I have a 240 DL and heard a rattling under the hood when I got to work. I quickly found my alternator pulley nut was missing and the plates between the pulley wheel and the alternator housing where clanking around. I called my local autozone and napa and nobody has a clue how to figure out what size nut I need. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

what year 240? they made those cars for 20 years, with a steady stream of small engineering improvements.

 

Well, think about it! How would anyone have a clue? I have a bin full of loose nuts and bolts, I dig through there in cases like this. If you don't, eyeball the size and go to Ace or another hardware store and get a nut that fits--there shouldn't be anything special about it.

 

I picked a random year (1990 240) and VADIS shows two different alternators with different hardware on the shaft.

 

Call the dealer.

Call an automotive electrical rebuilder.

Measure the shaft with a metric caliper.

 

Hey guys, the year is an 87. Its a left handed nut and I called around and nobody carries anything they think might work. My local Volvo dealership could only point me towards an alternator repair kit that the guy was pretty sure it has the nut I'm looking for in it but its almost $40. Thanks everyone for the input so far!

 

Call some salvage yards and price an alternator. You might be able to get a good used alternator connected to that nut for $40

I'd rather have a used nut and a spare alternator than a new nut on my used alternator.

 

or visit some pik-n-pulls with a big enough wrench to get that bugger off a wreck.

same alternators are used on most any later 240, 740, 940... and probably a fair number of VW, BMW, etc from the same era.

the repair kit 273503 consists of the nut, the washer between it and the pulley, the washer between the fan and the bearing, and the 'key' that fits on the shaft which keeps the fan and pulley from spinning.