Hello Sebring Owners,

This evening while driving home, the battery light came on as I was traveling in 2004 Sebring convertible with the 2.7L engine. As it was a rainy night, I pressed on. I believe the alternator failed and forty miles from home all of my indicator lights began coming on beginning with ABS and Traction control. I suspect that the battery was nolonger able to power the electronics.

I have read online two methods for replacing the alternators. One is fairly straight forward and can be done without jacking up the car. The other sounded rather involved and included jacking up the car and removing the A/C compressor.

Can someone give me some insight into how complicated this is? I need to make the repairs in the parking lot that I left the car rather than having it towed to a garage.

Your advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Answering my own question: For this model with this engine, it is an involved job that includes disconnecting the A/C high pressure valve and compressor clutch. I did not attempt and had it towed to my local shop for a pro to deal with.

 

Yeah Bill, there aren't many things on a 2.7 that are easy to do.

 

is it different in the newer models... just curious because i got the 3.5L. Coming from a pontiac grand am where I did all the work myself.

 

Additional update: My mechanic's computer generated quote told him it would take 0.9 hours to change the alternator. He reported it took him three! He insisted on charging me the quote, but says he is going to be very cautious in the future when dealing with Sebrings with this engine.

 

LOL...ALLDATA time was .6 hours. There is no way I would do it for that. I would maybe go 1.5 just because I am familiar with them but that's it.

 

Yes and I just couldn't take it anymore. I purchased my '04 Sebring Convertible Limited three years ago with just 11k miles on it. Granted, I have no idea how those first 11,000 treated the car, but I followed all of the scheduled maintenance and really took care of the car from the day I brought it home. The thing hit 75,000 miles a few months ago and it became a nightmare.

While I loved the looks of the car, it had to go as I was going broke trying to maintain it. Four breakdowns in as many months while more than 100 miles from home. Traded it in Monday night on a Hyundai Elantra Touring. I NEVER thought I would buy Korean, but man I had a rough time finding someone who would take the Sebring in trade, despite the fact it was running fine at the time and body and interior were in very good to excellent condition.

Adios 2.7L!

 

I am not familiar with the 3.5L, but here is, in part, what causes problems with Sebrings with the 2.7L: 1)How tight is it under the hood? What can you readily get to when replacement is necessary? Do you have to remove part of the airconditioning or the intake manifold to get at something that would be a simple replacement on your Grand AM? Since the 3.5L has to be physically larger than the 2.7L, we can only assume that what was hard to do on a 2.7L will be as hard or harder on the 3.5L. 2) How much plastic is used on the engine? As is the case with the infamous water housing assembly on the 2.7L (it is not that it is made out of plastic, it is that it is two pieces of plastic glued together). If you have a lot of plastic, plan on problems.

Just my opinion.

 

got 94k on the clock of the 01 with 2.7l works great.. all maintenance done its tip top =]

 

I have the 2004 2.7 Sebring convertable and replaced the alternator myself recently. I found that I did not have to disconnect anything to do with the AC. I had to remove the front tire to loosen the belt and move a wire harness out of the way to pull it out. It came out easily. Not a difficult job at all.