My alternator finally gave up the ghost after 24 years of service. Luckily, I had a spare handy. But in addition, I had to replace the battery and also decided to replace both battery cables and the alternator bushings.

This job made me nervous because I never did a repair this extensive before and electrical problems would be a pain to rack down should I screw it up. But thanks to the BB and Bentley, I tackled it myself.

Every connector was cleaned and greased before installation. The old alternator came out easily but the new one was hard to squeeze into the mount thanks to the new bushings. I even wrapped the engine wiring harness with shrink wrap and secured it with plastic ties. I routed the new cables carefully so no unnecessary tension was placed on them.

After triple-checking everything, I turned the key and braced for an explosion or pop or some other disaster. But the car fired up immediately and ran perfectly.

All excited and pleased with myself, I backed it out of the driveway to take it for its first drive...and backed into my neighbor's brand new white VW sedan that was parked on the street. Crap!
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Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 265,000 miles
Original engine, transmission, drive train, alternator, starter
Undergoing reconstructive surgery with POR-15