Xantia Hdi Alternator Change, Easy Job?

[gadgetgricey]

I think the Alternator on my Xantia is on the way out. Has been a whining noise from the engine bay since I bought it, that sounds electrical/bearing related as its a higher pitch than everything else.
Engine revs not speed related.

Anyhoo today had a motorway run to make and the battery warning light started to flicker a few times. Soon realised that if I stuck to 65mph it would not come on, but if I went above 70mph for any length of time then the battery light would start coming on and off. (Quite a good speed warning feature that I never knew the Xantia had )

As per title, how easy/difficult is it to change.

Regards.

- Dave -

[Chlorate]

It was a real pain in the proverbials when I did it.
First time I tried it took about 4 hours to get it out, second time I had the old one out and new one in within the hour.

Good news is you don't have to take the hydraulic pump out (it's a tight fit but you can remove it by letting it drop down and shuffling it across a bit - watch the radiator), bad news is you need to take the oil filter off.

Held in with 4 bolts, only one of which is particularly accessible. It's best to have the car jacked up a bit a the front and the driver's wheel off and wheel arch liner removed.
The spring loaded tensioner is a bit of a bugg*er, need to move it out of the way with a spanner on the centre bolt - it's held with quite a stiff spring too remove the ECU and its plastic housing to get better access. To lock it in place a small allen key through the hole works lovely.

Edit:
Now that I remember, the eccentric tensioner has been known to be awkward, I find the drive of a 1/4" ratchet fits the square hole in the thing perfectly. Hold onto the bolt with a socket turn the 1/4" ratchet until tensioned and nip up the centre bolt.

[citroenxm]

It is a bit of a PITA!

Im starting to worry about mine at 258k, but dont like the look of it.. the lower bolts are a pain, one facing the oil filter... the other half covered by the spring aux belt tensioner...

Basically just echoing Chlorate's words above really dave!

[RichardW]

It's not as hard as it looks: http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... hp?t=29797" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chlorate]

Indeed, it's not difficult - it's just more awkward than it really should be.

[RichardW]

At least it's (just!) dooable without removing the HP pump.

If you want more awkward then it should be, then try changing the pollen filter on a C4 Picasso....mind you, Lighty posted about a Megane where he needed to remove the clutch pedal to do the pollen filter