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01 Legacy GT Limited electrical failure

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So it first happened yesterday when i got to work. Ill commonly shut the engine off but leave the radio on for a few minutes, but this time i heard a pop in the speakers and all power in the vehicle was gone. Lights, horn, radio, dash, nothing had power. It started working again after a few min of me just visually checking the vattery and all my major engine bay fuses. Tried to drive it to work today and it started fine but i got maybe 20 ft and power started flickering with a click in the dash. Got it back parked and it did the same thing when i shut it off, all power gone. So i had to drive the brat to work (sarcastic 'oh no') but where in the dash can kill all electrical in the car? I can do electrical diag some but bad wires are a pain

Bad battery

Poor battery terminal connection - clean posts and inside of terminals shiney clean.

Bad battery cables

Bad alternator

 

Test voltage at battery posts and alternator output post, starter, and fuse box to see if you have a voltage drop across their supply cables or connections.

 

A voltage drop indicates poor connectivity.

Poor alternator voltage output shows alternator failure

Edited by grossgary

  • Author

Im at work currently so cant do anything at the moment but battety terminals are tight and havent been moved in about 5 months. In my mind, battery or alternator wouldnt cause such an audible click like a really loud relay in my dash when the power fails. Ill be doing diag on it tonight when its cool out but i just want to get as much info as i can before hand

  • Author

Ok i stopped at home for lunch and just smacked the knee board really hard and power came back on.

The "click" you're hearing is the Ignition relay and/or any other relay for accessories you have on, losing power. Has nothing to do with the source of your problem. My guess is ignition switch.

  • Author

Ok found it. I had tried wiggling the battery terminals but not the wires on the terminals. My positive terminal cracked causing the side that feeds the fuse box to be lose. Tightened it down and a chunk of the terminal fell off lol

Good find.

 

Its often the connections at the battery. Very common. They can return later too - clean it up and it comes back a year later. Grrrrr

Edited by grossgary

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