pull the 3-4 relays from under the dash (they could be well hidden if never touched before) and see if any are burnt..

pull the 3-4 relays from under the dash (they could be well hidden if never touched before) and see if any are burnt..

 

all relays (4-5 of them) work and clicked when plugged in.

Just in case you didn't know, hearing a relay click doesn't necessarily mean it is working as it should. The closed contacts can be bad and the connection will be a problem.

Well..it's probably no consolation to you, but I found MY problem. My alternator brushes were so worn that they were only making intermittent contact, thus the weird "surging & jerking & tach jumping around" problems..and I would assume the brushes were arcing to the commutator when I put a big enough load on 'em, hence the problem seeming to be "cured" when I turned on the heater/headlights. Weird.

Anyway, I replaced the alternator with a reman unit today..problem solved, Sue is rock-steady and back to being her usual good-natured, oil-dripping, doom-ticking self.

You turn the key in the ON position, and you get no CEL? But you still get the other warning lights?

 

Alternator failure. Same symptoms in my coupe, and replacing the alternator did the trick.

 

Quit bothering with the other electrical crap

Let us know if the alternator fixed the problem!

The alternator really doesn't have any direct connection to the CEL light that I know of. I suggest you check the ignition relay and see if that may have an intermittent problem.

The alternator really doesn't have any direct connection to the CEL light that I know of. I suggest you check the ignition relay and see if that may have an intermittent problem.

I thought that sounded off, My Loyale runs without the alternator, As long as the battery holds up.

The only thing that I can think of that possibly could connect the alternator with turning on the CEL is if the alternator had some bad diodes or brushes that caused a high amount of noise on the power buss. Then the noise causing a problem with one of the sensor signals.

Wow i kinda forgot about this site....i got a new car (93 Mercury Grand Marquis) so I havent really messed with the subaru a whole lot, I towed it to my schools autoshop, but the teacher doesnt know much about electrical, so instead of helping me, he would just give me printouts from mitchell-on-demand on what to do. Now my mom is in need of the car so I finally just said f**k it, and brought it to the shop that my friend works at. I will keep you updated with what the actual problem is once they find it.