i have never owned a car that has given me such trouble.
I went out sat morning to install my new AVC-R into my 90 GSX and when i started the car i discovered the alternator was bad. The little merry-go-round light "thingy" came on and the battery light came on and i heard a terrible squeek-squeel from under the hood. I checked myvolt meter and i had low voltatge. These things lead me to belive the alternator was bad, specificly the bearing.
So i whipped out my haynes manual and went to work. I went through all the steps, disconnect the batt.,remove the fan, remove the belt, remove the bolts, remove the pivot bolt. Then the manual says, "remove alternator", my problem is i cant. I can not, for MY LIFE, get the alternator off the car. I checked and re-checked and called my neighbor out to check my checking and NOTHING. I can move it up and down, it feels like it is still held on at the pivotpoint, where the pivot bolt used to be. I cant find anymore bolts holding it on. I tried puching, pulling, prying,nothing. I dont know what im doing wrong,how to describe it, and i feel stupid asking. I have changed alternators on countless other cars, but i cant figure it out on this car.

What im asking is, has anyone changed there alternator? Have you run into this problem? What is the "Oh so simple" thing i am not doing?

Thanks
-B

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of DSMs.

Nice avatar though...
Cant imagine what the problem you are having here is... How many bolts did you pull out?

 

the merry-go-round light thingy is not the alternator, it is for your coolent overflow, check it. Also, stupid question, but did you remember to remove the alternator belt??

 

Sounds to me like you just need to pry it off?

 

 

I remember there being two bolts to remove, the pivot and tensioner bolt..right?
I say look down in there with a flashlight. There shouldn't be anything holding it in anymore...perhaps maybe some caked up oil, lol.
Are you just not able to move the alt out or is it still in place? If it is still in place, are you able to move it around or wiggle it?

 

well he said he romoved the belt, so id say the tensioner one is probably loose, and if he removed the pivot one, thats all that there is, so its just stuck on there.

 

I pulled out a handfull of bolts. Unfortunatly the guy who had it before me was not a mechanic by ANY strech of the imagination. Im not even convinced he knew how to work a screw driver. There were several missing bolts, along with apparent missing bolts onother parts under the hood. For instance it was missing two ofthe bolts ON the alternator that hold the two halfs together. (Dont get me started) I think i removed two or three bolts and the tensioner andthe pivot bolt.
I was over the engine, i was under the engine. I tried and tried. I cant find anything. Its just plain stuck. I tried a pry bar too. the whole thing can pivot where the pivot bolt USED to be, so it does move. I know its something silly that im missing, unfortunatly i didn't get a chance to work on it yesterday.Its hard enough to get motivated to work on the car after spending your whole weekend on the stupid alternator, but it was 104 degrees yesterday, and thats too damn hot.

Ill let you know what happens, so you all can laugh out loud when i report back - "Duh, i forgot a bolt!"