alternators

[tamborine]

girlies are having their precious cars stolen.....I did mention they remove the alternator but have no idea how - anyone know where this is?

[Andyvon]

Removing the alternator is a ten minute job with spanners but the drive belt has to be correctly tensioned once you replace the unit. If you are parking the car up for several weeks then it might be an idea but not overnight.

If you don't know what the alternator is tamborine I shouldn't bother. Your best bet is to buy a very good cover (abiut �35) that fits over the steering wheel and renders the car undriveable. I have a wheel clamp which I carry in the boot as well as a bar for the steering wheel. The clamp takes about 30 seconds to fit and any casual thief will just carry on to the next car.

[chadad]

I think you mean " Remove the rotor arm ".
This is done quite easily.
Removing the alternator is rather more complicated.
And it's even trickier putting the darn thing back.

[tamborine]

chad how do you remove the rotor arm?

I quite like carrying a wheel clamp - are they easy to work & where d'u get them?

[Andyvon]

Hi tamborine,

I got my wheel clamp from the 'Under a Tenner' column in the local paper - it was �10. You can buy them new in motorist shops but especially at trailer and caravan dealers.

The rotor arm is more likely to be the part. It's located under the distributor cap - if your car has one. That's the round component (black or red) which the ignition leads come out of. It's at the other end of the leads to the spark plugs. It's not a good idea to keep removing that though.

If you want to quickly remove a component overnight and pop it back the next day I would suggest the HT lead. Depending on your model of car that's the single ignition lead that plugs into the middle of the distributor cap (surrounded by the other ends of the spark plug leads). The other end of the HT lead plugs into the coil which is usually a silver cylindrical component.

I think a wheel clamp is the best idea. It's not much fun messing around under the bonnet on a dark and rainy morning or night. Hope that helps.

[alan-r]

what car has had a rotor arm in the last 10 years and a car cant be started with a key if it got an imobilser and they all have had those at least 10 years
enlighten me if this is different??d

[alan-r]

sorry cant be started without the right key