I have a 95 legacy wagon awd , 5 speed, I was driving it today, we had heavy rains, I noticed the past couple of days , on occasion it would feel like I would loose power momentarily and then it was back, today I was driving and I lost my speedometer and tach, my radio power and when I stopped it wouldn't restart right away, I left it sit about twenty minutes and it started right up, but lost power and radio shortly, finally had it towed, any suggestions,

 

Thanks

Roger

first and foremost i would check all your fuses (unlikely but possible)....than i would do a visual for any open exposed wires.....do you know the age or state of your alternator/ battery? how many miles on your car?

first and foremost i would check all your fuses (unlikely but possible)....than i would do a visual for any open exposed wires.....do you know the age or state of your alternator/ battery? how many miles on your car?

 

 

 

 

mileage is 180K , everything was checked out in the spring, was ok then, is it possible for the alternator to cause loss of speedo and tach

 

Roger

prob. not likely but almost anything is possible with electrical problems.....im sure others smarter than i will chime in but i would check all connections....the only thing that comes to mind right now is the computer but they rarely go bad....sorry i couldnt be of more help....you dont have any check engine lights or battery lights on or anything do you?

I had a VW one time where a cell went bad in the battery. It would start, and run but not well. The instruments started giving crazy readings, and the radio wouldn't work. Once I checked out the battery, found it bad, and replaced it, all was well.

 

Suggest checking out battery and alternator. Car parts stores will do it free of charge in their parking lot in front of their store.

prob. not likely but almost anything is possible with electrical problems.....im sure others smarter than i will chime in but i would check all connections....the only thing that comes to mind right now is the computer but they rarely go bad....sorry i couldnt be of more help....you dont have any check engine lights or battery lights on or anything do you?

 

 

No check engine or brake lights on, and when it did restart, at one time it acted like it didn't have enough power to move. I let it set and idle to charge up the battery some, Didn't help

 

Roger

No check engine or brake lights on, and when it did restart, at one time it acted like it didn't have enough power to move. I let it set and idle to charge up the battery some, Didn't help

 

Roger

 

Just simply check the voltage at the battery. If it's below 11v then obviously its a problem with the battery and/or the alternator. Charge up the battery start it up, see if it can give out more then 13V. If not bad alternator simple as that. I suggest replacing the battery at the same time.

a short somewhere? nothings bumping against the ground wire is it?

The problem is most likely due to an intermittent power connection, not a short. Looking at some data for your car it shows that in the power panel under the hood, fuse SBF-3 ties to fuse #25 and together they feed power to the areas you mention plus others. A blu/red wire ties to fuse #25 and supplies power to those areas. One of the modules is the security module so perhaps that explains why you can't start the car when this happens. I suggest you check that wire using a test light probe or meter and look for an intermittent power connection. Tapping on things around the fuse panel with a screwdriver handle, while watching the test light, may lead you to where the trouble is.

I just talked to our local sub guru, he checked it out and said it just needed the battery charged, apparently the owner didn't give his all of the details, I don't think a discharged battery would present all of these problems, I just had a thought, two days before this happened I had both belts changed, Alt. and compressor, is it possible maybe they are too tight or the wrong belts, it seems strange this happened right after I had them changed. Thanks

Roger

Batteries that have been run down recover a bit on their own, often enough to restart the car and go a little further. I suspect alternator AND battery.

IDK if subes have a "limp home" mode, but I'll bet it's close to the 'cold start' settings, which are overrich and will bog down for a warm engine.

 

Run a new engine ground, but i would still be suspicous of a bad Alt. Have trhe entire circuit load tested with a ANALOG load tester (the silver toaster cheese grater thingy). The digital ones are useless.

 

nipper

 

PS, the flat belts go on tighter then V belts, so you may want to double check the belt.

Thanks everyone, We finally figured out what was wrong, the mechanic deternimed that the voltage regulator was bad, replaced the alternator solved the problem, thanks again to everyone for their advise. Its good to have running again