potter2010

Before I say anything else I want to say thank you everyone for all the help. It's really appreciated and I'm learning quite a bit. I'm slowly increasing past the 'oil-change' level. This is my first car and hopefully I can keep it going for at least a few more years! Back to the matter at hand. I'm in the market now for an alternator, either online or from a shop. I hooked the car back up to my battery tester today and obviously the volts were a little low but when I started the car to check the charging system which had read decent before it was barely made it onto the scale. It was very slowly increasing and when I revved the engine it would push the needle into the green but then drop back to red when it was idling. I'd definiety say the alternator is shot, expecially combining the ACV and this recent battery test. The neutral safety switch may be another matter but I figure I'll get the alternator installed and go from there seeing as the switch is going to cost me around $100 I figure but i'll have to check around on different sites. Thanks again and I'll post any new developments or how the alternator install goes.

I might agree with the suggestion that this is two different issues and that would explain some of the oddities. However, I am not an expert so I will bow to popular opinion. I performed Fairtax4me's test suggestion correctly this time (I hope!) and the readings are not good if I'm on the correct setting and all. Alternator is hooked up, - probe on - terminal of battery, + probe on alternator post. The car was running and the lights were turned on. Now Fairtax4me mentioned that it could be up to 10v and this is nearly three times that and certainly above the 0.5ACV that it should be below. I'm curious if I did something incorrectly since it is much higher than expected or if the alternator is REALLY malfunctioning. I'm happy to hear the opinions of those with more experience. Oh, I wanted to add if someone is questioning the wires coming off the battery terminals those go to a 1.5A trickle charger I picked up about a week ago. This was not plugged in/operating during the test, especially as the car was running at the time.

Ahhhh, I've been doing some reading previously about the safety switch and was wondering about that but I got side tracked with the battery/alternator as my possible issue but maybe there is two. There was no turning over, not even trying and that has happened before but I've been blaming it on the battery. When the car doesn't start it generally doesn't try to turn over, just nothing happens or on occassion a half second of it trying to turn over. As far as I can tell there was no clicking but it's hard to tell with the background noise. We move up North earlier this year and are currently live in an apartment building with outside parking so it's not that quiet but as far as I can hear there's no clicking. It is an automatic and on a couple occassions, especially before the situation got this bad, it would start if I shifted it to neutral. This only worked on two or three occassions so it might be a coincidence. Also the problem is been getting worse since the weather has gotten cold though that might be a coincidence as well. I'll have to search around and read more about the safety switch but if anyone has advice or resources I'd be happy to hear or be pointed in the correct direction. I'm interested to hear what Fairtax4me has to say about the voltage but if I did it correctly I'm guessing it's WAY off where it should be.

I just went to go see if the voltage dropped down when I turned the key and low and behold the car started. I'm kind of scratching my head at that one. The only thing that changed was the battery voltage was down slightly from my trying to start it several times earlier. Either way I took photos of my readings off the alternator as Fairtax4me mentioned. The multimeter is a pretty cheap one i'm using until my new one arrives in my mail so the accuracy may not be 100% but should be in the ballpark. I performed the test with the lights on and off. With the lights off I got 21.7 and with the lights on I got 21.6/5.

Oh to followup with Bushwick's suggestions, the dome and truck lights are turned off so unless they are shorting out nothing there and there is nothing plugged into the power outlet and nothing visible in there. The glove box latch is broken (thanks to -50c weather and plastic) but the light is off when the car is off. Everything seems to close well as the draw on the battery is only 0.02A when everything is off and closed but thank you for the suggestion and I'll look up the website. Thanks!

Well, new developments. Snow storm so I wasn't able to try right away what Fairtax4me mentioned and now the car won't start at all. The battery is good; charged it over night last night, took it off the charger this morning and left it off the car. This evening it was still coming up at just under 13v so it held a charge. I checked the continuity from the + terminal to the bolt on the starter and it was good so I'm not sure what is going on. The oil level is high so I'm wondering if the pressure is stopping it from starting (cranking either, no noise). However, back to the original problem. I can't check the alternator when the motor is running because the motor won't run but when I hooked up my multimetre (with the car off) between the bolt on the alternator and the cable from the battery it read 22 or 21.9 ACV depending on which ACV setting I used (750 and 200 respectively) which I'm very much thinking that should not be reading seeing as the engine is off. Possibly I found my power drain which makes me happy but others can confirm this as I'm learning as I go. Any thoughts or suggestions on either issue? Thank you again for all your help so far!

Thank you for the advice. I'll give it a try tomorrow night after work since it's dark already and starting to snow! I kind of hope that's it so I can just fix it and be done with it. Other than that I'm at a bit of a loss as to what is draining the battery. Cross you fingers!

I have a 2001 Subaru Legacy L Wagon with an infuriating battery issue. I'm sure more people will immediately say search the board there are lots of other topics relating to this but rest assured I have spent the day searching the board, as well as Google, reading and trying everything I'm able to. However, if I've missed something please feel free to post the link. Here's the background: purchased in the spring of this year with no problems. Since it started to get cold the last couple weeks it has had trouble starting and finally would not start. A couple of times I had gotten it started by shifting into neutral but this may have been a coincidence as it doesn't work anymore and doesn't jive with everything since then. Lights, dash, etc would turn on and were bright but no crank, no start, no click, no nothing. Had the battery tested and it was dead. After a charge it had 10% health and was quickly losing its charge. Bought a brand new battery and the car started instantly and worked great. Within two days I was in the same situation: lights bright but no start. Got the new battery checked and the health was 100% and held a charge. Car started great. Battery died again within two days. Obviously something is draining the battery. When the car is off the drain on the battery is only 0.02 amps, so well within the good range from what I understand. The alternator is kicking out nearly 15v when the car is started and the battery was near 13v when the car was off, following a full charge to the battery. I used the diode check function on my multimetre to check the indirectly test the diodes on the alternator. Long shot I know but I'm grasping at straws. With the main wire to the alternator disconnected, touched my one probe to the bolt where the wire connects and the other touching the casing. In one direction I got an infinite reading and the one direction I got 0.455. I repeated this a few times and got the some readings. I scratched into the metal for both to get a good reading. I'm not sure what the diodes in the alternator are rated for but I thought the readings might be low and if one or more are damaged they could possibly be draining the battery when the car is off even if the alternator is charging while the car is running. I'm read but at wit's end trying to figuire out what is draining the battery. Any help would be great!