QUICK; Question before I replace my alternator

[vtlegacy95]

my cars electrical system just started acting up, the gauges went dead, abs light came on, my alpine deck automaticly shut off. everything would come back on if I held it to about 3000 rpms. I just need some reassurance that it is my alternator.

[backpack09]

I cannot reassure you of that.

Have you tried cleaning your battery terminals? Get in there with either a terminal cleaner or some 100 grit sand paper and scrub them up. 95% of the electrical problems I have with cars is either bad battery connections or a bad ground somewhere else in the car.

Those fixes are cheap.

But by the looks of the engine bay on these cars Swapping an alternator is about as easy as replacing a belt.

[d1giPhux]

If its anything like my BD, replacing the altenator should be pretty easy.. all you need to do is take off one of the belts and then unscrew a couple of bolts.

Will the headlights come on when the car is on?

Does all the electrical stuff surge, or do nothing at all?

Does the battery seem like its completely dead yet?

[vtlegacy95]

THe electrical doesn't do anything when the car is idling, but if reved and held everthing will come back on, as soon as I let off everything will turn off again.

I think I am going to pull the alternator and have it tested, it sucks because it is snowing out right now and I don't have a garage at school.

[d1giPhux]

Thats kind of weird.. i would think that if your altenator was going, you would be getting electrical surges from it not working correctly. Although i could be wrong. Things like headlights dimming and then getting brighter as the belt goes around. Does the belt seem to be in good condition? Any weird noises or anything? Thats kinda odd.. you might want to check your terminals, and maybe just see if the battery connection is loose in any way. hmm.

check this out tho : www.designlabx.com/subaru/electrical/MSA5TCD99L443.pdf (http://www.designlabx.com/subaru/electrical/MSA5TCD99L443.pdf)

[vtlegacy95]

I just did the terminals and nothing, the headlights would dim and become brighter when I rteved it but all the gauges and deck would die, in the last couple of days I have heard a wining noise coming from under the hood but I couldn't pin-point where exactly it was coming from. Now I am thinking it was the brushes in the alt.

[d1giPhux]

I just did the terminals and nothing, the headlights would dim and become brighter when I rteved it but all the gauges and deck would die, in the last couple of days I have heard a wining noise coming from under the hood but I couldn't pin-point where exactly it was coming from. Now I am thinking it was the brushes in the alt.

Sounds like the alternator.. if the headlights are surging and stuff. Check to see if the noise is coming from it, or if the belt is making any weird noises or anything. If it is the alternator.. you might be able to get it re-built for cheap.. or just replace it altogether. If its the altenator, eventually your battery will die and you wont be able to charge it up using the alt. Also, do you have any subs/ amps or any other car audio stuff plugged in? If you do.. you might want to unplug it just so it dont kill your battery completely.

How long has it been doing this anyways? Does the car idle weird or anything when its on?

I dunno if this works on these cars or not.. but while the car is running, maybe try pulling the negative side of the battery terminal to see what happens? Try it with the positive side as well..

[vtlegacy95]

was the alternator, replaced and now running again

[d1giPhux]

Hells yea. rock on! Where you get the new one from? How much?

[vtlegacy95]

$130 from auto zone w/core charge.

[jhip20]

A little more info on this topic would be great!
Everything that vtlegacy95 described happening to his car is happening to mine as well. Exact same symtoms...
The ONLY difference is on mine I just replaced the alternator today... and it still does it!

[backpack09]

A little more info on this topic would be great!
Everything that vtlegacy95 described happening to his car is happening to mine as well. Exact same symtoms...
The ONLY difference is on mine I just replaced the alternator today... and it still does it!

Where did you get it from? I find that about half of the rebuilt parts(alternators, starters, ps pumps) I get from autozone or parts america are junk straight out of the box.

[jhip20]

The subaru dealer that i bought the car from put it in.

I had so much done to the car yesterday and upon picking it up i was impressed that they were able to get it all done in one day.
The head of the service departments words were "we only know subarus, we dont work on anything else. So there is no suprises. We have seen it all before. Thats why we are so good at what we do."

2 miles later my car sits dead of the side of a road.

grrrr

[d1giPhux]

The subaru dealer that i bought the car from put it in.

I had so much done to the car yesterday and upon picking it up i was impressed that they were able to get it all done in one day.
The head of the service departments words were "we only know subarus, we dont work on anything else. So there is no suprises. We have seen it all before. Thats why we are so good at what we do."

2 miles later my car sits dead of the side of a road.

grrrr

Damn thats fucked up.. check all your ground wires and such. Maybe because your alternator was dead, your battery went flat and needs to be charged? Check the voltage coming from it maybe? Hmm, so.. will it not start up at all now, or what?

[jhip20]

well right now its back up in the shop at their expence... The part that sucks the most is im not quite 25 yet so i couldnt get a loaner car. I just hope that they get it right this time because i have to take a 6 hour drive tonight after work and dont want to break down up here in maine where currently the wind chill is -27F !

I really think that this car is a lemon because ive had one problem after another with it. I think (or so I thought) subarus were the best things in the world and that id never own anything but a subaru. But this is really starting to make me have second thoughts.
I am but a couple months away from a new 07 GT L and i really dont want to buy something that im going to have to dump more money into all the time. But this is a whole different topic i suppose

[d1giPhux]

well right now its back up in the shop at their expence... The part that sucks the most is im not quite 25 yet so i couldnt get a loaner car. I just hope that they get it right this time because i have to take a 6 hour drive tonight after work and dont want to break down up here in maine where currently the wind chill is -27F !

I really think that this car is a lemon because ive had one problem after another with it. I think (or so I thought) subarus were the best things in the world and that id never own anything but a subaru. But this is really starting to make me have second thoughts.
I am but a couple months away from a new 07 GT L and i really dont want to buy something that im going to have to dump more money into all the time. But this is a whole different topic i suppose

That sucks you've had bad experiences with them.. one of my friends around here bought a lemon from subaru too.. sucks, but it happens with all corporations. Hopefully they fix this problem for you, and you dont have anymore. Let us know how it goes though!

[jhip20]

ok so they just dropped the car back off to my workplace and said its all set. (I hope) Apparently someone in there service department forgot to plug the voltage regulator back in. Thank God they know what they are doing up there!

My father had a similar experience except they forgot to tighten the lug nuts on his wheels...

drove it 35 miles home and didnt know why it was driving funny...
could have killed him

[d1giPhux]

ok so they just dropped the car back off to my workplace and said its all set. (I hope) Apparently someone in there service department forgot to plug the voltage regulator back in. Thank God they know what they are doing up there!

My father had a similar experience except they forgot to tighten the lug nuts on his wheels...

drove it 35 miles home and didnt know why it was driving funny...
could have killed him

LOL i think this should be sarcasm 'Thank God they know what they are doing up there!
' /end sarcasm. haha.

I doubt it would have killed him, it happened to me once.. i guess someone tried to steal one of my rims.. was driving about 80 on the highway.. the wheel just popped off and flew across a 4 lane highway.. luckily it was late at night and didnt hit anyones car. I had the car towed because the lug screws on the rotos broke off and we found my wheel on the other side of the highway in some bog (this was FL).. i was lucky that night. Glad you got things fixed quickly though!

[vtlegacy95]

I use to work at a honda dealership in detail, just from being there I have learned that the greatest mechanics sometimes miss stuff, everyone is human, what can you do?

hope everything is fixed and working correctly.

[luissojo]

Hi. Honored to be here. I am contemplating replacing the alternator myself on my '95 Legacy LS Sedan. Would anyone have the haynes or similar manual on how to do this correctly? Many thanks.