What a fun day today has been....

Got in the car and drove to work as normal, but with about 0.5 of a mile to go, the antilock brake light comes on, first thoughts, battery dying, NOT good, sitting in traffic. 5-10 seconds later car dies completely (luckily I had moved it to the side of the road), in Regiate town centre.

Hazard lights hardly came on, very dim. Got a mate from work down and got the car started with a set of jumper cables and drove the last section to work.

Is there a "how-to" guide on how to change the alternator?

 

really easy to swap fella, all 12mms from memory, easy to get to and change.

 

Simple, mate. Mark the position of the belt tensioner, on it's threads, with white paint, Tip-Ex etc BEFORE removal, slack off belt tensioner, undo alternator bolts and remove it.

Refit is a reverse, set belt tension to previous mark, use a new belt

One of the easiest I've ever done, and, given the space around MOST of the Scoob engine, that's a piece of luck.

 

Thanks for this!

Where is the best place to buy an alternator? Surrey area would be nice...

 

Dealer? Scrappy? Depends whether you want to risk another clunker, if not, get a new one, or look in Yell.com the UK's local search engine - search for United Kingdom businesses, auto electricians, and ask if anyone does refurbished, exchange etc.

Most alternators are NOT made by the car manufacturer, so are pretty much interchangeable with only their brackets being model dependent. Auto-electrics places will know which ones are interchangeable for YOUR car.

It USED to be dead easy in the UK: your alternator was either a Lucas, or a Lucas, 15, 16, 17, or 18ACR, or, if you were lucky, 11AC, a whole 45 Amps with offboard control unit!

 

my mate had one on his newage, says £200 ish from a motor factors