Alternator mount replacement and torque specs?

[Maybe Magpie]

Hi all,

Over time my alternator had a bolt come loose and it caused this godawful squealing as the alternator belt was running a little out of whack. While it's been replaced with a fresh belt (the old one had some rubbing wear) and tightened back up with a bit of loctite as a temporary measure it slightly rounded out one of the bolt holes while it was running loose. I'm going to ask a local shop if they can help me out by fixing it with a helicoil, but if that's not viable I've found the part number for the mount itself (32411264642) and I've found a few used-but-serviceable ones on ebay and the like I could snag and install myself. However, after consulting my Bentley and factory service manuals, nothing seems to list proper steps and specs for replacing the mount on the block itself, rather than the alternator proper. I also searched around the web and these boards but it all seems to be about alternator-itself fixes. Obviously I'll have to pop the alternator off first and put it back on when I'm done, but aside from that I'm not sure what I'm in for. If I can get the old one off and new one on I don't want to ugga-dugga overtorque it or anything, so I was hoping somebody might have specs or advice what my best bet is to properly replace this mount is or if there's anything I should be careful of. Is it just the one bolt like the diagram makes it look like?

Pic attached of the factory diagram image, part no. 1 on this. It's a 1988 325is.

Thanks in advance!

[e30davie]

I'm not exactly sure what you are on about but you appear to be over thinking things i think. What bolt hole has stripped out? The bolts that hold it onto the block are quite small, item Forum in your diagram (m10 or m12) and just need to be tight, not torqued or anything.

[Maybe Magpie]

I'm not exactly sure what you are on about but you appear to be over thinking things i think. What bolt hole has stripped out? The bolts that hold it onto the block are quite small, item Forum in your diagram (m10 or m12) and just need to be tight, not torqued or anything.

You're probably right that I'm overthinking it, I'm just used to working on firearms where even fiddly little bits have specified torque values. The hole rounded out, not stripped out - as in force applied to it when loose by the spinning pulley tugging on the alternator made the bolt hole sorta oval even if the threads are still largely there (one of the holes on the mount that the alternator bolts to, one of the no. 5 ones on that diagram). Because of that the bolt doesn't want to stay entirely properly in place due to engine vibrations and the force imparted by keeping the alternator in place, the loctite was a temp measure until a more permanent repair can be made. The boltholes that mount to the block are fine as far as I can tell. I'm hoping the rounded-out hole can be fixed with a helicoil but wanted a backup plan in case it couldn't.

Thanks for the reply!