Engine squeal, battery/brake lights and no power steering

[lhrocker]

My 95 Legacy wagon had a weird problem on the way home today. When I started her up, the engine made a squeal, like the serpentine belts were loose. As I stepped on the gas pedal, the squeal increased, and then when took my foot off the pedal, it decreased. It did this for a few seconds and went away. As I was driving home, all of a sudden, I noticed that the battery and brake lights went on as I was slowing down. When I accellerated, the lights went away. Also, I noticed that the steering became very tight.

 

I stopped the car and took a quick look under the hood, but it was getting dark. I just drove it home slowly. The brakes worked as normal, but when I turned the wheel more than 1/4 of a turn, the brake and batt lights would come on.

 

I'm going to have it looked at in the morning. There were no CEL lights or anything else.

 

One thing did happen yesterday - I went shopping and was in the store for 1/2 and hour. When I came out, the car wouldn't start. The lights, radio, windows, etc... worked, but when I turned the key, no sound at all.

 

I got a jump and the car was fine up until this evening. I had 3 or 4 stops from the time I got the car jumped to the time the lights went out. I thought it may be the battery or alternator, but would that cause the power steering to go out too?

 

Thanx,

Pete

[hohieu]

Sounds like your Power Steering/Alternator Belt is loose or worn -- one belt drives both pulleys. If this is, in fact, the case, it should not cost very much to fix: $10 for the belt and 1/2 hour worth of labor.

[lhrocker]

Thanx Hohieu - I think I have a spare sitting somewhere that I can plop on before going to work in the AM.

 

Pete

[Setright]

Yep, that's what I was thinking

[fnlyfnd]

This happened to me a couple months ago. It is the belt. When mine went bad for no apparent reason (like you) it was a broken alternator bolt. The bolt broke while I was driving, and I lost p/s and the brake light came on and there was some serious squelage going on. best of luck

[lhrocker]

It turns out that that lock bolt on the alternator broke, which caused my steering issues. I took out the alternator, but part of the bolt is in the hole and I can't get it out. My question, can I drive it as is to the parts store to get another alternator? I's only about 4 miles?

[idosubaru]

you can remove the belt and drive the car 4 miles. as long as you don't need anythign that is driven by the belt you can drive it just fine. 4 miles is no problem to drive on just the battery. don't use anything you don't have too electronically. in reality 4 miles is nothing for a battery to get you somewhere. you won't have power steering, but that's no big deal.

 

you're buying an entire alternator to fix a broken bolt? are you sure a new alternator will fix the problem? can you post a picture of it?

[1 Lucky Texan]

wow, didn't this JUST happen a few months ago to someone here? They were traveling in the NE maybe and had to improvise a fix along the way IIRC.

 

weird

 

Carl

 

edit; yeah, check;

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=56082&highlight=broken+alternator+bolt

[lhrocker]

Well, I got the alternator and it took me all of 5 minutes to put it back in - I love subies!!! I replaced the belt while I was at it, but in looking at the AC belt, it looked like there was play in it and it wasn't real taut. I didn't replace, but I will. Would this cause the AC to be not very cold?

 

Thanx again,

Pete

[hohieu]

Glad to hear you worked it all out. A belt that is a little loose wouldn't cause your AC to degrade. Is it squeaking? Depending on how many miles are on the belt, you may just need to tighten things up. You'll also need to do the same with your new PS/Alt. belt in 500 miles or so after it has stretched.

 

Don't overtighten, though, because this will cause undue wear on your bearings.