Car dies overnight, possibly alternator??

[eventoday]

Hi,

I have 01 outback. It has 220k miles. Recently while driving my battery, abs, and brake light came on. Within a minute they went off but the ABS light would turn on when I pushed the gas pedal and off when not pushed.

Now I have had those 3 lights turn on, on another subaru and 20 minutes later the car died and the alternator had died. So I took the car to autozone and they tested the altenator. They said it was good. I noticed it showed 12.6 amps.

 

I dorve the car for 2 days with the ABS light coming on and off. Then yester morning the car had no power. I didn't leave anything on. I jumped the car when I got back from work. I drove it for about an hour and no problems.

When I returend home I turned it off and started it an hour later with no problems.

 

This morning dead.

Also the battery is new within 4 months.

 

any ideas?

 

thanks

Jake

[Durania]

My money is on the alternator, those things can be finnicky when they are on their way out.

[edrach]

I'm with Durania also. By the way, 12.6 amps makes no sense. Your alternator should be capable of over 60 amps of output. But 12.6 volts indicates that the alternator is bad also; should be over 13 volts output. My Impreza shows 13.6 volts once it gets off idle and my Forester is at 14.1. Looks like an alternator problem to me; make sure the belt is sufficiently tight also. Lastly, get your battery on a charger; a discharged battery will deteriorate rapidly no matter how new it is.

[eventoday]

Im sorry I meant volts.

The guy at autozone said 12.6 was alright but I thought it was low.

Why would there be no battery in the morning though. It seems like the alternator is doing enough to keep the car running?

why would the battery discharge?

 

just a thought before I go spend a $160.

 

thanks again

Jake

[Blacky]

Could be the new battery is defective, have it checked.

[Rooster2]

Could well be a bad cell in the battery. I had that once. Car would start, but gauges gave crazy read outs, and warning lights kept going off, and the car ran poorly. All because of low battery voltage.

 

Alternator should have an output of 14V, not a paltry 12.6V. Suggest getting both alternator and battery checked out. Maybe find a smarter guy at AZ, who knows that a12.6V read out is not good.

[johnceggleston]

if the alt is not doing it's job the car runs off of the battery.

 

i have also heard that a bad alt can kill even a new battery.

[eventoday]

So I took the battery in to get tested. They said it was bad. So they gave me a new one under warranty. I put it in and the battery, brake and ABS lights came on right away. They seem to come on and off now. I checked all my connections and they are tight.

 

ALternator?

[Durania]

ALternator?

 

Yes.

[eventoday]

Ok,

So I just went to a different auto parts sotre and had my alternator checked.

This time it was reading 15.6v.

They said the altenator is fine.

 

Could this be some connection issue or a bad ground?

 

thanks

Jake

[frag]

Ok,

So I just went to a different auto parts sotre and had my alternator checked.

This time it was reading 15.6v.

They said the altenator is fine.

 

Could this be some connection issue or a bad ground?

 

thanks

Jake

 

I'm no alternator expert but I strongly beleive that 15,6 volt is too much.

Something's wrong with your alt cause it's sometimes reading low and sometime reading high.

I think it's time you buy a digital multimeter (cheap) and do a series of tests. Just connect the meter's leads at the battery posts when the alt is charging. Look for something closer to 14 volts.

[Durania]

How about just going ahead and replacing it? That way it doesn't kick the bucket on you 70 miles from home and end up paying the tow bill on top of a new alternator.

[Fairtax4me]

The alternator is bad. It wouldn't hurt to double check the cables and terminals for corrosion. If they're not shiny, clean them anyway.

[Blacky]

Was the new battery fully charged when you bought it? Often they aren't.

[edrach]

15.6 volts...bad regulator in your alternator. How much more information do you need? Stop going to AZ, obviously they're not hiring qualified people.

[eventoday]

Thanks everybody I appreciate it.

 

I put a new alternator in.

No problems now everything works good.

 

jake

[edrach]

Thanks everybody I appreciate it.

 

I put a new alternator in.

No problems now everything works good.

 

jake

Glad everything is working for you. My apologies for my "less than tactful" last post.

[lewisd]

just curious but are Subies finicky when it comes to alternators or will non-oe work as well?

[Durania]

I put an auto zone reman one on my Brat when it died after work one day. Of course I didn't have much of a choice. I do try and stick to OEM on most items simply because there is a large difference in quality.

[edrach]

I get most of my alternators from the pull a part yard. Bearings are easy to check before I pull it, then I install it in my car and if it checks good electrically I leave in my car and put my original one on the shelf as my spare. Occasionally, I will take one of my spares/cores to a local rebuilder who I trust. Either way I always have a spare on the shelf. I don't plan on spending $125+ for a rebuild from AZ or Schmucks.

[Olnick]

^ Amen, Brother! (And thanks, Ed.)

[lewisd]

good advice, thanks!

[destey]

I'm seeing a lot of people interchanging the words amps and volts.

[OB99W]

I'm seeing a lot of people interchanging the words amps and volts.

Watt?

 

If the word ''Toyota'' doesn't scare you, there are a lot of excellent articles on automotive basics, including electrical topics, at http://www.autoshop101.com/ . Click on ''Technical Articles'' in the left column, and then on the article of interest on the page that links to.