heartless Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Daughter's car (my old car - Brumhilda)...89 GL wagon, 5 spd, FWD, 260K on the clock.... ok, daughter called last night - "help, car died & am stranded"... earlier in the day we had a discussion about the alternator maybe going bad - guage reading funny the night before - not trusting the guages so much, we grabbed the multi-meter and checked battery and alt output - everything seemed to be hunky dorry - battery tested full charge, alt reading ok, too - altho did not actually test it under load (ie: lights, radio, etc turned on) - i know - my bad anyway, off she went for the day - car seemed to be fine. on her way home from work was when the problem surfaced - after dark. here is what was relayed to me: lights on, radio on, heater on - tried to beep the horn at someone she knew - no horn & power cut to radio...hmmm then using the turn signal, same thing...power cut to radio, lights dimmed... She started toward home (about 25 miles) and several miles out of town it died - thus the call for help. rather than try to diagnose on the side of the road in the dark (after 9pm) and cold, we hooked up the trailer, went and loaded the car (with a jump start), and dragged it home. so, what do you all think?? alternator gone bad?? I am almost hoping so cause that would be a really easy fix - we have an extra on hand... btw - this would be the 4th alt in this car since I got it back in 2000....(damn cheap-arse rebuilt piles of u-no-whats!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Could have a bad ground also somewhere...or the connector is corroded bad... I might have a good EA82 alt around here...let me check and if I do its yours..maybe 2 actually...Let me know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 Thank you for the quick response & offer, Connie. We have a "new/rebuilt" alt on hand ready & waiting - guess i am just looking for confirmation that my "gut feeling" is right - lol did look over the grounds & cables yesterday when we were checking the battery, etc, and everything looked ok - no nasties on the battery cables, main grounds looked good & felt tight, but it is possible that I missed something - plan on double checking those before we do anything else... currently waiting on dear daughter to get up so we can get the car in the garage and get to work on it... hate to say it, but i think the time for permanent retirement of the old girl is drawing very near...she is having too many "issues" these days, mostly wiring related (windows not working, door locks failing, other odds and ends...) not to mention the dreaded "cancer" is really taking its toll... on the brighter side - it is finally getting above freezing up here!!! Come on SPRING!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 hmmm - just checked battery with the digital meter - right at 12 volts, yet car will not start - acts like battery is dead (under 10 volt)... comments? suggestions? help?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 (edited) The problem may be with the alternator, the battery, the wiring to those areas, or a combination of them all. A good charged battery should show about 12.6 volts across it with no load on it. With the alternator running and a good load on the system you should see between 13.25 and 14.8 volts across the battery. From what you stated the battery appears to be severely dicharged. See what the battery voltage is while trying to start the engine or turn on the headlights. Check to see if the battery warning light is on if you can get the engine running. Hopefully you have a batttery charger on hand to use. With a good load on the system check the voltage difference between the main alternator output lead and the positive battery post. You should have less than .1 volt of difference if the connection is ok. You can also check the main ground of the battery that way also. Edited February 9, 2009 by Cougar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subiemech85 Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 spend a day cleaning ALL GROUNDS!!!!!!! http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=26766&highlight=GROUNDS alternator swap http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?p=789193&highlight=common#post789193 grounds E & G do NOT apply add to list for WAGON under coil bracket, behind fuel filler door side taillight access panel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoobieKoralli Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 So we spent the early afternoon pulling all ground connections we could find... There was a lot and immediately spotted a problem. Ont ground wire that connected to a plug that ran into the coil was corroded/snapped. We ended ip replacing the entire wire and connector. Hoping that was the problem, we started her up and tested her again. Still the power was low. I knew it was the altenator, but we checked everything anyway. After swapping Alts everything was peachy keen. On an up note, We found the problem with my window too. Either the power/ground wire was cut and we just bypassed it making a new one. Yay i have a window again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixO Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Congrats! I hate tracking down electrical issues because I forget they are easier than they seem. There is always a general process to narrow it down to a single system and then it's just detective work tracing down wires & grounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR_Loyale Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 I have gone through several alternators on my Loyale (3 in 120K miles). You can take it off and take it to Auto Zone or Schmucks and they should be able to put it on a machine to test it for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 She was very lucky we had an alternator on hand already - no waiting for parts, no trip to the parts store - pull it off the shelf and drop it in. pretty sure the bad ground wire is what killed the alt - who knows, may have been the reason for the last one failing, just didnt catch it that time...oh well...live and learn as for the window, I was fairly certain is was a broken wire(s) between body and door - 20yr old car w/over 255K on the clock - simple (sort of) task of running new power & ground - all is good again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank B Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 How serious of a radio does she have in the car? Or is it stock. The alt is only 60 amp, if you were to have a high power radio in it, it could be too much for the alt with other things on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 it does have an aftermarket radio, but not a high power unit (i installed some yrs ago) slightly higher than the stock unit was, but barely...i forget the numbers but i do know it wasnt much. it also has aftermarket combo fog/driving lights, but she has also been told not to use them unless absolutely necessary (ie: dense fog) because of the measly 60 amp alt... the ground wire that was found to be bad was the very small one that runs from the coil harness to the block - has a plug in it...the plug was corroded thru on one end (fell apart when I tried to unplug it) and it also had a kink in the wire near the block that broke when I tried to straighten it - double whammy! used a heavier wire (14g) from the block to a new plug-in, and new plug-in on the opposite side using the original wire (maybe 16g, but thinking more like 18-20g - very tiny) All other ground points were/are in good condition (i knew about the coil bracket ground point - been there before! ) Thanks to all that replied - and a special thanks to subiemech85 for the links. We do appreciate the help, comments and suggestions. ps: sorry i couldnt respond sooner - got called to work (truck driver) that afternoon in the midst of running the new wires for the windows! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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