Alternator cleaning - Anything special?

[BustedKnuckles]

Doing a little tune up on my N62. Oil leak caused the alternator to get all nasty. I picked up a can of alternator cleaner but wanted to make sure there was nothing special about cleaning these alternators before I just started hosing it down with cleaner. Thanks again everyone!

[80stech]

That should do the trick. If you use a cookie pan or something similar under the alternator to catch the overspray and drippings when you spary the inside, then you can use a brush to scub the outside a bit with whats left in the tray.

[BustedKnuckles]

Thanks for the advice 80stech. There are so many "special ways of doing things" for these cars that I wanted to make sure I wasnt going to damage the alternator by cleaning it in a traditional manner. Better safe than sorry.

Nice and clean! FYI for anyone doing this in the future, pick up at least two cans of cleaner. It runs out fast and there are a lot of nooks and crannies to clean out on alternators. I had to make a 2nd trip to the parts store to get a 2nd can. I also wasn't really feeling using a pan and re-using the cleaner. Kind of seemed to defeat the purpose of cleaning it. There was too much oil and gunk washing off to run the already used fluid back onto the alternator.

[80stech]

Haha, yes to get away with 1 can you pretty well have to use the brush. The trick is to reserve about 1/4 or 1/3 of the can to rinse after using the brush.

[Rickfrmpnw]

Hi

I would like to have your opinion as I am thinking of replacing voltage regulator on my 2009 N62 and I know you have cleaned your alternator, so can you tell me if I need any special tools for this job and if you can provide me with a set of DIY instructions it will be really nice. This is my first diy thing on my N62.
I really would appreciate any kind of your input about this.
Thanks
Rick