Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'alternator'.
-
Friends, I have a '93 Legacy wagon with 230k. In early February I swapped my failing alternator with the '96 reman (see http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/142320-weird-electrical-pulsing-93-legacy-wagon/ for details). Yesterday, I was driving home from work, and I could tell something was very goofy with the electrical system (started funny, delay/loss of power in acceleration, blinkers sounded weird). When I got home and shut off the engine, it would not restart - won't even turn over at all. This is the exact behavior I had recently when a squirrel chewed through my alternator wire - which I repaired. My assumption, therefore, was that my splice had come loose somehow, or some other wiring issue. The two-wire connector is just fine...reading a little under 12V to the battery and also impedance is 0 to the battery. So that's not it. However, the big two-wire socket connector on the top - weird stuff there. I just put this in a few months ago, and the nut and bolt are super corroded. I removed the nut and found that it had partially fused with the bolt - both are screwed up and I cannot get the nut to tighten down anymore. Appears the bolt may have to be replaced...if that's even possible...I'm going to get a free AAA tow to my mechanic on Monday morning. The big question is: what would cause rapid corrosion and metal fusing on that connector?? Could it be related somehow to using a different alt than spec? A sign of a different electrical problem? Also, could this possibly have anything to do with my latest squirrel problem? (see http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/146230-93-legacy-code-21-coolant-temperature-sensor/) (I have since added split tubing to EVERY exposed wire under the hood. Sigh.) THANKS!!! -
I have a 2006 Outback that recently had alternator problems. I have had the alternator rebuilt (the regulator was bad) and re-installed it. All of my issues have been corrected with the following exceptions. 1) my high beams do not work, either pushing the switch forward or just trying to flash them 2) my fog lamps do not work, when you turn the switch to turn them on the high beam indicator on the dash illuminates but the lamps do not come on. The headlights and running lights work fine. My first Subaru, love the car but it is turning into a money pit. Thanks for all help and suggestions. -
I've got a 97 Legacy Outback that needs an alternator, and I just so happened to have an Extra 92 Legacy Alternator. The positive plug ins are different but everything else matches up so I'm going out on a limb and assuming the 92 Alternator will work for the 97. Is there a way to make these plugs compatible? -
Different ways you might notice you have a failing/failed alternator 1st case of alternator failure: My '93 Legacy L Wagon was having trouble keeping a charge in the 5-year old battery. I took the car to a national chain parts store for a battery test. It showed "excessive ripple" but the guy who did the test did not know how strongly that condition suggests an alternator problem, and I didn't know anything about excessive ripple either. I figured it was time to replace the battery anyway. After installing the new battery I took a 70 mile round trip with the AC & headlights on. After returning home and re-starting the car and driving a few blocks, it suddenly lost all electrics - no spark, accesories, etc. I got a jump start and the car limped the 4 blocks home with all accessories turned off, just running the spark plugs with the last juice left in the battery. I replaced the original 18-year-old alternator and all was well. I believe the new remanufactured alternator I purchased was a Beck/Arnley. Checking around the forums I learned that excessive ripple might be a sign of a failing alternator. There are several diodes in the alternator, and if 1 fails, the alternator still charges the battery, but has lost a third of it's charging ability. Successive diode failure prevents the alternator from keeping even a partial charge in the battery. Does that sound correct? Anyway, I had no warning from dash lights in that failure, just low charge to the battery. 2nd case of alternator failure: Fast forward 18 months, same car. Driving across town I heard the radio cutting on and off, engine stumbling, and aggravated by use of turn signals. I was near an auto shop and my car limped into their parking lot where it stalled, and would not turn over. Right away they suspected the alternator. I didn't think this was an automatic diagnosis because the alternator was only 18 months old. I was thinking it must be some serious problem, but they were right, it was the alternator. Unfortunately, the alternator I had a friend install was from a reputable locally owned auto parts store, but the warranty was only 1 year for walk-in trade vs. longer for their commercial customers (auto repair shops.) The mechanic where my car stalled called around to find an alternator in stock. The only place was OReilly. They delivered one within the hour and I was on the road again. 3rd case of alternator failure: About 3 weeks after having the OReilly re-manufactured alternator installed, I saw the battery and brake lights coming on at the same time. This would happen intermittently over a period of a couple of days before I searched the web and learned this is possibly symptomatic of a bad rectifier in the alternator. I took the car to the same shop on a Friday afternoon, replacement alternator to be installed Monday. The owner even gave me his card with his cell number, saying if the car broke down over the weekend I should call him because the warranty would cover towing to his shop. I used my charger to keep the battery charged until my shop appointment. The alternator was still under OReilly's full warranty covering parts and labor. I wasn't sure I even wanted another re-manufactured alternator after all this, so I stopped at the Subaru dealer to see about the alternator recall I read about. The parts man was not aware of the recall, but further reading tells me the recall did not apply to '93 models, so maybe that's why nothing showed up for recalls. I asked what an OEM new alternator would cost, and I believe the price he quoted me was over $400. Well I thought I was out of the woods once the 3rd aftermarket alternator was installed, but a few miles after the installation, I lost power steering, and again the battery warning light came on. I drove right back to the shop before even popping the hood. When I got there and looked inside, the belt tensioner bolt had snapped off. They fixed that, but later, when I looked at how the tensioning system works, I suspect they had tensioned the belt with the long tensioner bolt and then failed to clamp down the tensioner, so all of the force was on the long threaded belt tensioner bolt. I'm at the point where I feel like I should just carry a a spare alternator in the car to be ready for the next failure. I hope this helps anyone who is having any of these alternator symptoms in their Subarus, and this is just my personal experience - I'm by no means a mechanic or car enthusiast, just an average owner who loves my Subaru, so check with someone knowledgeable before you go by what I've suggested. -
I was driving our 98 Subaru Outback when I first drove I noticed the rpm and speedometer needles were going crazy. We entered the high way and the car started to run very rough, At this point the radio died, the RPM and speedometer stopped working, as well as the air conditioner. Before we could pull over the car was not long getting gas and the motor cut off. Once we were pulled over the car was very sluggish to start at first, would run for a few minutes before everything would start to give out and not work. After about three attempts to start the car it would no longer turn over. Just the starter clicking, The dealership ( FORD) we broke down in front of told me it was an electrical issue and would be very expensive. I called a Subaru dealership and they said alternator, I can do the alternator myself. I just need some thoughts.
-
Last year I posted on here about my brake and battery light flashing on my dash on my '02 Outback. Everyone said it was my alternator. I took it to a shop and they confirmed and said my battery was bad too. So, they installed a new battery and alternator for about $600. Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago, my brake and battery light come on again, but don't flash. They just stay on. I decided it might be a fluke and just continue driving it. Nothing seemed wrong. Now, fast-forward to yesterday. I was driving from an appointment that was in a town about an hour away. I noticed something was wrong when I put the car in first gear and the radio shut off. I continued driving and notice my spedometer stopped working, basically everything stopped working. I was still able to drive about 15 miles close to home until my powersteering went out and I lucky pulled into an offroad. I looked under the hood to see what was wrong and found this: Any idea what could cause this to happen? This is the positive wire that connects to the back of the alternator. It appears to come from under the fuse relay box near the battery. It completely got fried off! So my questions are: 1) What could cause this to happen? 2) Does anyone have walk-through on how to install a new alternator. 3) What brand of alternator is the best? Should I get a re-manufactured or new one? -
So my Brat has always had pretty weak headlights, but lately they have been downright unreliable. My car runs completely fine, but when I go to turn the lights on at night, my headlights flicker off. When they turn off, I also hear a strange electrical sound (sounds like a servo or something like that). It doesn't happen every single time that I try to run my headlights, but pretty close. I don't think it's the battery, and I already took my alternator out and had it tested, but it passed the test just fine at O'Reilly's. Could it only be bad wiring that is doing this, or does anybody have any other ideas of what the problem might be? p.s. The right headlight shines weaker than the left. I don't know if that is significant or not.
-
so i was on a road trip and while on the highway my battery light came on and i noticed a difference in my power steering. i pulled over to check it out and both belts for the alternator and powersteering had fallen off the "pully" that links the 2. i noticed that it was just loose so i got the belts back on and tightend it back up but now if i start the car the belts dont move but the bult itself just re-unthreads to make the pully loose again..... i need help on this one! -
I've picked up a longblock 3.0r minus the A/C and alternator. Does anyone know what units I can use? Does it have to be factory, and for that specific engine? or could I potentially find something cheaper (maybe older) that would do the same job? Any help would be greatly appreciated! -
The question says it all. I was having alternator problems, so I got a new one. It simultaneously killed my battery, so I got a new one, too. But my e-brake and battery lights are on and blink simultaneously from time to time, even going off for periods of time. I'm a complete n00b to the forum, but even though I could find people with the light problem, nobody has had the issue after just replacing the alternator and battery as far as I could tell. I have no issues starting the car, dimming lights, etc, like I did when the alternator went bad before. Any hints or tips? Thanks guys! -
Well I had to put a new alt in my subie the other day and I had a few alternators sitting on a shelf so I decide to see if I could make one work. The one that fit the best came out of a 95 impreza it is very similar to the maxima alternator. Here is some pics I forgot to take pics of the new alt before modification so here is a couple I got from google New alt installed but not wired Old alt had a double pully on it and it turns out that all the parts needed are in the old alt. first thing you need to do is swap the pullys. On the old alt I held the pully with a strap wrench to break it loose, but on the impreza alt I had to hold the pully in a vise to get it off (good thing we don't need that ). The impreza alt has a built in spacer but I found the old alt had just the perfect size spacer on it, so I used it. Then the final thing you have to do to the alt is un bolt the plastic peice on the back that connects to the batt post so the batt post sticks straight out. I had to make an insulater so I took the the one off of the old alt and drilled it out to the size of the post on the new alt. it worked perfectly I did have to use one extra washer but that's easy. Now it will bolt right in the connections are similar to the maxima alt. so you can use the original wiring if you want but I liked having the original plug so I used it. I wired it into a externals voltage regulated subie so my wiring is differant than yours will be. Here is a pic of mine after I wired it The large white wire is the sense wire and it needs to be connected to 12v constant and the easiest way to do that is to run it straight off the wire that runs to the batt post. The other wire needs to be connected to the charge light so I had to run it around to the old Voltage regulator harness and connect it to the the charge light wire wich is white with red trace. On a internally regulated subie you should be able to use the same wires that went to the old alt. just make sure the small wire is going to the charge light and the the large white wire is going to 12v constant. Here is a better explanation of the sense wire and how it should be connected thanks to ferox Okay this alt can be found in subaru imprezas from 93-96 1.8&2.2 and that is the only models or years I can find the same alt in.
