15 replies to this topic

[Fairtax4me]

98 (I think) Forester 2.5 automagic, belongs to a friend of mine's sister.
She says bettery light came on, then car wouldn't start the next day. Dad put battery in, now car starts but battery and brake lights still on, after driving to work and back home car idles funny and then wont start again next morning. Told her she should have asked me first and I could have saved her $95 on a battery. :-p
But I digress...
To the point! How different is the Foz alternator than the 95-99 Legacy alternator that Subaru sells for $75 reman.? I'm thinking I can pick up the reman alt from the dealer and pop it on there, and have a better quality part than the "Worldwide" rebuilt turd from Advance auto for half the price.
Any hangups with that idea? Different mounting bracket? Wire connector? Pulley?

[mdjdc]

The forester and legacy alternators are different. The plugs don't match. I agree that the worldwide ones are crap and would rather go with a JY alternator. If you need one I have one in my stash. Let me know and I can send it your way.

Mike

[porcupine73]

I think the plugs probably are different. I think there's been some posts where people got the alternator and the plug from a scrap yard and then soldered it into the alt they wanted to use but I don't recall for sure.

The '96-'99 reman alts are cheap because there was a recall on them, something about the brushes and then not charging and could stall in traffic, so they probably needed a ton of them to satisfy the recall needs, thus making them less expensive and widely available.

[idosubaru]

are you sure *all* forester alternators are different? most foresters are the Phase II SOHC starting in 99, so those i would expect to be different. but there's that oneyear 1998 Forester that was Phase I DOHC engine and i would expect those to be the same.

folks have spliced in connectors to exchange alt's before but i've never done it.

[mdjdc]

It is definitely different. The forester is on the iimpreza format. I actually had a run in with one of these and thought one that I had would work. That is how I found out.

[idosubaru]

It is definitely different.

sweet thanks M., good to know. so forester/imp alt's are the same?

[Fairtax4me]

Thanks for the info Mike. I'll take you up on that offer. I'm going to be in Richmond Sunday morning fairly early so maybe we can meet up. How much $$ do you want for the alternator?

[mdjdc]

Make me an offer. My number is 804-393-0516

[Fairtax4me]

Ok, Found out her car is a 99. Apparently 98 and 99 alternators are different. The 98 has 2 wire plug, the 99 has 3 wire plug. Is the alt you have a 3 pin or 2 pin?
I'm going to look at the car Saturday evening and see exactly what it has.

[mdjdc]

I am pretty sure that I have both. Let me look during lunch today and I will let you know.

[Fairtax4me]

With my luck you'll have the one I can't use. :-p

[mdjdc]

I went and looked and the ones I have have a rectangular plug and it looks like the one for the 99 is more of an oval plug. I do have a donor car if you want the plug you can splice it in and retrofit the car. It is up to you. Just let me know or you can call me.

[Fairtax4me]

Alright, I'll have to look at it and get back to you.

[Fairtax4me]

Ok so it has the 3 pin "Oval" plug.
Found the ouput wire was loose, tightened it up to no avail. Still no charge.

I mounted a second gen legacy alternator just fine, so I know that it fits physically. If I can get a connector for it, it will work. I can use the $65 Subaru reman and she'll be good to go for the rest of the life of the car practically.
Would you happen to have a second gen Legacy parts car I could cut the alternator connector off of?

[Fairtax4me]

Connector worked perfect Mike! I owe you one.

All the lights on the dash are out, so it seems to be working. Now to figure out the oil leak, and the coolant leak. She didn't say anything about it leaking coolant but I could see the splatter of dried coolant all over the radiator and timing cover. Probably needs some Subaru Coolant Conditioner.

[mdjdc]

Glad to help out another subie guy.