Thank you UPS man!  

^Behold! This is a 160Amp high output alternator (& 4 gauge wire harness) that will be replacing the wimpy 70Amp factory in my 01' Civic LX coupe. I am very satisfied with the install; lights stopped dimming and stereo system has had a significant difference! Overall experience with "Alterstart" is neutral. Their alternators are great, but customer service is somewhat not - very rude and arrogant "professionals". On the bright side, their prices are considerably exceptional. The overall cost turned out to be $286 (including sales tax, shipping, and 8ft heavy gauge upgrade wire).

Enough with the boring stuff - now to the procedures that everyone's been waiting for:

Materials:
Socket wrench set
ratchet set (very handy in tight spaces)
electrical tape
wire ties
new alternator (of course)
heavy gauge wire (very important! DO NOT use the factory wire as it is not able to withstand the increase of amperage)



Step 1
Remove negative terminal cable from battery (blue)


Step 2
Locate power steering pump
Red: loosen the upper mounting bolt (pictured) & lower mounting bolt (not picture - located near power steering pulley). 
Blue: Once the two mounting bolts are loose, turn the adjustment nut counter-clockwise to loosen up the power steering belt. Take off belt once it is loosen to the point where it can be taken off without excessive force.


Step 3
After taking off belt, completely remove upper and lower mounting bolts. Put power steering unit aside (do not remove any hose). Oven mitten was used to protect paint.


Step 4
Now that the power steering unit is out of the way, the alternator should be a breeze to get out. I learned later that it was not and had to take out bumper and driver's side headlight in order to get it out.
Edit: Just remove the two upper and lower powersteering brackets (little piece of metal with 10mm bolt), power steering reservoir bracket (12mm bolt) and the alternator should slide out freely w/o removing headlight and bumper.
Red: Loosen alternator upper mounting bolt (pictured)


Step 5
slightly loosen up driver's front side wheel lugs, jack up front driver's side and place on a jack stand

Step 6
Take off lug nuts and wheel.
Red: See that splash shield? Remove the red plastic tapping screws and pull it out of the way




Step 7
Red: Power steering belt that was taken off of power steering pump earlier
blue: Next on your hit list. This is the alternator & AC belt


Step 8
Blue: loosen lower alternator mounting bolt
Red: look at this screw - it is the belt adjusting screw (picture from another angle in next step)


Step 9
Red: This is the belt adjusting bolt in step 8. Turn this bad boy counter-clockwise until the belt begins to loosen and can be removed.


Step 10
Red: This is the positive output cable that will be upgraded with a 4 gauge harness. Remove it with a 10mm socket.
Blue: This is the electric plug, just simply squeeze the release button and pull it out.


Step 11
You can now remove the upper and lower mounting bolts of the alternator.
Pictured below is when I had a problem trying to get it out and it eventually led me to take off bumper and driver's headlight. Installation of new alternator was very easy with the headlight out because it created a lot of space to take the alternator out through the headlight frame.


LAUGH AT THE 70AMP POS OEM ALTERNATOR


COMPARE THE TWO ALTERNATORS
Do they look of the same size? Does it look like the new alternator will fit fine? Notice the new high output alternator (RIGHT SIDE) has a smaller pulley. It's supposed to increase the amount of revolutions.


Step 12
Blue: cut off the rubber insultating boot from the OEM output cable to reuse on the new 4 gauge wire. Be sure to wrap LOTS of electric tape around any conducting area of the OEM wire and place it aside. OEM wire will be zipped tied to something later. You can remove the OEM output wire if you want, but I prefer to leave it because I'm lazy and I can put back the OEM alternator to use as a spare in the event (God forbids) the high output alternator fails.


Step 13
Install rubber boot on new 4 gauge wire


Step 14
Now installation is the opposite of removal - be sure to install the alternator and power steering belts on tightly (give .25 in of belt deflection). I placed another handy oven mitten in the headlight frame to protect the AC lines.


Step 15
Blue: New 4 gauge wire
Red: old OEM wire - zip tip this to the 4 gauge wire or any non-moving surface in case you need it later.


Step 16
The next pictures just shows how I routed the 4 gauge wire. There is no right or wrong way to route this wire, just as long as it ends up at the positive battery terminal and doesn't obstruct any moving object in the engine bay. Again, use the zip ties!






Step 17
You are now practically done. Connect the negative cable to your battery, put your wheels back on and you are ready to rock and roll!

Step 18
The haynes manual suggests to put the car in 3000 RPMs (with no load i.e. parking lights, stereo sytem) immediately when the vehicle is started to initialize the PCM (powertrain control module) idle learn procedure. This is mandatory every time the battery is disconnected. Caution: if you are parked in a garage like me, push the car out into the driveway and do this to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. You can bring it back down to normal idle when you hear the radiator fan kicking in or the temperature gauge is at normal operating temperature.


Now sit back, have a beer and enjoy the fruits of your labor


FULL POWER BABY!!!! No more dimming lights!!!!



Overall, this procedure took me 2.5 hours. Class was dismissed early this morning so I went home to work on it right away, then I had go to work @ noon, got back home @ 5:00PM and finished it up. Happy modding 

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Article submitted on 19 Aug 2013
Last modified on 28 Dec 2014
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