1.6HDi (2007) alternator replacement guide

[saskak]

Hi All,

If you ever want to replace or need to replace the alternator in the 1.6HDi (2007) M59 model, I did a not so short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5dQ9kILecM

To be honest it is a bit of a nightmare, everything is tight as hell and one needs to buy a short stubby 8mm hex socket in order to undo the two alternator pulleys. My old alternator was kind of intermittently working, it was producing nothing and the battery was ~12.6V when it was running.
The really crucial thing is when putting the new alternator in to put the two bolts on an angle, otherwise it does not want to go at all. I spent a whole day trying to put it in straight, but it just did not want to go in.
Now it is working properly and charging with a new Bosch 150A replacement to ~14.4-5V.

Any questions, let me know, hope you find it useful. Yeah, a bit of an old model so very few people are driving those 1.6HDis.

[Sol]

You did a fantastic video, I am making it a sticky. Superb.

[geoff]

I had to take my 2007 into the local garage for a new alternator - was told it was sorted now but was " a bit of a fiddle to get done " - he isn't one to comment normally so it must have been a fiddle !

Normally I'd do the work myself but two days before going abroad I cast an eye under the bonnet to check fluids etc and something caught my eye - the alternator pulley wasn't there any more !

Shaft had sheared, pulley fell off, belt fell onto the remaining shaft and the tensioner took up the slack so it stayed there though the belt was a touch off centre of the remaining pulleys.

[saskak]

I had to take my 2007 into the local garage for a new alternator - was told it was sorted now but was " a bit of a fiddle to get done "  - he isn't one to comment normally so it must have been a fiddle !

Normally I'd do the work myself but two days before going abroad I cast an eye under the bonnet to check fluids etc and something caught my eye - the alternator pulley wasn't there any more !

Shaft had sheared, pulley fell off, belt fell onto the remaining shaft and the tensioner took up the slack so it stayed there though the belt was a touch off centre of the remaining pulleys.

My god, that sounds like a bang when it hapenned.
It was a right fiddle, beforehand I did not realise how tight the pillar was to the top alternator pulley. No normal hex on a wrench can go in there. Spent 2 days looking on amazon/ebay for short stubby hex 8mm. These damn websites do not give any dimensions, just short stubby one, how short in order to know if it will fit, no one tells you. Then there were comments of the sort: "It broke at the first go". I still do not understand how they can put 50Nm for the inside alternator bolts. Literally no torque wrench can fit in there, unless one removes the heat shield, turbo and the whole upper exhaust. Maybe I should have removed them, so I can fix that leaking turbo oil pipe, hahaha.

Putting the new alternator in, damn, my left arm is still aching from holding the alternator. Spent probably a day trying to fit it in and the damn thing just does not want to go in, the alternator bolts are in the way. I literally spent 30min trying to fit it in, then 30min break so my arm can relax, then tighten the bolts to see if it will fit then another 30min and whole day like that. The PSA guide does not tell you that one needs to angle the alternator slightly and went in perfectly

All in all not as hard as trying to file the extremely rusty clamp bolts on my 307 with the smallest file on earth lying underneath the car. That took 3 days and I have a photo of me holding the rear exhaust as trophy over my head. That's how happy I was, but it did cure a small niggle in my right elbow