I just did it today.

Reading this thread before, I prepared myself a bit to count with some obstacles. I started early in the morning to at least have some daylight left in case it would turn out to be difficult.

Yesterday evening I had finished some tasks already in preparation; took the right wheel off already, took the plastic shield out, just to not having this done early since the forecast said we would have frost in the morning. (Preparation time was about..., let's say 30 minutes.)

Today morning, we had ice. I waited till the sun licked it away, then started taking the serpentine off (20 minutes) and unscrewed the alternator. That was really a pain in the butt since the lower screw was kind of hard to reach with a ratchet; I ended up unscrewing it with a 1/2" American spanner including a ratchet which isn't really the same size like a 13 mm spanner. This task took some time.

The rest was quite easy; disconnecting the cables of the alternator (2 cables, one attached to the plus pole of the alternator by a 13mm nut, the other-one was just some plug, the third from the same wire tree underneath the alternator); I unscrewed the bolt of the oil measuring pin tube and turned the tube aside, then unscrewed the two upper bolts of the alternator. then, to get the old alternator out on the upper space, it took me some time to figure out on how to get it out on that little space I had just freed from cables; I finally pulled up the plastic sticks on the front side which held the cable tree to make room; then turned the unscrewed alternator a bit, and it was out.

Same way to put it in. But: Make sure to remember how you got the old alternator out; that saves you some time.

My total working time as a bloody beginner for this task was about 2 hours. If you are experienced to it you maybe do it in about an hour, or a bit more.

I want to point out to the reason why I felt obliged to do this repair: Many of you have already stated that the Sebrings start making a grinding sound after more than 65,000 miles when they're cold, which disappears after the engine is warmed up. Same it was in my situation, but because I usually drive less than 5 miles a piece it really had made me sick, driving that car on a daily base only for this short distance; people were looking at me already... :-( After I already had exchanged the tensioner a few weeks ago and it didn't stop, my only guess was that the front ball bearing of the alternator had been given up. --Which was the reason.

So, now next step is to find the appropriate ball bearings for the alternator, since it's not dead yet.

I'll keep you updated as soon as I've found a way to replace them.

edit: Since I was editing this thread for some typos I guess I also should include some keywords to make it less tough to find the thread in case the same indication comes to one or another of us:

- Keywords:
Grinding sound Sebring JR 2.7
Serpentine replacement 2.7
Alternator replacement 2.7
Idler Pulley 2.7

Please add keywords in case you think it might belong to equal or comparable repairs.

Cheers
LGP

(edited: keywords, typos)

 

I just did it today.

Reading this thread before, I prepared myself a bit to count with some obstacles. I started early in the morning to at least have some daylight left in case it would turn out to be difficult.

Yesterday evening I had finished some tasks already in preparation; took the right wheel off already, took the plastic shield out, just to not having this done early since the forecast said we would have frost in the morning. (Preparation time was about..., let's say 30 minutes.)

Today morning, we had ice. I waited till the sun licked it away, then started taking the serpentine off (20 minutes) and unscrewed the alternator. That was really a pain in the butt since the lower screw was kind of hard to reach with a ratchet; I ended up unscrewing it with a 1/2" American spanner including a ratchet which isn't really the same size like a 13 mm spanner. This task took some time.

The rest was quite easy; disconnecting the cables of the alternator (2 cables, one attached to the plus pole of the alternator by a 13mm nut, the other-one was just some plug, the third from the same wire tree underneath the alternator); I unscrewed the bolt of the oil measuring pin tube and turned the tube aside, then unscrewed the two upper bolts of the alternator. then, to get the old alternator out on the upper space, it took me some time to figure out on how to get it out on that little space I had just freed from cables; I finally pulled up the plastic sticks on the front side which held the cable tree to make room; then turned the unscrewed alternator a bit, and it was out.

Same way to put it in. But: Make sure to remember how you got the old alternator out; that saves you some time.

My total working time as a bloody beginner for this task was about 2 hours. If you are experienced to it you maybe do it in about an hour, or a bit more.

I want to point out to the reason why I felt obliged to do this repair: Many of you have already stated that the Sebrings start making a grinding sound after more than 65,000 miles when they're cold, which disappears after the engine is warmed up. Same it was in my situation, but because I usually drive less than 5 miles a piece it really had made me sick, driving that car on a daily base only for this short distance; people were looking at me already... :-( After I already had exchanged the tensioner a few weeks ago and it didn't stop, my only guess was that the front ball bearing of the alternator had been given up. --Which was the reason.

So, now next step is to find the appropriate ball bearings for the alternator, since it's not dead yet.

I'll keep you updated as soon as I've found a way to replace them.

edit: Since I was editing this thread for some typos I guess I also should include some keywords to make it less tough to find the thread in case the same indication comes to one or another of us:

- Keywords:
Grinding sound Sebring JR 2.7
Serpentine replacement 2.7
Alternator replacement 2.7
Idler Pulley 2.7

Please add keywords in case you think it might belong to equal or comparable repairs.

Cheers
LGP

(edited: keywords, typos)

 

...oops... twice..