fackin alternator

[Deeze555]

Well...was driving down the interstate when my check engine light and abs light come on. Same time this happens my cd player starts goin wacky. MOTHER F'in ALTERNATOR I say to myself. The car dies, I get off to the right hand lane. $100 tow to the shop. $485 to replace the alternator. I hate going from broke college student to more broker college student. Sorry, just wanna complain to someone. Never got angry at my baby though; just rubbed her gently and told her it would be better in no time.

[BuzzLtYr]

sorry to hear that man, i had a problem with my alternator a while ago and replaced it myself. it only cost me $140. i bought a rebuilt alternator at my local parts store autozone for that amount and took me about an hour to install. if the shop hasn't done it yet you can easily do it yourself. i too am a college student on a budget, thats why i do everything myself. bimmerdiy.com is a great source for projects also here at bimmerforums. i learned how to do everything on my car from these two sources, mainly bimmerforums of course.

[Daved]

Wasn't it making some noises before it went bye bye?

[Deeze555]

nah no noises...and as far as diy...i would love to if i had the time but right now i just dont

[tsweers89]

so you wasted $$$. You should of made time. And you learn something in the process.

[psu325i]

so you wasted $$$. You should of made time. And you learn something in the process.

:nono man take it easy on the non-diy'er hate. seriously, some people don't have a lot of time.. tools.. know how... or the area to do their own repairs. its not a waste of $$ if it also buys you time and convenience... and of course things working right.

[Deeze555]

yeah...i mean im goin to school and workin 6 days a week. Get off my back man. you could learn somthin by not bein such a dick.

[97'scort]

^ Agreed. I'm lacking torque wrenches which severely limits what I can do sometimes.

[Deeze555]

^deffinatly...it would be awesome if I could do all the stuff myself when it comes to my baby.

[cooljess76]

After killing my original battery and a brand new Diehard, I bought a used alternator from my friend for 40 bucks and swapped it myself in my driveway. It took about 30 minutes, Sears replaced the battery for free and we're all good now. Seriously, how busy could you be that you can't afford to spend an hour working on your car? Unless your job pays more than $585 and hour, you've wasted money. How long did you have to wait for the tow and how long will you be without a car? Was it worth it to let someone else remove/replace 2 bolts and 2 wires? Fixing things on your own does 3 things. It teaches you how things on your car work & break, gives you the satisfaction of fixing your own car and knowing exactly what was wrong with it to begin with incase future problems related occur and most importantly it SAVES YOU MONEY! I myself am a broke college student and your complaint isn't justified if you're not willing to help yourself save money. But hey, it's your car and your life, do what you like. If you want to be broke all of the time, keep doin what you're doin. Alternator = 30min DIY FTW

[cooljess76]

^ Agreed. I'm lacking torque wrenches which severely limits what I can do sometimes.
:loldo you think the dealership mechanics use torque wrenches, lol.

[DJ Genius]

:loldo you think the dealership mechanics use torque wrenches, lol.

+1 very good point. I've seen couple of them... Wacking the hell out of the cars! No, my baby is going to take a good care of my hands only:nono

[cooljess76]

It cracks me up how people think their time is so freaking valuable. I mean, who's time is worth more than $585 an hour? I don't care if $585 would get me an hour with Jessica Simpson, I'd still spend 5 bucks on a magazine and DIM, lol.

[kingston]

To each his own, man. I do most of my own service on my baby, too, but I've spent enough evenings laying on my back in a snow bank fixing crap on various cars over the years, sometimes I'd rather just take my car to the shop.

Well, OK, not my BMW, but my wife's car.

[Bimuh007]

damn i feel you on that one, I too am a college student and those tight budgets and being always effing broke sucks ass. Especially during times when you have to spend money and it happens to be your car... damn

[97'scort]

:loldo you think the dealership mechanics use torque wrenches, lol.

Yeah, I know. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say they know how to do a few things better than I do. Since I've had the car, all I've had them do were things that I needed a lift for, like the tie rods and control arm bushings. Also things I don't have the capabilities to do, like a chemical coolant flush and alignment.

There are things I'm sometimes hesitant to work on without a torque wrench though. I've borrowed them a few times but I should just pony up and get one I suppose.

[Deeze555]

I mean whatever...heckel me all you want. At the time I didnt know it was the alternator and I needed my car back asap, so I sent it to the shop. Sorry Im not as high and mighty as the DIY guy. Sorry I had to be at work by 7 the next day wondering how Im going to get a ride while balancing all the other crap goin on in my life. I get on here all the time and read postings of people just trying to vent. Thought I might do the same, and thought as a fellow member of my bmw community Id get some respect. Guess not. If only you hecklers knew what was goin on. Just cause youre a student and you still have time dosent mean I do...so get off my back.

[Rippin101]

Sucks when things go wrong... Having starting issues myself here n there

[Deeze555]

^^shiesty. Starting problems?...elaborate

[k325is]

the thread title cracks me up for some reason...:lol

[Deeze555]

haha...fair enough

[cooljess76]

Hey Deez, I'm not trying to heckel you or disrespect you. I'm sorry if that's the feeling you got from my post. It does suck to have things break when you're already struggling. Especially when you know you could use the money for other things.

My situation was unique in the sense that I happened to have a friend with a spare alternator. My car didn't show the typical symptoms of having a bad alternator, the battery would just die about once a month. I was still able to jump start and push start my car and it ran fine, but every few weeks I had to take it in to get the battery recharged. Everything was pointing towards a drain in my electrical system and it wasn't until my brand new Diehard died that I had Sears check my charging system which took about 10 minutes and they did free of charge. They said my alternator was only producing 12.5 volts. That's borderline because our alternators are supposed to crank out between 13-14 volts.

I searched the forum and determined that I needed a new alternator. I was prepared to go to a local junkyard and pull one or go to autozone and buy one, but my friend told me he had a spare that he'd sell me for 40 bucks(score!). Anyway, Swapping in the new one was a piece of cake, only 2 bolts and 2 wires. It took a total of maybe 2 hours to remove and replace the alternator and time spent at Sears. I also had to remove my airbox if you want to count that, which only took 5 minutes.

Anyway my point is not to rag on you, but to explain that taking a little time to do some research and getting a little dirty will save you big bucks in the long run. My advice to you, if you want to drive a 15 year old e36 and go to college is to buy a metric toolkit and a Bentley manual, keep up on the maintenance and avoid taking your car to the shop unless absolutely necessary. An hour or two of work isn't going to kill anyone and yes, sometimes you can't avoid paying a mechanic to sort things out. But an alternator is simple to replace and there's really no reason to freak out and pay so much for someone to do it for you.

You said it yourself, it sucks being a broke college student and I couldn't agree with you more, but in your case, I have no sympathy to offer you. Lesson learned. This car will eventually drain you and dealerships/shops will only speed up the process. I wish you the best of luck in the future, please follow my advice and learn to do the simple repairs covered in the Bentley manual. You'll thank yourself later when you have spare cash burning a hole in your pocket that you could use for mods:stickoutt