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Yes - I thought it wouldn't be too expensive a job when the alternator failed last week on my Fiesta 1.4Tdci, but I couldn't afford a labour bill as well as £110 for a new alternator, so I set to doing it in my back yard. Headlamp out, jack up, wheel off, cover off serpentine belt, belt off, alternator bolts out and alternator off its brackets.
OK, that was the easy bit. Getting the alternator out of the engine bay took another day's work! That's where your labour costs come in. I had to tap my local garagiste, Oily Mick, for advice about taking pipes off the power steering pump, followed by removing various bolts, taking the heat shield off the exhaust manifold, bending the dip-stick pipe back to the manifold, and finally getting my angle-grinder out and cutting a chunk out of the plastic engine cross-member before the alternator could be wiggled out. Horrendous job. Oily Mick agreed with me and says he doesn't like doing them. And of course, his customer wouldn't be happy to find a chunk had been cut out of his cross-member, so Mick would have to take the power steering pump off completely, but that doesn't help much because the pump bracket is still in the way!
On Mick's advice, I've taken the alternator to a firm in Bury where the helpful Simon will strip it and see if it's repairable at a lower cost than an exchange unit.
Putt it back in 'should' be easier!
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