Wow, totally motivating... I have to lift the motor of my BMW to replace the steering housing and remove the ventilator and all belts, the alternator and the steering pump in order to change a 4$ gasket of the oil-filter housing... Well, it looked great on paper... They should send those designers to the shop to let them work on their own stupidities!
Totally agree with you 100% it’s sad that car is built nowadays are built so cheaply and compact so you can barely work on them without having to take parts off and remove bolts in maneuver the engine in a certain way. It’s the society we live in today A throw away world
I've done that gasket on my wife's E36. I've long said that engineers should have to work as mechanics for three years before they're let loose in the design studio!
What ever happened to the so-called good all days when you could sit on the fender well or the radiator and get to almost everything in the engine compartment? Long ago and I am afraid. Really enjoy your videos.
Milt Carlton my first car had a front hinged bonnet and fenders combined. Open the hood, and the whole engine was exposed, on both sides. It was a 1963 built car, so only basic plumbing and electrics as well. The easiest car engine I ever worked on.
That's because its a 2.0 liter. The most common engine is the 1.8 liter in the Sentra of that body style... WAY easier to work on. Even the Alternator lol...
Reminds me of my wife's old Ford Focus, it had the same problem but in the opposite. The alternator is in the complete back of the engine up against the firewall. You have to unhook the coolant reservoir and power steering, loosen the motor mount and jack up the engine to create the best clearance. After dealing with that and repairing the horrible window regulator, I told my wife we're never getting another Focus.
Maybe Nissan should change their motto from "We are driven" to "We drive mechanics crazy". I had a similar pain in the gluteus maximus job on my Wife's Saab. I wound up cutting the bolt in the middle, threading the ends, and reconnecting it with a threaded coupler.
Who would have guessed in a few years it would be so much more work to change an alternator. My 97 Sentra’s alternator came right out the top without removing anything.
Seen people remove the alternator in 2002-2006 nissan sentras just pulling it right out of the top, removing the heat shield, or the fan housing. Pretty sure this guy did way more than what was actually needed…. Typical mechanic though.
I had a Datsun B210 wagon. It was a great car. Tough as a cock roach. Easy to work on. Sold it at 150k miles and the owner drove it another 8 years. The body was rusted but the thing just kept on going. I fear some of the Renault DNA had poluted Nissan. They used to be competitive quality with Toyota, not so much now 😭😭😭 so sad.
I replaced an alternator in an 03 and definitely didn't have to drop the engine out, maybe they fixed this issue by then? I'm about to go attempt this on a 2002, I really hope I don't run into this issue. Edit: reading another comment it sounds like I'll be good since its a 1.8L not the 2.0L
The belt tensioner on my Toyota Avensis requires the same process. Only held in by 1 bolt, should be a 10 minute job but instead requires dropping the engine down about a foot. Plus the tensioners only last about a year. Now I just put up with the rattling noise it makes.
Ended up here while trying to change out the alternator on my 2000 Nissan Sentra SE. Was wondering of I needed to drop the engine to take out the bottom bolt. I don't have any equipment to drop the engine (just a casual DIYer working on a driveway). Unless there's an alternative, looks like I'll remove the wheel fender and drilling a "service port" to remove that bolt...
AFAIK you have to do this to do a valve adjustment on an Impreza...since there's hardly any room to get the valve covers off with the engine in the vehicle. And to do the spark plugs on a Maxima you have to remove everything from on top of the engine to get to the plugs in the back.
What a pain in the ass. Reminds me of when I had to take out the motor mounts on my 05 Camry 2.4 and jack the motor up a few inches to so the tensioner and bolt could clear the frame rail because I snapped the dummy bolt on the tensioner replacing the altenator. Seems some manufacturers just shoehorn the engine in the car and sont care about how difficult it is to access simple components. Swear to god they do this on purpose to get you into the dealer.
I had a real interesting conversation w/a pro-foreign car friend years ago: He swore up & down that foreign cars (esp. Japanese) were designed & built better....I wish I knew where he was, so I could share this video w/him.
Wow, that is a lot of work to just replace an alternator. This reminds me of a video I watched the other day where an alternator and serpentine belt had to be replaced in a Fiat 500. Exactly the same sort of problem. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4c99iv6VfWY.html One thing I liked about my 2000 Hyundai Accent was the generous work space in the engine compartment. It seems the designers are making extra space available for the passengers and trunk while squeezing the engine into a smaller area as though it will never need service. That could alter my future purchase plans.
Had a 2001 Sentra with the 1.8 for over 15 years. No significant problems. Sold it to an acq. who drove it to well over 200,000 miles with no problems. He'd still be driving it but was t-boned by a drunk driver & it was totaled.
That’s the problem with those Nissan Sentra pieces of garbage built back in the garbage era when I was a kid. Said that in the late 70s up until now it’s been nothing but garbage cars that have been Nicolin dime jobs. That’s why I like my truck because it was built back in the 20s one of the eras when they put pride in what they built
Ouch. Must be one of the firsts of "hey lets make you have to take everything apart to change this frequent failure item", trends. Like starters under the intake manifold or water pumps inside the timing chain cover. lol You could say Nissan is a trend setter.... Am I seeing things, is that a broken strut spring?
even by modern standards I feel like dropping an engine to swap alternators is a staggeringly poor design choice. in the new Mazdas at my work it's a relatively quick job
I swapped the alternator in a 2000 chevy 2500 and the speedos bugged out now. It got jumped in a parking lot and on the way home the gages were working of and on and warning lights were flashing. After I changed the alternator and put a new battery in, everything else works again but the speedometer. It stays at zero until you hit about 27, because it shoots up to 27, then to 45, then to 64. theres no gradual change on it, and when you stop it seems like it slams back down to zero.. do you have any idea what the issue is and how to fix it? dash issues are apparently common on that generation silverado but i haven’t seen anyone else with that specific issue. sorry for the long comment, but any input would be appreciated. thanks!
I've been enjoying my late 90s CR-V, but boy is it a tight squeeze. The engine swap was not easy. I have an air-cooled vdub that I love, but I didn't know the water-cooleds were any good. They always looked anemic to me
Almost as bad as the original Mercedes A Class.. those things need the sub frame / engine dropped for starter, alternator.. even just the V-belt to be changed if memory serves.. ridiculous!
Hey two stroke turbo how big is ur shop like what’s the over all size and length also do u have any old liscense plates u can send me for my shop if u do have somthing u can send me in the mail what’s ur email so I can email u my adresss
