Dallasej25

Marked the crank pulley and ran car a few min. Acelleratin a bit. I have no voltmeter to check for voltage drops. But i figured i could check the grounds by hooking up a wire from the alt. case to the -battery post. No change. I jumped the +output post from the alt. To the +battery post. No change the lights are still on. The ONLY thing i believe could be wrong is the exiter wire towards the alt. I put a screwdriver on the back of the alt with engine running and nothing. The alt isnt getting exited. Thats why jumping a cable to the possitive batt terminal did not work. I wonder if someone can tell me how to jump or bypass the two wires on the alt connection... thanks.

Ok. Battery is still good. Car has been starting n running on pure battery power so far.. I did the crank pulley test. Passed.

It's a 4 cyl. Im 99% sure i have the right part. I compared the two alts at the store. Has a two pin connection. Thou there is that slight 1% that tells me something isnt right..

Hi everyone, sorry to wake up an old thread, but i'm in the middle of the same problem. Literally. i have a 01 outback automatic. Two days ago while driving home from work batt and brake light appeared simultaneously. I made it home just fine and the next morning the car seemed weak while starting. (Low voltage). I drove to work and 30 min. later gauges went crazy, radio was on and off, and every time i stepped on the brakes the car made all kinds of racket, sputtered until finally died at a parking lot and left it there. After work we jumped it and it started just fine. Batt. Light and brake light still on. Drove four seconds and it died again. Scratching our heads went to my buddys house and grabbed a charged battery so i could make it home. Today on that same battery, my wife drove to the grocery store 3 miles away from our house, she said it died at the stop sign but started right back up. So, thinking it was a bad alt not charging the batt. drove straight to the parts store to pick up a NEW alt. Not reman, but new. Took me longer to find the right size sockets i needed than it did to change the alternator. Ok now, new alt on crank up the car and starts right up. Idiot lights vanish like magic.... wait!!. 20 seconds later they are BACK ON!! NOOO!!! filled with frustration i shut it off closed the hood and came inside the house. Decided to do a little more research before touching anything else on the car. Reading jdemaris post im really hoping i have the same problem, bad grounds.. i will take a look tomorrow morning and post results.