned what hammer did i use i said hammer is for the house not hammer for car then i realised yeah that must be it but i dont have it he said he will bring tomorrow with a big pin to hammer it directly
and he mentionned that i work on the road is kind of difficult angle to hammer it
oh yeah i finally get belt removed :-) that alt is hard to push back and forth yesterday it was impossible but today i was able to push and back a little bit then i was thinking maybe i can try c-clamp with the help of some sort to avoid touching the head of the bolt i m still thinking what kind of how to get around head bolt because c-clamp is aligned so i still thinking which way togo

sorry if i talked too much :-)

mechgeneral

now you mention wrench hmmm that place is kind of tricky small area to get around to the head of the bolt.......
hmmmm

mundy5

I hope your friend can get you a bigger hammer with a punch. It's been a year since I got under there to replace mine so I cannot remember how much space you really have. But I was thinking even an adjustable crescent wrench might work to at least get it spinning to remove some of the rust. In the end, you might have to purchase a new through bolt if it gets sufficiently damaged. how old is the civic? Mine was a 98.

mechgeneral

it is 97
car is jacked and the wheel is removed and i turn the direction to the very left so i can access it but still my friend told me i need to take out cadran because alternator cant get out of it unless i remove the cadran he said

mundy5

I'm sorry but what is a cadran? I only had to remove the lower mounting bracket and it came out with some twisting

Kista20

if I remember correctly they actually tell you to remove the axle but that is unnessessary because the alternator will come out and go back in but only in one way.

mechgeneral

i think it is axle=cadran sorry mundy5 :-)

anyways.....

the car in a garage and he removed the bolt finally....
the alternator have been changed and still get same problem
alt is giving 12 volt reading.... should it read 14 or 13.50 volt depend of the manufacturer (cant spell right)

i m suspected it is wire defection meaning alt didnt feed to battery
am i right ?

mundy5

yeah, it should read above 14 v. something is wrong. have you had the alt bench tested?

mechgeneral

alternator is new and already tested by the manufacturer yes .

mechgeneral

it is a fuse
have a good day :-)

btw i never got emailed by notice from here something is wrong here in the option.

Kista20

a mod needs to edit the thread title and add "not for 56k" or something to that effect for the few thats unfortunate. But good writeup, I'm still running on the original alt. for 182k now (knocks on wood).

Mgiffune

Thank you to the OP! 98 Civic DX, How To and pictures were perfect. SO helpful!!

fragmare

I have the exact same problem with the alternator through bolt on my EG. That bolt on my car is far and away the most stuck bolt I've ever encountered working on cars. I had to have a friend hold a piece of rebar against it while I hit it full-force with a sledge hammer... even then it just broke loose enough to pivot the alternator back and forth to put a new belt on. Wouldn't budge after that, and believe me, I tried everything at my disposal.

I just went and got a new alternator bracket from the junkyard and a new through-bolt from the dealership. My alt is fine for now, but when it comes time to do it, I'm not screwing around with that bolt anymore... I'm just going to take an angle grinder with cutoff wheel to the bracket and replace the whole thing. Then use anti-seize or lithium grease on the new bolt + bracket.

I hope it doesn't come down to that for you, but I wanted to let you know just HOW stuck that bolt can get. Good luck!

Also, to the OP, excellent write-up!