First of all I would like to thank you for the help on my last question. But now I am in sort of a jam. I bought the Haynes book as a guide for changing the alternator, and it says you have to take out the air box, strut mount, radiator, and radiator fan to get to it. What would you recommend?

 

Replacing alternator on northstar is not an easy or quick repair. If local dealer is a GM Service Plus dealer Alternator will have Lifetime Parts and Labor warranty and I would have them do it. It wont be cheap, but you won't have to pay again or spend the day changing it out. Other shops may offer lifetime warranty parts but not the labor.

 

Repacing the alternator on a 98 Deville is so dead simple that any novice can do it. Those that say it's some sort of big scarey deal & that you have to rip the rad out have never done it before & shouldn't offer advice if they cant offer real advice. The Haynes nonsense does not apply to the 98 Deville.

Quite simply, look on passenger side underneath the car & directly under the alternator you will find a removeable plate. Take the plate off, Undo all the connections to the alternator & drop it down & out the bottom of the car. Note that it is a very tight fit, manipulate the alternator to get it down past the rad. Put it back in the same way. Took me two hours to get it out as I was learning as I went, took 40 minutes to put it back in & running.

Note the biggest problem with these alternators from the 98 Deville (maybe others) is bad bearings because this high amp alternator runs extremely hot to begin with and the GM idiots have it jammed right up against the manifold. When sitting idling on a hot summer day with high load on the alternator you could almost light a cigarette off it.

Don't buy a new one or rebuild, take your old one out to your local Starter/ Alternator rebuilder. 1/10 the price & you get your original GM alt back.

 

kmec.............. geee, welcome to the Forum, i guess..... we are thankfull for your response, however not once has a member of our Forum ever over rode a master tech like that. hope you know what you are talkin. i myself do not know if the alternator in question is in a Deville, first of all.and the second post is talking Northstar. sometimes the Forum trys to helpin a general way, only because we are asked in a general way.......... if we would all go to member introduction, (kmec)to be introduced, and find out what the Forum needs in a post.the Forum will beable to give the right info.
rickyd

on second look i have to assume that the vehicle is a Deville.....

 

Hi, All Caddy enthusiasts!

This is my first post here, although I have been reading the forum for quite a while, and have gotten a tremendous amount of great info from you guys and gals.

I was just faced with a dead alternator on my '98 DeVille, and of course had a look through the threads here first to see what was in store for me. This is one job where I found a huge variation in what you guys were thinking it would take to get the job done... so I steeled myself for the worst, and with all of your posts in mind, went for it.

Well, as it turns out, kmec is correct... it really is a straightforward and simple job on a '98 Deville (49 state version, if there's a difference). Simply remove the access plate on the lower radiator support, and the adjacent wide plastic splash shield, and you can drop the alternator out the bottom. Yeah, you'll spend a while maneuvering it around to find the exact position where it will fit through the space (mine came out pulley first), but it is easily doable. I also put a piece of thin cardboard between the alternator and the radiator fins to prevent damage while learning how to position the alternator for removal.

The job, overall, was really quite straightforward... occasional cursing due to fastener placement and access notwithstanding. I went in expecting the better part of a day to complete it, and ended up being done in under 3 hours, start to finish.

Hope this post helps someone who is needing to change an alt on a '98... and not sure of what they're in for. Take heart! it's really not that bad!

Mike

 

My partner started the alternator removal process yesterday. After reading posts...he decided to remove it from the bottom. Seems he has all bolts removed and one loosened on a bracket that is suppose to help with the removal. With all this done....including the serpentine belt removed....the alternator is still very tight and has no signs of being loose. Any tips on wiggling it a certain way to get it moving??? Anyone else had that trouble? Are we missing an out of sight connection? We have a repair manual which suggests top removal...but we are not taking that route.
Partner is retired from this kind of business but he says he never had a part hang on after all the bolts are out. Scratching our heads here???