Changing alternator on 98 aurora....

[really_stupid]

Hey, I am a complete moron when It comes to cars and have no idea how they work. I know that my alternator just went out(pretty sure). It says check system charge and the battery is being drained. Anyway my question is should I make a project out of this and try to change this thing myself. Or would you guys recommend someone like me with no knowledge of cars to just take is somewhere and pay probably 300+ dollars to get this fixed. Also I searched around for a new alternator and cheapest one I could find would be around 200 dollars and I would have to do it myself. So I bought a used one from the junk yard for 75 bucks. I was told that alternators are pretty easy to change. But it doesn't look too easy. Should I try to do it myself and risk messing something up or just play it safe and take is somewhere?

[miguel2112]

I had this happen to me while on vacation so I did'nt really have the option to do it myself but the mech who replaced it had to remove itfrom underneath the car and also had to remove the radiator for easy access, although I'M NOT SURE IF THAT WAS ABSOUTELY NECESSARY?

[pizza442]

The radiator is a PITA to remove and I can't see why it would need to come out. Haven't done my alt yet (145k miles) but I do believe it would need to come out from the bottom as it is tight on top.

[stickboy101]

95 Aurora 172,000 miles. I have replaced mine 3 times. It is really not that hard of a procedure, but you will need to take out the cooling fans and radiator. Once those are out of the way, the alternator is easy to get to. I believe there are 3 bolts holding it in place. Just be careful disconnecting all the lines going into the radiator. I twisted off my oil cooler line once. Not fun.

The bottom line is, if you do it yourself, take it one step at a time and it really isn't that hard.