Jeff Belozer

Hey gang, just working on replacing the alternator in my wife's 2013 RDX. All is well except the actual removal of the alternator from the car. All connections have been removed, but I just can'tget it out! If anyone has done this before on this generation RDX, what all did you have to remove to get the alt out? I've removed the coolant reservoir and bracket thus far. Any insight will help. Thanks in advance.

Jeff Belozer

There doesn't seem to be enough room between the front of the engine and the body/frame of the car for the alternator to fit through. Nor does there look to be enough room between the engine/radiator/fan assembly due to the structure of the front grill support. Does it come out through the bottom? Remove the a/c compressor too? Anyone?

thoiboi

remove the fan and shroud

Alkir1983

Hi guys, I removed the generator myself , to remove it you need to completely unscrew the engine support, unscrew the air conditioner compressor and the compressor tube also unscrewed , I also unscrewed the plastic timing cover, and only then put the jack under the engine and raised it a little, only after that I was able to get the generator.

hhillmk3

Finished replacing the alternator on the wife's 2013 RDX yesterday ...videos are essentially non existent for this car except for one...which tells you what to remove but no explanation how the alternator comes out ...I removed the motor mount, coolant bottle and bracket , ECM was loose and also loosened the ac lines and also had the tensioner locked back with an Allen key...also had the engine supported and lifted a little with a jack... Through aggressive negotiations I got the alternator out (flipping it around and pulling ) ..from reading people said to go with the fan removal so I started to try and go that route but space is a serious issue without taking apart the front end and there was no space from top or bottom to get my hand in to unplug the fan...upon install it was fighting to go back in, my father in law suggested the night previously to remove the tensioner to get it out, I decided to try that suggestion during install. So with the engine raised a little and the tensioner removed the alternator fell right into place. When I have to replace it again I'll prob try to just take the ecm loose and take the tensioner off and coolant bottle and it may be enough to get it out and in ...hope this helps someone

silentsam007

Thanks! I followed the steps described above and got the alternator out without removing the fan assembly. I had trouble at first getting the alternator out just like everyone else but the key seems to be to get one bolt hole over the pulley wheel and then slide the other one around the AC line. I loosened the bolts for the AC line at the top and bottom. This gave it enough wiggle room to pop the alternator out. I think the removal process flexed the AC line a bit which gave it enough room to put the new alternator in without any problems. The two youtube videos below gave me enough tips and tricks to get the job done. I didn't have a serpentine wrench to move the pulley backward, so I used a 14 mm wrench and other wrench on top of the crescent part to push the tensioner back and locked in with the Allen key. I also removed the top timing belt cover to give me more room. Took about 2.5 hours to remove and another 1.5 hours to reassemble everything. I was at the point of getting frustrated when I was doing the removal of the alternator but I took a break and came back and it came out within 10 minutes after I had time to reset and think about the best way to extract the alternator. Once you get one bolt hole over the pulley wheel the other side will slide over the AC line with some gentle persuasion.

inmydream316

I need to do this on my 16 rdx since i got Battery sign on. (already replaced it with new battery first and my alternator is bad)
when i looked at factory service manual, it says remove tensioner then remove fans also but this is too much!
i will take your suggestion for loosing ECM brackets, tensioner off and coolant bottle to take it out.

I will tackle this and try to make video for everyone in January 2023 since Ordered Alternator (OEM) will come in first week of January 2023

Thanks

inmydream316

any torque spec on auto tensioner and alternator?

TheSauceBoss

For the alternator:

The two upper bolts (one including the harness bracket) are 16 ft/lbs

The lower, longer bolt is 33 ft/lbs

For the tensioner, I don't exactly know, but for other J series engines like the TL and Odyssey, I would imagine it's the same as though since all of these tensioners are pretty much identical. The TL specs coincidentally show 16 ft/lbs for the small bolt and 33 ft/lbs for the larger one in the pulley. Good luck!

inmydream316

I already looked this pdf but doesnt much help on removing auto-tensioner but should be 2 bolts to remove free.
i am just going to try remove alternator without removing anything then tackle one by one.

altair47

Mitchell's book doesn't say to remove the tensioner.

inmydream316

book says remove. Re read​​​​​​​3. Drive Belt Auto-Tensioner - Remove

altair47

Am I blind? It doesn’t say that you need to remove the tensioner

inmydream316

Pdf you attached is different than you posted. Attached pdf shows remove auto tensioner. I have 2016 rdx. Is 2016 vs older model have different maybe?

altair47

You are right, Honda for some reason changed the design of attachments on the same engine

inmydream316

Auto tensioner part also different than 2013-2015. i looked for parts and it looks different.