Alternator replaced on 2004 E320

[Shacks]

On Sunday the alternator on my 2004 E320 CDI died, so on Monday I started having a go at removing it. The car is a straight 6, 3.2 diesel and the alternator is not water cooled. Everything that I have read says that the alternator comes out from underneath the car but there was no way that on my car this was going to happen. I had removed all the pipe work in the area but it was the chassis of the car that was stopping it from coming out. I tried all angles to get the alternator out, without any luck.
I then decided to have a go at taking it out from above. I drained the cooling system, removed the pipes from the water pump and removed the electric fan assembly from the radiator. The alternator then came out quite easily. As the water pump is quite accessible now, I checked it for play and decided that it needed replacing.
I had the alternator repaired at a local repairer who fitted a new regulator, got a new water pump, drive belt and anti freeze from Euro Car Spares. Before fitting the alternator I removed the old water pump and the alternator was now very easy to fit. Then fitted the new water pump, belt and anti freeze and now my car is back on the road. All done for £120. The only issue I have now is that the car is displaying "ESP Fault" which I have read is due to having had the battery disconnected for the last 2 days and that I need to turn the steering wheel from lock to lock to calibrate it.
I hope my little saga is of help to anybody that needs to replace the alternator on their E320.

 

[duncanh]

Interesting that I had exactly the same problem with the W203 C220cdi.

Both Haynes and WIS told me to remove the anti-roll bar and remove the water cooled alternator from below. Once I had everything disconnected, I spent about 40 minutes trying to get it out. It kept snagging on the front subframe (even with the power-steering pipes relocated). I got it out with no trouble from above with the cooling hoses removed (fan assembly was not removed).

I can't understand why we are told to remove it from below, it appears to only come out from above.

 

[gandalf]

How long did the job take? and what is the difference between a water cooled alternator and one which is not. what the difference in price. My alternator ned replacing and the model; is e3201reg 2005. how do I tell whererth it is water cooled or not, indeed does it make any difference/