This was incredibly useful - It would have been very hard to replace the alternator without this step-by-step video. Well explained and it allowed me to successfully replace the alternator in less than 3 hours. The dreaded red battery light has disappeared and I get to ride again with a smile on my face. The e46 M3 is in my opinion one of the best BMWs ever made. So much joy to drive!
Gad Damn Gareth you lost some weight my guy... Hope its healthy loss even your voice sounds different hope all is well and bro thankyou for all the videos I did a ground up restoration on my E46 M3 with your videos and bought all I could from FCP Euro just because of your video's .
Thanks for making this. I just followed your Coil and plug replacement video, took my car for a victory drive/wash, then got the dreaded battery light. Car's dead today, so I guess I have some alternator shopping to do. Lol.
I just did this job yesterday on a customers car and I didn’t remove the fan or shroud 🤷🏻♂️. had plenty of space to loosen up the serpentine belt tensioner, idler pulley and get the bolts off the alternator.
Interesting. I'm pretty sure I didn't remove the fan and shroud etc when I did mine 4 or 5 years ago. Is that even possible? Maybe I did but based on some on other history when I think I removed it the first time (for VANOS) I'm somewhat sure I didn't for the alternator. Heh the reverse thread got you at first. I definitely did have to have the oil lines temporarily disconnected. Field winding went open circuit on mine.
You are correct, there is no need to really remove the fan clutch or anything with rad. I replaced my alternator a month or so ago. I have large hands and could do it fairly easily. Im always one repair behind the E46 FCP video release train.... Ha. Great videos for the chassis tho!
I miss the days when you could call and talk to someone. Now you have that shitty chat window which is unfortunately what most lazy websites do. A simple 5 minute conversation now turns into a 30 minute back and forth chat so I shop elsewhere now.