How do you remove and install Mitsubishi-fto alternators?

With a lot of difficulty!!! ... I'm in the process of doing this myself and last night managed to get it out.

I found the best way to do this is to first loosen the bolt in the middle of the tensioner pulley, then turn the adjuster behind this pulley to slacken the alternator belt. Then remove the belt.

DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL OF THE BATTERY!!!

Then you need to disconnect the black plug attached to the alternator from the top of the unit by squeezing and pulling, then disconnect the red lead from the alternator. This lead is held on by a 10mm nut.

Now remove the 2 bolts holding the alternator in place, one from the top and one by going under the car. With a bit of wiggling the alternator should now be free .... The easy part is over.

I found the best way to take the alternator out is down, so it's easier with the drivers front wheel off. To get the alternator out, I used 2 jacks and an axle stand. Prop the car up with and axle stand, use 1 of the jacks to take the weight of the engine by placing it under the oil sump, but put a block of wood to spread the load; don't want to crush your sump!!

There are now two ways you can go about this.

1. remove top engine mount, three nuts to the engine and one bolt to the chassis. jack the engine up as far as you can from the sump. Remove the bolts that attach the lower arm to the chassis (3 bolts) undo drive shaft bolt and remove shaft from hub and push to the front of the car. the alternator will now fit between the gap created.

2. Remove the engine mount located at the top, It's three nuts attached to the engine, and a bolt connecting it to the chassic. Take the single bolt out rather than the three attached to the engine. Next remove the front and rear exhaust manifold bolts connecting to the exhaust using plenty of release oil on them for a day or so before trying and an impact wrench (machinemart do a good 24V one for under £30) as every mm helps (if the whole bolt comes out instead of the nut coming off you can get it back it back in the hole later when reassembling by bolting the stud that did stay in loosely then pulling against that with the socket and extender bar to push the exhaust over to get the other bolt back in, take care to get the gaskets aligned or it will prevent the bolt getting in) and the exhaust will stick on the underside of the car body and prevent you lifting the engine high enough if you don't. Then slowly and carefully begin to jack the engine up. I was surprised at how much play there is in jacking it up, make sure the engine doesn't move towards the back of the engine bay as you raise it as that will close down the gap you need to get the alternator out, you have to keep the engine either centred where it was when bolted in or slightly forward in the bay by even a few mm by using a long crow bar or similar low down against the mount support then a piece of wood or end of a socket bar to jam it in position as I say slightly forward of where it was when mounted. The engine can be raised until the mount body is well above the top of the normal mount support but eventually you start to lift the car with the engine. You should see that the gap to get the alternator out is gradually getting bigger at which point you should be able to wiggle the alternator out with a lot of difficulty or you could do the hub assembly thing below that someone else had to do if you just can't manage but if you do manage without the hub thing below you can then put the new one in the same way the old one got out, keep a note of how it came out as you will never get it back in any other way then put everything back in place. You will have to put the top alternator bolt in first and I used a nail through the bottom support as the normal bolt can't be fitted until the engine is lowered again, I found when the engine was lowered that I then had to undo the top bolt again to fit the bottom support first as otherwise it wouldn't go in the bottom hole due to slight misalignment (I found it took around 5hrs in total with some help and was a complete pain but next time round it should be much easier) ......... I found that I got to a point where I didn't feel comfortable putting anymore strain on the oil sump, so I put another jack under the wishbone of the drivers front hub assembly to take the weight, and then removed the two bolts holding the hub assembly to the suspension. Then gradually lowered the jack.

This then gave me enough room to maneuver and wiggle the alternator down and out. You may also want to remove the plastic behind the hub assembly to make life easier.

It's not an easy job, you will need a GOOD set of sockets and spanners, patience, and a beer to congratulate yourself after. I'm hoping to post a tutorial on the owners club shortly.

Hope this helps.