1998 Legacy L, Alternator wasnt charging and battery had drawn down... gave the guy his car back. He installed a Subaru Reman alternator. Called me 1 week later claiming to have the same problem. He gives the car back the alternator is intermittently charging. Tell him he needs to replace the alternator because its only charging every now and then. He replaces the alternator with yet another subaru reman alternator............. Calls me 1 week later, the alternator will charge if nothing is running but once your turn the headlamp on or a/c or anything it stops charging.....so i load tested the stupid battery and it holds load fine. Anyone have any idea besides 2 bad subaru remans??

1998 Legacy L, Alternator wasnt charging and battery had drawn down... gave the guy his car back. He installed a Subaru Reman alternator. Called me 1 week later claiming to have the same problem. He gives the car back the alternator is intermittently charging. Tell him he needs to replace the alternator because its only charging every now and then. He replaces the alternator with yet another subaru reman alternator............. Calls me 1 week later, the alternator will charge if nothing is running but once your turn the headlamp on or a/c or anything it stops charging.....so i load tested the stupid battery and it holds load fine. Anyone have any idea besides 2 bad subaru remans??

 

on my xt6 this same thing happened....

 

the problem turned out to be the "outer" ring of the harmonic balancer separating from the "inner" ring of the harmonic balancer.... there is a ring of rubber between the two that breaks loose and allows the "outer" to slip on the "inner"

 

it's worth checking out. on mine I finally noticed it because I could read the belt as it was spinning with the car running..........

A similar thought to operose's: Is the crank-pulley bolt tight? Possible the bolt has backed out and the pulley has munged the key and is spinning. Other thoughts include bad connections, perhaps a bad ground at alternator.

Ill check it out and make sure everything is okay with the Crank pulley.....I already checked the wiring and check for any sort of draws and it only pulling .02 to .00 without anything on. Thanks for the help.

Another thing to check is the exciter voltage to the alternator. There may be a intermittent problem there. Make sure that it is near the battery voltage. The warning light may have a loose connection that is causing intermittent voltage getting to the exciter.

I'd check all those things mentioned, but would also suspect the 'remanufactured' part. My experience with reman parts has always been bad; I would hope Subaru would be better, but if the remans are contracted out who knows.

If you live near and Advance auto, or anAutozone they will test the alternator in or out of the car. The only thing is if the belt is the problem they will not know that and tell you it is the alternator. I would take it out and go have the alternator tested. If it tests ok then go back to the search with wires and/or belts.

 

Hope this helps a little.

 

Andy

[...]Calls me 1 week later, the alternator will charge if nothing is running but once your turn the headlamp on or a/c or anything it stops charging

Any load on the electrical system makes the alternator do "work". The more work it has to do, the harder the alternator pulley is to turn. Slippage due to a problem with the crank pulley (as has already been suggested) or other drive problem is certainly possible. With the engine running, turning on things that draw a lot of current (headlights on high-beam, rear defrosters, etc.) will cause the drive to more-obviously slip if that's the problem; you'll either see the belt or pulley slow down, or hear squealing. If that happens, it usually indicates that the alternator is trying to function, but the drive slippage is limiting what it can do.