alternator removal DIY for 2001 BMW x5 4.4l with pictures.

[FREE-PPV]

Interesting, like you, I never heard of bearing freeze unless it was noisy prior to, so I am shocked, just rebuilt my alternator and checked bearings for any hint of noise or excess friction, spun easily and quietly and I was debating whether to replace bearings or not since I had it split apart where a diode corroded lead was issue. Wish I had known about bearing freeze issue sooner, oh well, will keep an ear out for any signs of freeze. Thanks for posting this, news to me and I thought I heard of every problem with bimmers. Learn something new every day. As to battery note, yes, I have had several bimmers and batteries all lasted on average 7 years, unheard of in any of my other vehicles over the years, and I did not use trickle charge.

[semcoinc]

Originally Posted by FREE-PPV

Interesting, like you, I never heard of bearing freeze unless it was noisy prior to, so I am shocked, just rebuilt my alternator and checked bearings for any hint of noise or excess friction, spun easily and quietly and I was debating whether to replace bearings or not since I had it split apart where a diode corroded lead was issue. Wish I had known about bearing freeze issue sooner, oh well, will keep an ear out for any signs of freeze. Thanks for posting this, news to me and I thought I heard of every problem with bimmers. Learn something new every day.

When I googled the problem, I think I only came up with two other BMW alternator seizures

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...i-driving.html

and

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...-pulley-seized

I was disappointed that I was unable to open my seized alternator case (the torx heads stripped) to do a proper post mortem on the failure.

[FREE-PPV]

Thanks, with only two issues with bearings over all the forums, I feel a little better about not replacing my bearings when apart. Yes, I know about those nasty easy to strip out torx, very soft metal, and obviously, on purpose knowing BMW makes all their bucks on service more than selling cars. Use the best torx tool you can find, then use impact wrench pushing down as hard as you can, they come right out whereby it is difficult getting good bite by hand tool in my experience.