Hey guys, this forum is awesome. I have just finished replacing the water pump, timing belt, A/C compressor, power steering pump, alternator, plugs, wiring, brakes, steering rack, ball joints, blah blah... and found A LOT of help from this forum!

I am having trouble with my Alternator now though... after all of that, and everything almost put back together, I cant seem to move the alternator at all even though the pivot bolt is loose. Is there something I am not seeing? Is it a common problem that they just rust in place?

Can someone give me some info on how to replace it?

Thanks guys!!!

Well the belt took itself off actually

I should have taken the alternator off when I did the timing belt, it would have been a lot easier to access.. but without removing the crank pulley, and engine mount, what is the best way to get at it?

Basically, here is my problem in a little more detail...

The alternator is a little cockeyed right now, so it is not running parallel to the crank pulley. looks kinda like this:

\  \    <alternator pulley


|   |    <crank pulley


I think it got bent when we were trying to move it up and down, i thought that once you loosened the pivot bolt, you should be able to put the belt on. We couldnt see the tensioner screw at the back. So we had the pivot bolt loose, and the alternator would wiggle around a bit, but not enough we could get the belt on, so we tried to pry on it (yeah, wasn't the best idea we had) and I think that now the mounting bracket is bent.

So now the belt is on, but I think I need to replace (rebend) the mounting bracket, but I am not 100 percent sure how to remove the alternator without taking off the timing belt.

Also I went up through the top of the engine to pull the alternator out not out through the bottom.  I took off the engine mount near that side and moved the engine over a bit.