Not sure if you have already completed this job, but I found these instructions in a Rover forum for replacing the alternator... In a nutshell, remove under tray, slacken AC belt, take bolts off Black coolant pipe and pull it back under the sump. Remove 3 bolts from AC unit, remove AC bracket and pull it to one side (Left). Now slacken alternator belt using a 24 mm spanner (I had to walk up road and buy one). Unclip wires from alternator plus big wire with 13 mm nut and then undo the 3 bolts holding the alternator and it dropped out from the bottom. One other thing I did was to remove the drivers side wheel arch plastic cover to make it easier to get at the tensioner for the belts. Hope this helps
This engine is a BMW engine and wasn’t really designed to be mounted transversely as it was in the 75, in the 3 series BMW its mounted longitudinally to drive the rear wheels but in that car it had the nightmare of the swirl flaps instead!!!
Ian: "I'd say that's the opposite of space" Mr. Boy/little hubnut: "this is very hubnut" 😂 Brilliant toiling, backward and forwarding that I wholeheartedly relate to, mare ish goings on indeed, great episode!
They are probably laughing their spare part out of their pants, they don't have to do the jobs Ian is doing. A dull , reliable car with enough space to work on is a blessing.I own one a Suzuki estate. Some hate it, boring to death, but reliable.
More patience than I'd have with it. The thought of it makes me miss my old Cadillac. I could crawl in and take a nap next to the engine, there was so much room under the hood. Good on you for helping recruit the next generation of gearheads into the fold.
I wholly concur with mrs. Hubnut's tool ranging regime. Long, long overdue, Ian. In the time you spent looking for bolts, cables, tools, nuts, spraycans, leads, washers, love and freedom, you could easily have fixed 17 fire-damaged Oltcits and a few neglected Sanas! The female touch will doubtless improve the channel a bit more (because it was already marvellous to start with), as it already has.
@@Perthshire Yeah, but if it had been me I would have pounded the camera into smithereens on the alternator half-way through the session. Heroic patience.
The spirit of old BMC seems to be alive and well in that glorious design, memories of early Mini radiator hoses spring to mind, you deserve an OBE for your restraint during that job !!!!
I can see you are being "organised" more these days but I have to say I'm very impressed the way Sergeant Hubnut rallies you round. This time next year he'll be building real Land Rovers!
My dad worked on every car he ever owned during my lifetime. Highlights included an XJ12, Alfa GTV, Lancia HPE, BMW 2002, BMW 540, Porsche 944, Porsche 928 and a Lotus Carlton. He bought a Rover 75, decided to give it a service after buying it, opened the bonnet and booked it into a garage!
Epic, just epic! It’s cold, wet, getting dark and the tea has run out, but Hubnut & the Hubbles keep going! Don’t forget that infamous phrase from the repair manual: “replacement of the new part is the reversal of the removal process”.......
just an idea.. in my old workshop i had a little cheap 8x4 shed in the corner where i kept kettle and a little heater so had somewhere to sit in the warm and was a godsend...
My dad had a similar setup. With clear plastic sheeting though. Let's light through and its enough to keep the heat of a little electric heater in. He also had one of those massive jet turbine type gas heaters aimed at him out on the shop floor.
What an enlightened teacher, he will learn more in half an hour with you than half a day in school. Granted he will mostly learn some choice language but all learning is good.
Determination got you there in the end. Never let it be said that thi mother bred a jibber, was one of my grandads favourite sayings. I've took that thro life and the guilt alone pushes you on to get it done. Can't wait for the new alternator fitment video but it'll be easy because 'Refitting is the reverse of removal' according to every Haynes manual. 👍
I feel your pain. I have been a mechanic for 40 odd years, and cars just get worse to work on! I have only changed the belt on a 75 diesel, what a mission that was, as someone before me had rounded off the tensioner nut! Even with a 2 post lift etc, we really struggled. I have to say when the owner sold the car we cheered! To be fair, the 75 did well over 200000 miles, and still drove well. I loved the flying alternator!
Reminds me of changing the alternator on a Ford Ka, ended up taking a hacksaw to part of the bonnet support ! Took hours only to discover the new alternator was faulty and had to do the job all over again. It was no easier the second time either. Good luck with yours Hub Nut.
Well that job proved to be a pain to do. It was nice to see Miss Hubnut along with Master Hubnut doing their best to help you. Here's to trying to put the replacement back into that troublesome 75
Unfortunately for you I saw this video too late. The best way is to do it from underneath. If you drop the air-conditioning compressor down (obviously belts off and hanging, but leaving pipes connected) then the compressor mounting plate and move the oil cooler out of the way. it can all be done in an hour and a half. You do need to bend one of the undertray mounting, but it's a lot easier than the 3 hours to take it out with the engine mount off. I've done loads of them this way! Yes, the KV6 alternator is easier, but as you are aware the three timing belts are not much fun! Thanks for all the entertainment though! My Mum died in December and your videos have been very uplifting! Keep up the good work!
Sad to loose a parent,but in time when you think about her,a smile will come across your face aswell as a little tear. I watch hubnut before I go to work (fixing vending machines) as I figure my day can't go as bad as Ian's😲
Such a wonderful thing to see this day and age all the family getting involved. Life lessons learned from a young age that’s the best thing to see in all this doom and gloom your doing a fantastic job Ian. I got a matiz just for me and my son to work on. ( tips needed on how to swap a ps4 pad for a spanner needed though)
Finally :-). Reminds me of helping my dad work on his '88 VW Golf back when I was a boy. We rebuilt the whole engine down to almost every last component. If I remember right, there was a ton more space to work in that one...
Most modern cars are designed for dealerships with hoists. What a great team you have around you, all lending a hand. This is home-schooling in Mechanical Engineering and an education in tools. Brilliant stuff mate.
I did fear that towards the end of the video as your frustration increased that something was going to go horribly wrong as is often the case. I am glad that it didn't. Good luck with the install at a later date.
I remember a mechanic looking into the engine bay of my Hillman Hunter and saying 'don't ever sell this car, you can get at everything so easily'. Sadly I sold it for a modern transverse engine car, how stupid was I.
I feel your pain - for many years I owned a 1998 Land Rover Freelander L series diesel - the diesel before the TD4 you have in your Rover. The arrangement in the engine bay is exactly the same as your Rover - as you have found what a pain. I changed the cam belts twice, the serp belt a couple of times and changed the alternator - I found it best to remove the big engine mount on the left as you have done and then put a jack under the left side of the engine - lower the engine to get at the lower pulleys and raise the engine to get at the top pulleys and to take the alternator out. Be thankful that you do not need to do the timing belts just yet.
What a great family day out. Loads of stress, hard work and I assume colourful language. I love your reference to "the boy", very Simpsoness. I can only offer congratulations for getting it out.
It's jobs like these when you find out what component No.1 was on the production line, which they then built the rest of the car around, making it inaccessible without reversing the process! Congratulations on not swearing as much as you would have liked to!
I sense the frustration. We've all been there with those impossible to access jobs, and if it's not access it's rusted-up fasteners which add hours to what should be a quick simple job. Watching your struggles makes me feel more normal. Don't give up - you're halfway to a new alternator!
My heart goes out to you Mr HubNut and helper . I remember with fondness one cold Christmas Eve my brother Mark ringing me up to “help” him change his clutch on a mk3 cavalier . Little cover came off on the bell housing giving you limited access to do the job . 5 hours in with freezing spanner rashed fingers and lots of 🤬🥶. Job done just the cover to fit . Pass me the cover our kid , no answer . On looking he was in the house , cup in hand with coat off . I wondered why I hadn’t had any input from him for the last 1 hour and a half . 😡 I’d been had off again . The good old days 🤦♂️ ps how long will it be before little helper will be lying on the floor under the car spanner in hand 🤔. Little grease 🐒 are very handy in tight places 👍
He is a Clarkson fan if I'm not mistaken. Percussive repair methods do have their place though. I used one to fix an RCD that refused to reset after a proper test a few weeks ago (for the curious sparks: it performed perfectly fine at 1x and 5x trip current and refused to reset after the final test, 5x at falling sine wave).
Did you take the pulley off the alternator before you threw it on the concrete floor? Hope it isn’t knackered as you might need it to transfer onto the new alternator.
I agree with mrs Hubnut. In my first comment some time ago I said you needed to take the radiator out. Maybe even the front facia and bumper. It is 20 minutes work and saves hours probably.
I had to remove the front bumper bolts and headlamps, and part remove the inner wheel arch liners just to change the headlight bulbs on my modern (10 yrs old) car!
@@simonhodgetts6530 Yeah, everything to get the dealerships more money, I fear. I cannot imagine something simple like that cannot be made better. It took me 30 seconds to change a lightbulb in the headlamp of a Saab 99... Newer is not always better.
Well dammit Mr Hubnut. Watching your channel has reminded me of how much I miss tinkering with old cars, so I just agreed to buy an Anglia 105e project! 😅
Been there & done that after the alternator i rebuilt on the car gave up after a couple of years (slip ring u/s), I manage to get to the tensioner & left the spanner on it by jamming it in place, I managed to also invent some swear words at the same time!. I feel your pain!., If you havent already I would put the new brush kit on the replacement as I did on mine as the 2nd hand one i got had fairly worn brushes, only takes a few minutes to do.
Maybe Rover designed and built the whole car around the alternator?😯🤔😁😎👍 Ah the joys of removing a dozen parts, each with their own awkward removal process, to get at the part you want to replace!! I love the Haynes manual descriptions, they make it sound so easy and simple and don't mention all the shredded skin, swearing and general awkwardness!😯😁 On a lighter note- As a keen drone pilot myself, I noticed a drone there hidden amongst all the hubnut bits and bobs! 😁👍😎
"could do with a slight crank on that spanner" as opposed to the large one holding it? Modern cars .. The 'boy' was quoting from any of the new BMW factory manuals when he said "glue it" the final instruction being "deny all knowledge to the customer" 👍
_"deny all knowledge to the customer"_ Exactly what Ocean did to my father after they "lost" the undertray and stripped the sump plug on his immaculate 320i and glued it back in with sealant. He only discovered this when a large pool of oil subsequently appeared on his drive.
@@ferrumignis Crazy, I was in the trade in the 90's, over the last few years I've had dealings with Renault and Ford main dealers , both beyond, beyond bad! Hopeless, incompetent liars at both dealers, Peoples Ford Bootle and Liverpool Renault for the record, I'll just leave you with this quote from the Ford service manager about my 3 month old galaxy, "Your diesel tank and lines are red rusty"... "funny" I said, "as they're made from plastic" ...... Ho hum.
@@andicog While they were still servicing the Mazda3, the local main dealers cracked the undertray and left out two bolts then charged for new ones. They billed for fitting a Mazda cabin filter every two years but when I did it myself I found a wrongly-fitted Blue Print pattern part with a batch date from before I bought the car, which supposedly had a full service history from this main dealer. Since we're naming dealerships this was TW Whites in Bookham.
@@Graham_Langley well, as I said before, I worked in the trade back in the late 80's early 90's, both for vw/Audi and Peugeot, I was a painter and they were really good dealers , but .. All these people with new cars would swear by a 'full main dealer history' , what they didn't realise is that all routine servicing was done by 2 YTS lads working to a sheet, people were paying god knows how much an hour in labour for someone who had little experience and who was paid £35 a week! They also did pdi work, yet again working to a sheet. I know the YTS's went on to be decent mechanics or Technicians as they're called today. The only dealer I've found to be top notch is my local Skoda dealer, they even send a video of the car being serviced and show the condition underneath.
I just admire your patience....even when i work on my 2006 Ka, i loose temper and use...unsuitable words for internet. One litlle remark, tide up the right side of yre garage shed...it would give you a lot of extra tinkering room and...work is even more easier . But...hey yeah...its HubNut🤣 Regards and compliments to Mss HubNut, trying to organize Ian. That aint an easy job😉
I detest working on modern cars, everything is in your way, and so much has to be dismantled just to get to what you want to fix, you have my deepest sympathy.
It took me 3 whole weeks, to change the punctured radiator in our dog-wagon 2007 Honda FR-V. The time it took to order the needed item, along with replacing the rusted-out bolts and bracketry, all involved removing the entire front body and some of the frontal structure to get to that problem radiator. The hardest part was putting it all back together, as lining up all the parts to align correctly was trial-and-error and a right faff.
If nothing else you made me laugh with your 75 alternator saga.......having spent many years on rover I had the 75 alternator swap down to sub 2 hour.......keep them coming..............
Ah the "Throw it on the floor in triumph" technique, I've done that many times with stuff that was a pig to remove, best one was the washing machine's bearings, who knew they could bounce so high!!! :P
You're a very patient man. That young lad would have ended up hearing more swearing than his mum would have been happy with ifnit were me doing that job
I did this job on my 75 after the alternator failed in the snow & dark returning from a long way away....! It is straightforward; take it out from underneath, ignore what the manual says!! The air con compressor and bracket can be unbolted, the compressor propped aside on the subframe, the Flexi pipes let you do this. The thing then drops straight down and out. The top bolt is a little awkward - it has to be put in position on the alternator before this is offered up, otherwise it will not slide into position as the chassis rail is in the way. I had to fight with the wheel arch liner - I see the you don't have one; replacement of that one part took almost as long as the alternator change..... Good luck.
Fine, but you're maybe overlooking the inevitable discovery of voids under the concrete floor and/or hydraulic seal failures in Mr Hubnut's Halfords jack impacting any heroic attempt to raise the Rover for an underneath alternator attack?
I got to the point of looking at a car job and deciding.....is this one for me, or one for the garage who do these all the time. As I get older and car underbonnets get more cramped the second option has rather overtaken the first, which I suppose was the intention. All modern cars are the same.
This reminds me of doing the same job on a Volvo V40. I had a bad back that day before I even started the job. The new alternator lasted about a week. Always buy quality spare parts!
And what did you learn at school today, "well, never buy a Rover".. Furious Driving, Twin-Cam and I drive a classic are now writing to the Education minister. Best wishes Hubnut , its out, half the battle won.
Considering what Matt goes through with that Rover cabriolet, I suspect he would prefer the alternator on the 75 to trying to make that wee beastie of his run. Then again, the Furious Fleet does include a brace of Rover P6 saloons.
How patient you were, Ian - could see the pressure building on the "Hub Nut Rage Gauge" as you were in the final throes of getting that dynamo out! Well done to Mini Hub Nut for the assistance, and also to you, Ian, for showing off nearly as many different Jackets as Wiper Videos ! You'll get there in the end - and we'll all be with you !
This Rover is Cruel mistress; who do we look at 'Man troubling to get an alternator out' or 'boy struggling to find the inner strength (fails) then realizes he can just drop the bag and then lift it back on' I'm sure there's a lesson in there for us all. Thanks HubNut Team, for another great video. Even if it is partially misery inducing
I had a mate years ago that had to do this very job. He said it was by far the most stupid ever design he had ever come across in his life. Well done for persevering and hurling the offending altenator at the end 🙂
I remember doing an alternator on a golf v5, entire front end off, but as it is designed for it, it's just time rather than pain and swearing. I admire your commitment, rotating a BMW engine to fit obviously presents some issues, although I must say the m47 in the E46 has quite the most stupid and complicated air filter assembly I've ever seen, so 6 and 2 3s I suppose!
Noticed you could squeeze 2 or 3 more cars down that left handside!! In the unit we store our cars, we put in a mezzanine floor above the cars to store tools, parts and other junk lol You have plenty of height in that unit.👍😎
Note for Mr HubNut junior... If you want a good laugh do not remove any nuts from the pile (their omission will never be noticed). It is MUCH more fun to simply add an extra nut in then watch the hilarious antics at the end when they try to figure out what they missed in the rebuild to be left with one part extra
If it had been MY mentality, I'd probably have sawn a whole section out of that chassis leg! Great video - good to see Master Hubnut taking genuine interest; not so much of that about wiv today's yoof.
The tensioner nut is 24mm. Weld the ring of a 24mm spanner onto a long flat bit of metal, the ring will need grinding down as it is too thick. Removing tension is then easy. I should have watched your video before doing the job myself, I may have saved myself a lot of effort and money. Thanks for the video
Congratulations on your restraint Ian. Without the presence of junior HubNut, I'm sure the air would've had a distinct blueish hue. As Haynes would say, replacement is simply a reversal of removal. Simple!
Ian, you are a braver man than I. It did occur to me at around the 7:00 minute mark that maybe the best access is bumper and radiator out. A bit excessive perhaps but would only add time and not time+frustration. All the best, good to see you have willing helpers as well!
I'm pretty familiar with the rover 75 diesel having done most of the common failure items in my 4 years of ownership. I too have tackled the alternator and succeeded be it by a different method. These cars are great to drive and own once the issues are ironed out, truly the last of the true diyable cars before electrical failures started killing off home mechanicing. Stick with it hub nut.
It makes removing the rear suspension and back axle in order to take the gearbox out of a pre-war Ford 8 or 10 seem almost sensible. The relief when you tossed that alternator across the yard must've been immense.
Hi Ian,omg what a pig of a job, I would have definitely sent that Kobe to a garage,I congratulate you for even taking it on, nice to see the young hublet getting involved too looks like you have two new assistant,I can't wait for the next installment (this is griping) best of luck with it..
Good man Mr Hubnut teaching little Hubnut some mechanics, should make it part of the school course work. Wish I could get my son or daughter into cars but my wee boys into his trains, suppose it a got wheels a diesel engine 🚂 good times.
Egads! What a palaver to get the alternator out! Having to remove the power steering pump, an engine mount, and jacking up one side of the engine just to extract the alternator is a major design flaw. I would love to sentence the designer who came up with that scheme to an eternity of changing alternators on rovers.
Helga, my '94 Volvo 940 has been gently tuned to 247bhp sans a turbo. Every so often, I watch an old, German review from I believe 1991 on the four door variant of her to find the reviewer complaining about the masses of wasted space around the engine. My 8V, four cylinder, 30 year old Swedish brick has 247 naturally aspirated horses. All massaged by my rebuilding the engine bit by bit by removing the old radiator and standing in the engine bay. (I had a Ford Focus in college that was like inseminating a cow to work on and I do in some way remember your pain here ;)
Grovelling about under a Rover on a wet day in Wales. Some people will do anything to be on You Tube.
There are easier ways!
I find nothing more satisfying than watching a competent mechanic at his work. So switching to south main auto channel right away.
He's darn good, that SMA bloke. No disrespect to Ian - it's a totally different genre.
@@hunchanchoc8418 No disrespect meant here my 164 wears a hub nut sticker.
@@andrewsedgwick7299 Good! But is it an Alfa or a Volvo ? ;-))
@@hunchanchoc8418 Alfa 1989. 3.0 12 valve
@@andrewsedgwick7299 Creamy! :-)
Not sure if you have already completed this job, but I found these instructions in a Rover forum for replacing the alternator...
In a nutshell, remove under tray, slacken AC belt, take bolts off Black coolant pipe and pull it back under the sump. Remove 3 bolts from AC unit, remove AC bracket and pull it to one side (Left). Now slacken alternator belt using a 24 mm spanner (I had to walk up road and buy one). Unclip wires from alternator plus big wire with 13 mm nut and then undo the 3 bolts holding the alternator and it dropped out from the bottom. One other thing I did was to remove the drivers side wheel arch plastic cover to make it easier to get at the tensioner for the belts.
Hope this helps
What you seem to forget is that Rover employed many boys to hold the alternator while they built a car around it.
On an assembly line, out of the car, it is very easy to install. Replacing it with the engine in the car was outside the design brief.
The idea that a Rover would break down and require repair never occurred to them. Odd that.
@@eldarbunyip clearly a BMW influence
I think they abused a midget to hold the alternator ....how the hell would he get out otherwise.
This engine is a BMW engine and wasn’t really designed to be mounted transversely as it was in the 75, in the 3 series BMW its mounted longitudinally to drive the rear wheels but in that car it had the nightmare of the swirl flaps instead!!!
I fully expected you to pull a startled, new born calf from the engine bay. James Herriot style. :)
😆
Excellent 🤣. My ribs are still aching
😂
Ian: "I'd say that's the opposite of space"
Mr. Boy/little hubnut: "this is very hubnut" 😂
Brilliant toiling, backward and forwarding that I wholeheartedly relate to, mare ish goings on indeed, great episode!
41 seconds in and it appears that there is a trampoline impaled upside down on a telegraph pole in the background -love it!
🤣 I noticed that in a previous video.... plus there’s a bath sat next to it!
#NotMyTrampoline
That reminds me of helping my grandad years ago. "Just hold that out the way". Real education 🙂🙈
Or like my dad, "reach me the waddyamacallit"
Me " the what"?
Dad, "THE THINGAMYBOB"
ME, "eh"?
😂
Learned how to work on cars tho! 👍
My uncle taught me to spray cars during a term off school aged 11. By the end i had painted a Bentley Mark 6 in two tone.
At 17.40 i was thinking about insurance fraud!
Oh more like my father ...........
Swearing .......with cut bleeding knuckles ......shouting at me .....
I often wonder if former owners of cars you've bought sit and watch your videos of your struggles with a smile on their face.
They are probably laughing their spare part out of their pants, they don't have to do the jobs Ian is doing. A dull , reliable car with enough space to work on is a blessing.I own one a Suzuki estate. Some hate it, boring to death, but reliable.
More patience than I'd have with it. The thought of it makes me miss my old Cadillac. I could crawl in and take a nap next to the engine, there was so much room under the hood. Good on you for helping recruit the next generation of gearheads into the fold.
I wholly concur with mrs. Hubnut's tool ranging regime. Long, long overdue, Ian. In the time you spent looking for bolts, cables, tools, nuts, spraycans, leads, washers, love and freedom, you could easily have fixed 17 fire-damaged Oltcits and a few neglected Sanas! The female touch will doubtless improve the channel a bit more (because it was already marvellous to start with), as it already has.
You have the patience of a saint, if that had been me, the air would have been blue plus the Rover might have suffered a whack or two.
There are plenty of quick snappy edits where I suspect the air was indeed blue LOL
@@Perthshire Yeah, but if it had been me I would have pounded the camera into smithereens on the alternator half-way through the session. Heroic patience.
The spirit of old BMC seems to be alive and well in that glorious design, memories of early Mini radiator hoses spring to mind, you deserve an OBE for your restraint during that job !!!!
@@glennpowell3444 Or worse still the bottom hose !!!!
I can see you are being "organised" more these days but I have to say I'm very impressed the way Sergeant Hubnut rallies you round. This time next year he'll be building real Land Rovers!
My dad worked on every car he ever owned during my lifetime.
Highlights included an XJ12, Alfa GTV, Lancia HPE, BMW 2002, BMW 540, Porsche 944, Porsche 928 and a Lotus Carlton.
He bought a Rover 75, decided to give it a service after buying it, opened the bonnet and booked it into a garage!
Epic, just epic! It’s cold, wet, getting dark and the tea has run out, but Hubnut & the Hubbles keep going! Don’t forget that infamous phrase from the repair manual: “replacement of the new part is the reversal of the removal process”.......
just an idea.. in my old workshop i had a little cheap 8x4 shed in the corner where i kept kettle and a little heater so had somewhere to sit in the warm and was a godsend...
That sounds like an excellent idea
My dad had a similar setup. With clear plastic sheeting though. Let's light through and its enough to keep the heat of a little electric heater in.
He also had one of those massive jet turbine type gas heaters aimed at him out on the shop floor.
I know some mechanics who never left the warm hut in the corner and expected spanners and wrenches to operate by levitation 😂
Or leave it till spring.
@@cornishhh Its wales, gives you about 3 hours a year to do the job
That was just hellish but good to watch from a warm and dry house. You have my sympathy.
Your struggles are not in vain you are giving pleasure to me and I am sure lots of other viewers.
Helping to fix a car and learning lots of new words, much better than school 👍
Quality question from Mini-HubNut there regarding V6 diesels
Ah, the joys of working on a transversely mounted engine that was originally intended to be installed longitudinally.
Great to see the theme of “see a space” put something in it maintained to a very high standard .
What an enlightened teacher, he will learn more in half an hour with you than half a day in school. Granted he will mostly learn some choice language but all learning is good.
Little HubNut was a huge help picking up all of the dropped items.
Been there,done it ,and gone home.tomorrow it will go like clockwork,and you won't know why.keep the faith .love it .🤗
When I see how hard all this is I'm reminded of the virtues of something like a Morris Minor. I think mini Hubnut has the right idea about a Peel P50.
Determination got you there in the end. Never let it be said that thi mother bred a jibber, was one of my grandads favourite sayings. I've took that thro life and the guilt alone pushes you on to get it done.
Can't wait for the new alternator fitment video but it'll be easy because 'Refitting is the reverse of removal' according to every Haynes manual. 👍
@neilwalsh like hell it is
"Never let it be said that thi mother bred a jibber" Ha! One of my Nans as well. Where was your Grandad from?
@@antibrexit5 the wonderfully sounding Oswaldtwistle, here in Lancashire.
I feel your pain. I have been a mechanic for 40 odd years, and cars just get worse to work on! I have only changed the belt on a 75 diesel, what a mission that was, as someone before me had rounded off the tensioner nut! Even with a 2 post lift etc, we really struggled. I have to say when the owner sold the car we cheered! To be fair, the 75 did well over 200000 miles, and still drove well. I loved the flying alternator!
No backward step never give in hubnut at his best. Great blog waiting for another round.
Reminds me of changing the alternator on a Ford Ka, ended up taking a hacksaw to part of the bonnet support !
Took hours only to discover the new alternator was faulty and had to do the job all over again. It was no easier the second time either.
Good luck with yours Hub Nut.
" Can't we just sell it without an alternator " out of the mouths of babes 👍.
How lovely! you've gained a really lovely family!
And also great for us too!
Well that job proved to be a pain to do. It was nice to see Miss Hubnut along with Master Hubnut doing their best to help you. Here's to trying to put the replacement back into that troublesome 75
Miss Hubnut does bring a little organization to the job.😄👍☕
Unfortunately for you I saw this video too late. The best way is to do it from underneath. If you drop the air-conditioning compressor down (obviously belts off and hanging, but leaving pipes connected) then the compressor mounting plate and move the oil cooler out of the way. it can all be done in an hour and a half. You do need to bend one of the undertray mounting, but it's a lot easier than the 3 hours to take it out with the engine mount off. I've done loads of them this way! Yes, the KV6 alternator is easier, but as you are aware the three timing belts are not much fun!
Thanks for all the entertainment though! My Mum died in December and your videos have been very uplifting! Keep up the good work!
Sad to loose a parent,but in time when you think about her,a smile will come across your face aswell as a little tear.
I watch hubnut before I go to work (fixing vending machines) as I figure my day can't go as bad as Ian's😲
Thank you Keiran and sorry for your loss. If I've provided any comfort I'm very glad.
Such a wonderful thing to see this day and age all the family getting involved. Life lessons learned from a young age that’s the best thing to see in all this doom and gloom your doing a fantastic job Ian.
I got a matiz just for me and my son to work on. ( tips needed on how to swap a ps4 pad for a spanner needed though)
Finally :-). Reminds me of helping my dad work on his '88 VW Golf back when I was a boy. We rebuilt the whole engine down to almost every last component. If I remember right, there was a ton more space to work in that one...
Most modern cars are designed for dealerships with hoists. What a great team you have around you, all lending a hand. This is home-schooling in Mechanical Engineering and an education in tools. Brilliant stuff mate.
I did fear that towards the end of the video as your frustration increased that something was going to go horribly wrong as is often the case. I am glad that it didn't. Good luck with the install at a later date.
I remember a mechanic looking into the engine bay of my Hillman Hunter and saying 'don't ever sell this car, you can get at everything so easily'. Sadly I sold it for a modern transverse engine car, how stupid was I.
That was gold. And that Hublet is marvellously patient!
It’s good to see the lad interested in working on cars, and you trying to teach him. Love the sound of a diesel.
I feel your pain - for many years I owned a 1998 Land Rover Freelander L series diesel - the diesel before the TD4 you have in your Rover. The arrangement in the engine bay is exactly the same as your Rover - as you have found what a pain. I changed the cam belts twice, the serp belt a couple of times and changed the alternator - I found it best to remove the big engine mount on the left as you have done and then put a jack under the left side of the engine - lower the engine to get at the lower pulleys and raise the engine to get at the top pulleys and to take the alternator out.
Be thankful that you do not need to do the timing belts just yet.
I was laughing and crying at the same time!!! Could feel your pain Ian..what an awful job to do..good luck putting it all back together 😩
What a great family day out. Loads of stress, hard work and I assume colourful language. I love your reference to "the boy", very Simpsoness. I can only offer congratulations for getting it out.
It's jobs like these when you find out what component No.1 was on the production line, which they then built the rest of the car around, making it inaccessible without reversing the process! Congratulations on not swearing as much as you would have liked to!
I sense the frustration. We've all been there with those impossible to access jobs, and if it's not access it's rusted-up fasteners which add hours to what should be a quick simple job. Watching your struggles makes me feel more normal. Don't give up - you're halfway to a new alternator!
I felt every inch of your pain and stress. I understand you're frustration.
Take care, Jeff
My heart goes out to you Mr HubNut and helper . I remember with fondness one cold Christmas Eve my brother Mark ringing me up to “help” him change his clutch on a mk3 cavalier . Little cover came off on the bell housing giving you limited access to do the job . 5 hours in with freezing spanner rashed fingers and lots of 🤬🥶. Job done just the cover to fit . Pass me the cover our kid , no answer . On looking he was in the house , cup in hand with coat off . I wondered why I hadn’t had any input from him for the last 1 hour and a half . 😡 I’d been had off again . The good old days 🤦♂️ ps how long will it be before little helper will be lying on the floor under the car spanner in hand 🤔. Little grease 🐒 are very handy in tight places 👍
Looks like the engine mount has separated, the rusty mess you saw is only half the mount of the bobbin.
"Give it another whack with the hammer" Little Mr Hubnut is learning from the master.
He is a Clarkson fan if I'm not mistaken. Percussive repair methods do have their place though. I used one to fix an RCD that refused to reset after a proper test a few weeks ago (for the curious sparks: it performed perfectly fine at 1x and 5x trip current and refused to reset after the final test, 5x at falling sine wave).
Reminded me the nightmare I had working on my MGF. Well done for perseverance (driven by necessity) and for getting the "Mini HubNut" to help :)
Lovely family you got there, Ian! Looking forward to see them more in future videos.
And that's also some good home ed for the boy!
Did you take the pulley off the alternator before you threw it on the concrete floor? Hope it isn’t knackered as you might need it to transfer onto the new alternator.
I agree with mrs Hubnut. In my first comment some time ago I said you needed to take the radiator out. Maybe even the front facia and bumper. It is 20 minutes work and saves hours probably.
I had to remove the front bumper bolts and headlamps, and part remove the inner wheel arch liners just to change the headlight bulbs on my modern (10 yrs old) car!
@@simonhodgetts6530 Yeah, everything to get the dealerships more money, I fear. I cannot imagine something simple like that cannot be made better. It took me 30 seconds to change a lightbulb in the headlamp of a Saab 99... Newer is not always better.
@@simonhodgetts6530 Do halfords have a book on the times it takes to change light bulbs.
I don’t know about that - all I know is that it took me 2 attempts and about 3 hours to do mine........
Well dammit Mr Hubnut. Watching your channel has reminded me of how much I miss tinkering with old cars, so I just agreed to buy an Anglia 105e project! 😅
I love the 105e - that car has bags of character. My granddad had one for years and we spent many Sunday mornings tinkering with it!
Yep my dad has one, and has done since I was a kid. I love them!
Been there & done that after the alternator i rebuilt on the car gave up after a couple of years (slip ring u/s), I manage to get to the tensioner & left the spanner on it by jamming it in place, I managed to also invent some swear words at the same time!. I feel your pain!., If you havent already I would put the new brush kit on the replacement as I did on mine as the 2nd hand one i got had fairly worn brushes, only takes a few minutes to do.
Good grief and I thought the alternator on my XJ6 was a pain to remove. Oh what fun you will have installing the new one.😁
Maybe Rover designed and built the whole car around the alternator?😯🤔😁😎👍
Ah the joys of removing a dozen parts, each with their own awkward removal process, to get at the part you want to replace!!
I love the Haynes manual descriptions, they make it sound so easy and simple and don't mention all the shredded skin, swearing and general awkwardness!😯😁
On a lighter note-
As a keen drone pilot myself, I noticed a drone there hidden amongst all the hubnut bits and bobs! 😁👍😎
"could do with a slight crank on that spanner" as opposed to the large one holding it? Modern cars .. The 'boy' was quoting from any of the new BMW factory manuals when he said "glue it" the final instruction being "deny all knowledge to the customer" 👍
_"deny all knowledge to the customer"_ Exactly what Ocean did to my father after they "lost" the undertray and stripped the sump plug on his immaculate 320i and glued it back in with sealant. He only discovered this when a large pool of oil subsequently appeared on his drive.
@@ferrumignis Crazy, I was in the trade in the 90's, over the last few years I've had dealings with Renault and Ford main dealers , both beyond, beyond bad! Hopeless, incompetent liars at both dealers, Peoples Ford Bootle and Liverpool Renault for the record, I'll just leave you with this quote from the Ford service manager about my 3 month old galaxy, "Your diesel tank and lines are red rusty"... "funny" I said, "as they're made from plastic" ...... Ho hum.
@@andicog "Rusty plastic? Well known in the trade g'vnor."
@@andicog While they were still servicing the Mazda3, the local main dealers cracked the undertray and left out two bolts then charged for new ones. They billed for fitting a Mazda cabin filter every two years but when I did it myself I found a wrongly-fitted Blue Print pattern part with a batch date from before I bought the car, which supposedly had a full service history from this main dealer. Since we're naming dealerships this was TW Whites in Bookham.
@@Graham_Langley well, as I said before, I worked in the trade back in the late 80's early 90's, both for vw/Audi and Peugeot, I was a painter and they were really good dealers , but .. All these people with new cars would swear by a 'full main dealer history' , what they didn't realise is that all routine servicing was done by 2 YTS lads working to a sheet, people were paying god knows how much an hour in labour for someone who had little experience and who was paid £35 a week! They also did pdi work, yet again working to a sheet. I know the YTS's went on to be decent mechanics or Technicians as they're called today.
The only dealer I've found to be top notch is my local Skoda dealer, they even send a video of the car being serviced and show the condition underneath.
This is why I have no inclination to buy a modern vehicle!! Not that many people would call a 51 plate modern but to me it is...
I just admire your patience....even when i work on my 2006 Ka, i loose temper and use...unsuitable words for internet.
One litlle remark, tide up the right side of yre garage shed...it would give you a lot of extra tinkering room and...work is even more easier . But...hey yeah...its HubNut🤣
Regards and compliments to Mss HubNut, trying to organize Ian. That aint an easy job😉
I detest working on modern cars, everything is in your way, and so much has to be dismantled just to get to what you want to fix, you have my deepest sympathy.
It took me 3 whole weeks, to change the punctured radiator in our dog-wagon 2007 Honda FR-V. The time it took to order the needed item, along with replacing the rusted-out bolts and bracketry, all involved removing the entire front body and some of the frontal structure to get to that problem radiator. The hardest part was putting it all back together, as lining up all the parts to align correctly was trial-and-error and a right faff.
If nothing else you made me laugh with your 75 alternator saga.......having spent many years on rover I had the 75 alternator swap down to sub 2 hour.......keep them coming..............
Ah the "Throw it on the floor in triumph" technique, I've done that many times with stuff that was a pig to remove, best one was the washing machine's bearings, who knew they could bounce so high!!! :P
I've been known to throw siezed bolts once removed, as far into my neighbours field as I could!
glad to know Im not alone in doing that :)
@@Aztek1701 It's really therapeutic!
You're a very patient man. That young lad would have ended up hearing more swearing than his mum would have been happy with ifnit were me doing that job
Jam bit cold for car Mr hubnut even in a garage. I got my hubnut sticker. Many thanks for it ☺️
For a car which has lived in Scotland, the front subframe and chassis rails look to be in excellent condition.
I did this job on my 75 after the alternator failed in the snow & dark returning from a long way away....! It is straightforward; take it out from underneath, ignore what the manual says!! The air con compressor and bracket can be unbolted, the compressor propped aside on the subframe, the Flexi pipes let you do this. The thing then drops straight down and out. The top bolt is a little awkward - it has to be put in position on the alternator before this is offered up, otherwise it will not slide into position as the chassis rail is in the way. I had to fight with the wheel arch liner - I see the you don't have one; replacement of that one part took almost as long as the alternator change..... Good luck.
In a workshop with a ramp working from below the car it's fiddly but not unduly so
Did you not tell him this after the last video?
Fine, but you're maybe overlooking the inevitable discovery of voids under the concrete floor and/or hydraulic seal failures in Mr Hubnut's Halfords jack impacting any heroic attempt to raise the Rover for an underneath alternator attack?
I got to the point of looking at a car job and deciding.....is this one for me, or one for the garage who do these all the time. As I get older and car underbonnets get more cramped the second option has rather overtaken the first, which I suppose was the intention. All modern cars are the same.
This reminds me of doing the same job on a Volvo V40. I had a bad back that day before I even started the job. The new alternator lasted about a week. Always buy quality spare parts!
when you need a spare out of car engine to run in and test every part supplied.
And what did you learn at school today, "well, never buy a Rover".. Furious Driving, Twin-Cam and I drive a classic are now writing to the Education minister. Best wishes Hubnut , its out, half the battle won.
Considering what Matt goes through with that Rover cabriolet, I suspect he would prefer the alternator on the 75 to trying to make that wee beastie of his run. Then again, the Furious Fleet does include a brace of Rover P6 saloons.
I think we are seeing why despite the great design, garages really hated working on 75s, and also why many didn't get past simple issues like this....
Did everyone buy the extended warrenty and bankrupt the dealers ?
I can't do anything with people standing around!! Drives me crazy. 😂
Agreed, specially when they start commenting on your work...
Me too ..............
Makes matters worse I find
How patient you were, Ian - could see the pressure building on the "Hub Nut Rage Gauge" as you were in the final throes of getting that dynamo out!
Well done to Mini Hub Nut for the assistance, and also to you, Ian, for showing off nearly as many different Jackets as Wiper Videos !
You'll get there in the end - and we'll all be with you !
I couldn't tell what was harder - answering questions patiently or getting the alternator out at the same time! Excellent 'parenting' at least.
This Rover is Cruel mistress; who do we look at 'Man troubling to get an alternator out' or 'boy struggling to find the inner strength (fails) then realizes he can just drop the bag and then lift it back on' I'm sure there's a lesson in there for us all. Thanks HubNut Team, for another great video. Even if it is partially misery inducing
It’s out. Hurrah! Good call on calling it a day at that point. Best to end on a high note.
I had a mate years ago that had to do this very job. He said it was by far the most stupid ever design he had ever come across in his life. Well done for persevering and hurling the offending altenator at the end 🙂
I remember doing an alternator on a golf v5, entire front end off, but as it is designed for it, it's just time rather than pain and swearing. I admire your commitment, rotating a BMW engine to fit obviously presents some issues, although I must say the m47 in the E46 has quite the most stupid and complicated air filter assembly I've ever seen, so 6 and 2 3s I suppose!
Noticed you could squeeze 2 or 3 more cars down that left handside!!
In the unit we store our cars, we put in a mezzanine floor above the cars to store tools, parts and other junk lol
You have plenty of height in that unit.👍😎
Note for Mr HubNut junior... If you want a good laugh do not remove any nuts from the pile (their omission will never be noticed). It is MUCH more fun to simply add an extra nut in then watch the hilarious antics at the end when they try to figure out what they missed in the rebuild to be left with one part extra
If it had been MY mentality, I'd probably have sawn a whole section out of that chassis leg!
Great video - good to see Master Hubnut taking genuine interest; not so much of that about wiv today's yoof.
At 20:45 "Can we, erm please, just sell it with no alternater" BRILLIANT!
The tensioner nut is 24mm. Weld the ring of a 24mm spanner onto a long flat bit of metal, the ring will need grinding down as it is too thick. Removing tension is then easy.
I should have watched your video before doing the job myself, I may have saved myself a lot of effort and money. Thanks for the video
Congratulations on your restraint Ian. Without the presence of junior HubNut, I'm sure the air would've had a distinct blueish hue. As Haynes would say, replacement is simply a reversal of removal. Simple!
Ian, you are a braver man than I. It did occur to me at around the 7:00 minute mark that maybe the best access is bumper and radiator out. A bit excessive perhaps but would only add time and not time+frustration. All the best, good to see you have willing helpers as well!
If there was an Olympic sport for throwing spanners around i would win Gold every time
I'm pretty familiar with the rover 75 diesel having done most of the common failure items in my 4 years of ownership. I too have tackled the alternator and succeeded be it by a different method.
These cars are great to drive and own once the issues are ironed out, truly the last of the true diyable cars before electrical failures started killing off home mechanicing. Stick with it hub nut.
It makes removing the rear suspension and back axle in order to take the gearbox out of a pre-war Ford 8 or 10 seem almost sensible. The relief when you tossed that alternator across the yard must've been immense.
I like it ,you needed a bigger place, you got one and filled it with cars.
Yes. And now I need a bigger one. It's the circle of shite...
The best sort of education for kids , getting their hands dirty under a bonnet, skills for life
At least he knows now not to buy a rover 75 as first car
Wonderful. You and mini-HubNut are a real life Wallace & Gromit! :-)
Always found the 75 a awkward old thing to work on, had 3 over the years don't miss having to work on them one bit !
Ian now that miss hubnut is going to be joining you full time ,something tells me your unit is going to be a lot more organised 👍😀
I'm glad the professionals have problems and its not just me.
Hi Ian,omg what a pig of a job, I would have definitely sent that Kobe to a garage,I congratulate you for even taking it on, nice to see the young hublet getting involved too looks like you have two new assistant,I can't wait for the next installment (this is griping) best of luck with it..
Good man Mr Hubnut teaching little Hubnut some mechanics, should make it part of the school course work. Wish I could get my son or daughter into cars but my wee boys into his trains, suppose it a got wheels a diesel engine 🚂 good times.
more money in railway engineering than car mechanics.
Egads! What a palaver to get the alternator out! Having to remove the power steering pump, an engine mount, and jacking up one side of the engine just to extract the alternator is a major design flaw. I would love to sentence the designer who came up with that scheme to an eternity of changing alternators on rovers.
I replaced an alternator on a Cortina when I was a lad and it took me half an hour - those were the days.
Helga, my '94 Volvo 940 has been gently tuned to 247bhp sans a turbo. Every so often, I watch an old, German review from I believe 1991 on the four door variant of her to find the reviewer complaining about the masses of wasted space around the engine. My 8V, four cylinder, 30 year old Swedish brick has 247 naturally aspirated horses. All massaged by my rebuilding the engine bit by bit by removing the old radiator and standing in the engine bay. (I had a Ford Focus in college that was like inseminating a cow to work on and I do in some way remember your pain here ;)