Mendodave Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Hi all, with this collective intellgence regarding subarus, i outa be able to get an answer.... I have an '84 GL Wagon, the old PKmobile... It has a new rebuilt alternator, and new battery. after the rebuilt alt went in, my charging problem went away, and my volt gauge read 13.5 or so volts all the time, regardless of electrical things being used. after the new battery went in, it was the same. Now, about 2-3 months later, it is doing weird things. Sometimes the volt gauge reads 13.5v, sometimes 8v, sometimes 10v. If I hook a multimeter to the battery, it is reporting 14 volts. The battery never gets discharged, so the charging system is apparently working. When I turn the key to acc and all gauges have power, the volt gauge reads 8v. Sometimes while driving it jumps to 13.5v, and back again. My question is: Were is the most likely place for a bad ground, or short? I remember reading about a wire under the seat, passenger or driver I don't recall, that people have said gets worn. The backup light switch wire was grounding, that is fixed. Any ideas? Besides living with it, I mean! thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted October 16, 2003 Share Posted October 16, 2003 I can think of a couple of places to look for a problem. From the sounds of it you have a bad power connection somewhere. I would first look at the smaller wire coming from the positive battery post that feeds the all the accessories of the car. There may be internal corrosion in the wire. Another place to look at is the fuselinks. These should be in a small box near the battery. The fuselinks can become loose in the connectors. If these areas are ok then I would check the wiring that is tied to the voltmeter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subynut Posted October 16, 2003 Share Posted October 16, 2003 Check the fuse links themselves, too. My car was doing similar things except that it was load dependent. More accecories on, the lower it would drop. Found out the fuseable link itself was going. Couldn't find any new ones, so I built a new electrical sub-system to power the high current devices. Solved most of the problems. Only drops a little below the 12v mark now (in-dash guage). Batt voltage runs around 14v. High current devices include: Headlights Driving lights Fog light Wanna Be Fog lights Electric cooling fans Stereo To be added: Rear defrost Fan motor (inside) Prefribly the running lights and dash lights also The fun part? finding the ground returns!:-\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted October 16, 2003 Share Posted October 16, 2003 Dave good suggs so far. Couple other items to check. The spade connector where the main fusible link connects (closest to the strut tower or furthest from the bat) heat can melt plastic around it and make the female loose it's tension) Replacement links are available from Subaru BTW. New one with fresh female connectors are better than boneyard models IMHO Another source of problems is with the main connector to the ignition switch. Under the trim panel beneith the st. col is a pink connector, check it for signs of heat fatige and melting. hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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