The Grackle

westslope

westslope

Wheeling
Location
Wildfire country, BC
General_Tarfun said:
Getting a bad feeling that fedex lost my alternator. It's been sitting at a facility just outside Atlanta for two days in a row now and hasn't been scanned since arriving...
Click to expand...

Patience grasshopper. There have been shipping delays all over the North America due to the pandemic.

Some Canadian companies are still figuring out information technology and inventory management..... but I digress.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
westslope said:
Patience grasshopper. There have been shipping delays all over the North America due to the pandemic.

Some Canadian companies are still figuring out information technology and inventory management..... but I digress.
Click to expand...


As long as it arrives soonish I'll survive. I just want to be able to install it before the summer heat kicks in down here, it's already starting to get bad.
 
meisanerd

meisanerd

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Edmonton, AB, Canada
Yah. We just had a package that we ordered from a company that was literally on the other side of the city from us, shipped via Canada Post. It hit the main distribution center, went to Winnipeg (2 provinces away), then back again before we got it. Shoulda taken a day to get here, was over a week...

Everything is a mess right now.
 
westslope

westslope

Wheeling
Location
Wildfire country, BC
meisanerd said:
Yah. We just had a package that we ordered from a company that was literally on the other side of the city from us, shipped via Canada Post. It hit the main distribution center, went to Winnipeg (2 provinces away), then back again before we got it. Shoulda taken a day to get here, was over a week...

Everything is a mess right now.
Click to expand...

Yup.

The Canadian chain Home Hardware takes minimum 3 weeks (if not 5 weeks) for the simplest of things....... In the meantime, amazon.ca is back to 3 day deliveries.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Well it's here...with a cracked connector plug. Looks like it happened during shipping.
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General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Zack. said:
Sonofabitch! That sucks.
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I was so close! I found a company selling the voltage regulator which this is attached to for $30 so maybe I can get the seller to either discount this one by 30 or just send me one. They actually packed it pretty well, doubleboxed with the alt wrapped in bubble wrap so some fedex employee must have been a little rough with it.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
I took some pics this morning of my existing alternator and the B+ stud is closer to the plug in harness compared to the 130 amp version I bought, there appears to be room for it to fit ok but I think the harness itself might be a little short. I think I'm going to keep the new alt and just epoxy the connector back together, if it doesn't hold up I'll just buy a regulator to replace it. Seeing as this thing only has 15k on it I want to make it work.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
If it stops raining at night I'll swap this alt tomorrow but in the meantime I wanted to figure out a way to protect the existing one a little better. Using a spare Rally Guard mudflap as the shield I measured everything and then cut/melted it into shape. This will run from the tiny factory alternator splash shield down to a 90 degree angle and over to the oilpan skidplate. Just in case a tree or something else grabs it I plan on bolting it at the top mount and at the skid with some small tie wraps so they can breakaway before anything else.

yZ6mXZY.jpg
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Made a couple changes, trimmed the oil pan drain plug area out and extended the side protection. This thing fits weirdly good, I'm going to work on the upper mount tomorrow when I change the alt and probably swap out the zip ties for something a little more permanent looking eventually but this addition basically extends the splash shield all the way around the alt.
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General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
The new alternator is installed! It's really not that bad of a job, the only things that slowed me down a lot were when I dropped the upper bolt and spent 45 minutes searching for it (freaking thing fell into the radiator shroud) and that connector I epoxied back together not allowing the harness attach easily. I pulled the front passenger wheel and fender liner to get access, put a towel over the knuckle and UCA so I wouldn't get greasy and got to work.

I didn't realize the wiring harness plug sits over the top of it so I had to chip off some of the extra plastic I glued on to make it fit. The retainer clip still cracked so I ended up running a zip tie between the wires and down through the plastic backing on the alt to make sure it doesn't back off at some point. Not thrilled with having to do that but I packed the plug with dielectric grease and confirmed the zip tie won't let it move so it's probably fine.

The alt I removed is the 110 amp version and the 130 fits pretty well in its place. The battery cable has a ring connector on the end that's bent 90 degrees so to make it work on the 130 I just took some vice grips and bent it flat. After doing that it fit no problem. The boot doesn't cover it very well now though, not sure if that matters too much because it's in a location where water really can't reach.

Getting the new alt in was pretty easy I thought, I installed the bracket loosely on the new alt and got the lower bolt in first. Tightened that up enough to where the alt was sitting straight and then I pulled up on it and it rotates to where you can get the upper bolt in. Hopefully I won't have to do this again!

While I was in there I noticed my radiator cap is leaking a little, feels like I just replaced it but checked my records and it was 2013 so I guess I won't complain.
 
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General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Well, the noise is still there...

So far I've replaced the belt, belt tensioner, idler pulley, and alternator. That leaves the power steering pump, ac compressor, fan, and the crank pulley. Might just have to wait until the noise gets really bad because this one is hard to pin down.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
I pulled the old alternator apart this morning and surprisingly the front bearing is really easy to remove and also it's not worn out. The rear bearing is another story, it feels like it's pretty dried out and is noisy if I spin it. I think I'm going to just replace that bearing and keep this thing on the shelf as a spare.

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General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Change of plans, looking at the rear bearing it seems like I removed it just in time for it to not be damaged. I pulled the seals on it and found it still had some grease, not a ton and it was really old but there wasn't any heat damage or play in the bearing itself so I cleaned it out and repacked it. Did the same with the front bearing and reassembled it, they both feel like new, the brushes probably need replacing in 25k or so but I'm going to keep this as-is for my spare.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
So tonight I parked like usual and opened the door with it running to see if it was still making the noise and for the first time in I don't even remember the noise was gone. Just normal engine idle noises which feels too good to be true at the moment considering last night I was pricing out a new power steering pump and ac compressor but if this holds up my life will be a lot easier!

Update, drove it again this morning and the noise is still gone! Starting to wonder if what I was hearing was the alternator whining because it was under a heavy load or something.
 
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General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Old cap vs new cap. Still can't believe this one is 18 bucks and the bigger one with a spring on the tank is only 11.
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Also installed a new passenger side steering rack isolator this morning because I noticed the old one was a little deformed.
 
SledheadX

SledheadX

Wheeling
Supporting Member
Location
Rochester, NY
General_Tarfun said:
The steering rack isolator bushing I installed a few days ago really reduced the amount of 'bump' steering I was getting. So everything is great now, no weird noises, suspension/steering are all great...I'm bored haha. Might replace the passenger side window regulator just so it will go up faster.
Click to expand...
Sounds like your on your way for a position at Nissan. Your new title can be: NismoX Division leader???
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Well this is annoying, I looked under the hood this morning and noticed I still have a leak from around the radiator cap I just replaced. I'm still using the original spring cap on the tank, I wonder if maybe those can seize eventually and over-pressurize the system.
 
TerryD

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
General_Tarfun said:
Well this is annoying, I looked under the hood this morning and noticed I still have a leak from around the radiator cap I just replaced. I'm still using the original spring cap on the tank, I wonder if maybe those can seize eventually and over-pressurize the system.
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Put a little Vaseline on the rim of the radiator neck before you put the cap on. Keeps the rubber lubricated so it will spin and isn't as likely to bunch as you tighten it.
 
sgsy2k66

sgsy2k66

Test Drive
General_Tarfun said:
Well this is annoying, I looked under the hood this morning and noticed I still have a leak from around the radiator cap I just replaced. I'm still using the original spring cap on the tank, I wonder if maybe those can seize eventually and over-pressurize the system.
Click to expand...
Just to note, on my Gen 2 4L the radiator cap is 21430-1P107 (42 psi, NO Spring). The overflow tank is a 16 PSI with a spring.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
TerryD said:
Put a little Vaseline on the rim of the radiator neck before you put the cap on. Keeps the rubber lubricated so it will spin and isn't as likely to bunch as you tighten it.
Click to expand...

That's a really good idea, thanks! As soon as the engine cools down a bit I'm going to do that and hopefully that's the end of it.

I went ahead and ordered a replacement spring cap for the reservoir since it's so old which got me thinking about how I'm still on the original tank, here we go again... haha going to hold off on that for now.

I found a seller on ebay that has new OE power window motors pulled from units that had damaged regulators for $33 so I pulled the trigger on finally replacing my drivers door motor that keeps getting stuck down if I accidentally use the auto-down feature.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
sgsy2k66 said:
Just to note, on my Gen 2 4L the radiator cap is 21430-1P107 (42 psi, NO Spring). The overflow tank is a 16 PSI with a spring.
Click to expand...

I made the mistake a long time ago of accidentally swapping those after I replaced the radiator, that was a lesson I'll never forget haha.

The expansion tank cap PN is: 21430-1P111, thanks Nissan for making the numbers so close! On the CourtesyParts website of all places if you look at the caps they actually have the wrong one listed (with spring) as being the one for the radiator. When I called to order it I told the guy the part number I got from their site and thankfully he caught that it wasn't the right one.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
I think I've got it fixed. I started to try and epoxy the fitting back on and noticed that Koyo left a bit of plastic on each side for bracing the fitting. I cut into it and sanded it smooth/round and reclamped the hose back onto it without needed to epoxy anything. Test drove it 20 miles and 0 leaks so I hope that's the end of it. Pretty sure I broke it when I was changing the belt tensioner a few weeks ago because I remember the intake plastic thing getting hung up near the cap, must have pried on it and bent that T just enough to crack it.

RFQfPUS.jpg
 
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