HATCHY Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 I was driving this morning to work. everything has been fine with the car. Then all of a sudden. My lights started dimming to almost nothing. . So then it shut off. Battery is dead. I looked at my grounds there all good clean and tight. So what's next alternator. Upon inspection of alternator I noticed that the little rubber piece that goes over to protect the screw. Has been melted and the wires looked like it had gotten hot. Not the plastic plug but theother one in the back. . Is the symptoms of a bad alternator??. Car isvroken down on the side of the road. In brier. Please help. . 87 hatch ea81 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstaru Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 when wires start to burn up , it is some sort of short usually.trace back that wire, and replace it back to where the good wire is. the alt should be replaced just as a measure of good will to the car.then you can put a multi meter on it and start checking things out.cheers, b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 You have a poor connection at the junction where the melting and heat damage is located. Poor connection = resistance. Resistance = heat. Dead-head that wire, crimp on a new ring terminal, and insure you have a good tight connection with the alternator. You might need a new alternator if the heat damaged anything inside it. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Although it doesn't quite match your symptoms, make sure that the nut on the alternator output post (the one where the plastic melted) is tight. A loose connection there would cause higher resistance, and thus heat. The resulting symptoms would be more likely a gradual loss of electrical power, unless, of course, the heat toasted the regulator and/or diodes and caused thebatterry to dead-short through the alternator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 It only looked hot at the connection point. And that wore goes back into the harness somewhere. Getting.g so mad at this car. About ready to sell it. Ill check it out. This sucks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doobieryan Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Id buy it if i had the money. I've been wanting a hatch for a long time now. Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qman Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 It only looked hot at the connection point. And that wore goes back into the harness somewhere. Getting.g so mad at this car. About ready to sell it. Ill check it out. This sucks That is sort of like being mad at your shoe for the laces becoming untied... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 Hahaa. I put in over 700 bucks this month and it still is messing up. Not counting the 800 on engine 400 on Weber. and the new 4sp dual range transmission. And the new set of empis arriving.g next week. . Getting old. . That's all. Gremlins are messing.g with my car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 It's an operator error type of thing I'm sorry to say - If that connection was inspected, tight, and proper - chances are it would never have burnt up. That's simple lack of attention to detail. I have something like $750 into my '83 GL hatch and that's over the last 4 or 5 years. It has like 250k on it. I have done lots of little stuff - battery terminals, Maxima alternator upgrade, rebuilt used Weber, new oil pump and water pump, belt, valve adjustment and valve cover gasekts, clutch cable, new EMPI axles, rear disc brakes and new front pads/rotors, new ($37) stereo and speakers, used wheels/tires from u-pull-it.... etc. All that stuff was done pretty early on when I got the car (had been sitting for several years and neglected). Now it doesn't give me any trouble. Drive it all the time. It just seems like it's the quality of the work and the attention to detail that's giving you problems. Slow down and take your time - do some research. Do the job right the first time. These are very reliable cars but the mechanic has a lot to do with maintaining ANY older car being used in a daily-driver fashion. Trust me - you won't be any better off with another brand. The car is not the problem - don't blame it or your tools. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 Well three days ago it was fine so something happened within the three days. And trust me I take time fixing stuff. It just seems to be one tho g after a.other all of a sudden I've owned this hatch For 6 years and never ever had a problem with it until this month all hell is breaking g loose. And I do the routine maitnance needed. Im Not blaming anybody at all or anything. Just getting.g hard to keep dumping hundred dollar bills in a car worth 600 bucks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 I'm just saying that part of owning an older car like your hatch is going to involve some checking of connections and generally looking over stuff, tightening things, and noticing where corrosion is taking it's toll, etc. Even still - it's cheaper than a car payment and gets good mileage - your blessings are many. Even a couple thousand is cheap for 6 years of ownership. It's just catching up to you is all. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 Oh I know I feel ya. Its also hard Not having a shop to work in or at least a covered spot. Backyard mechanics setup. With a mudfloor. Drop a nut and its gone. . Its a great car. I wont argue with that. Slow and ugly but fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 (edited) So you hook your car up with all these goodies and give up over a bad wire? I guess that means the weber and 4spd are useless with a bad alternator wire. The wire leads to the fulsible link panel under the hood. Just run a new wire and be done. Why give up at the last possible thing to go wrong? Everything else is new or serviced, right? At least you didn't crash it. Edited January 29, 2011 by MilesFox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 Its something.g in the charging system. Battery light stays on as sports. As I take the jumper cables off it dies. What the hell... something in the charging system?? Put on new alty and a diffrwnt battery still happens. So weird. I don't want to sell it. Just frustrated speech. Habaaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 I put in a new battery And alternator. my battery light stays on. And the won't let any charge take place. Fire up no problem. As soon as the jumper cables come off. Car dies. I'm no electrical worker. But I'm fearing I have a bad electrical somewhere. Checked all grounds. Nothing I can see is bad. .. where to go next. Any suggestions. Ever had this issue before.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 What year is your hatch? Early (80 and 81) models had external voltage regulators. The fact that it dies with a brand new battery is very strange - it should run on the battery alone for a time. That it will run with jumper cables tells me the "new" battery hasn't got enough juice to do the job on it's own. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 The battery wasn't really new. It was just a donor battery. And she was half dead. But we had her hooked up on the cables for at least 10 minutes. So it should have had enough juice to at least stay running. Well see How it works today with a full charge. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edrach Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 The battery wasn't really new. It was just a donor battery. And she was half dead. But we had her hooked up on the cables for at least 10 minutes. So it should have had enough juice to at least stay running. Well see How it works today with a full charge. .10 minutes on jumper cables isn't enough charge to keep any car running on a battery that was half charged to begin with. Consider, that it will likely take 6 to 8 hours on a reasonable charger to fully charge a 1/2 charged battery; 10 minutes is nowhere near enough charge to keep your car running, especially since most of what came down the jumper cables was used to start the car. That being said, once the car is running the alternator should keep the car running even if you took out the battery. Is the alternator new? Or is it another "donor" alternator? As GD said, which year and model Subaru do you have? It can make a difference in how to approach this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 (edited) 87 hatch standard.ea81. Good alternator donor. Guaranteed good.it is a different model though. But went right on. Was working.g perfect on friends hatch. Yeah that's what I thought it should stay running Edited January 29, 2011 by HATCHY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naru Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 If the battery is real bad,car won`t run. Try running it w/o a battery . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 (edited) It is essential that the battery warning light is working in order for the alternator to get power to the exciter inside it. You say it is working so that is good but there may be a short on the lead which will ground out the current to the alternator. To check that out remove the connection on the rear of the alternator and then turn on the ignition switch to the RUN position. If the warning light turns on then there is a short to ground on that lead. If the warning light stays off then that lead should be ok. The next check I suggest you do is check for voltage on the main alternator output lead while the engine is off. You should see battery voltage on that lead. If you don't then check the fusible links under the hood for a bad one. Edited January 31, 2011 by Cougar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 I need to get a volt meter. I have standard. All I have For guages is speedo. Temp and gas. No oil pressure or volts. Kind.Damn sucks. My gremlins moved over to my buddy's brat. Now he is having the exact same issue I am. These Subaru gremlins are mean. .. dirty bastards. I'll check my links. Thanks boys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qman Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 (edited) If it shorted and got as hot as you described in the other thread then you probably blew a fusible link. edit, I am merging the two threads to help keep the info relevant Edited January 31, 2011 by Qman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HATCHY Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Fuseables all intact. Not burnt no sign. Usually there burnt out in the center right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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