Arrrggghhhh, WTF? bloody car trouble

[Guest]

Ok, car running no probs for as long as I can remember. For those who dont know, its a 99 B4 Legacy.

This evening, turn it on, fine, drive down the end of the driveway, approx 250m, by the end the power steering has gone, have to go down the road & turn around, no noises or anything just no power steering at all, ****ing hard to steer I can tell you.

While driving back up drive the 'check engine' light comes on as well as the battery light.

Come home, turn it off, and turn it back on again (thought that maybe something had not engaged when first started up or something tripped) but the thing wont start, dead & makes horribly alternator noises usual when you have a flat battery.

What has done this? What about the power steering prob before?

Whats going on?

Im confused and pissed off, have been thinking of throwing this subaru in for another vehicle in recent weeks so maybe the cars getting back at me.

[subiv5]

Just sounds like a flat/dead battery.

Top it up and put it on a slow charge overnight. Then see if this fixes the problem

[Guest keltik]

Assuming your Power steering/alternator belt is still there, it could be a damaged crank pulley which has come apart.

Flat battery wont cause steering issues.

[Guest]

Actually, when I started it up, I heard some squeeking, like belt slip and some smoke, so do you think the power steering belts gone? Its what I suspect. Also the battery I think was fucked from the day I bought it off a dealer who reckoned he put a 'new one' in it.

[Guest keltik]

Could be the belt, could be the crank pulley or could be another bizarre cause. Pop the bonnet. See if the belt is still on. That should be the first test.

2nd test would be to start the car and have a look to see whats not spinning.

[Guest]

Can wont start due to random dead battery. Which one is the power steering belt on these subarus

[Guest keltik]

Surprisingly, its the one which goes to the power steering pump.

The power steering pump is the metal thing on the front left side of the engine with a pulley on the front.

[wrx_lou]

 keltik said:

Surprisingly, its the one which goes to the power steering pump.

LMAO.

[Shale]

 wrx_lou']

[quote name='keltik said:

Surprisingly, its the one which goes to the power steering pump.

/quote]

LMAO.

Actually giggling out loud IRL.

RSK IT: It's not hard to tell which is the A/C belt and which is the accessory belt. By the sounds of it, it'll be the one that's cracked, missing bits of belt and covering the area in dust.

[dubbedup]

or the one thats lying in your driveway :

[ReubenH]

Yah, no accessory belt would explain the no power steering and flat battery quite nicely.

[aim]

Could be worth replacing both - if ones nearly gone, how far away are the others? But almost definitely a belt

[kamineko]

just going to spell this out..

the belt that runs the power steering ALSO runs the alternator which charges the battery.

[Guest]

 kamineko said:

just going to spell this out..

the belt that runs the power steering ALSO runs the alternator which charges the battery.

but as we have seen in the past, i would be unsure if this person knew how to fill there windscreen wiper water bottle, let alone check a belt

-smurff

[Guest]

 keltik said:

Surprisingly, its the one which goes to the power steering pump.

The power steering pump is the metal thing on the front left side of the engine with a pulley on the front.

Yea right...thanks for that, no need to be such a smart ass about it since most of you here are immature enough to think its funny. Good one.

I know what a belt looks like and where it goes to, I just have no idea where the power steering pump is actually located on a subaru and it was kind of hard using an iphone as a torch last night.

[funkytown]

here ya go man

this should explain it if your struggling

[Shale]

 RSK IT']

[quote name='keltik said:

Surprisingly, its the one which goes to the power steering pump.

The power steering pump is the metal thing on the front left side of the engine with a pulley on the front.

/quote]

Yea right...thanks for that, no need to be such a smart ass about it since most of you here are immature enough to think its funny. Good one.

I know what a belt looks like and where it goes to, I just have no idea where the power steering pump is actually located on a subaru and it was kind of hard using an iphone as a torch last night.

Us mean bastards just have no sympathy...for anyone or anything, hence our cars always being broken

But as you can see it's easy peasy to find. There's only one big belt you can see without some disassembly.

I've found from the perspective of a useless female, that most of the important stuff (except spark plugs) is on the TOP of the engine, or the VERY BOTTOM where it's EASY to access This is anything that needs filling (fluids) or likely to need replacing (HT leads, sensors, etc). Stuff that lasts a bit longer, in theory, is usually tucked away in some obnoxious place. Like vac lines, water pipes and looms under the intake manifold... average Joe has no business farking around under there anyway.

If you look during the day, most of this stuff is very intuitive.

Also. You're going to cop a LOT of stick on here... it's a car club forum! It's a go hard or go home environment. You don't see me whinging about the stick I get... nor do you see anyone else getting particularly uptight at the abuse they hurl at each other Just stay cool and take it with a grain of salt. It's the best way to get information ya know...

[Guest]

Belt is now non existant, gone, now that I know it went to the alternator now it explains the battery probs.

All good, mech's coming to fix & service it today.

Cheers for all your help guys (the ones that offered non smart ass help)

Cheers

[Shale]

Like I said get used to it... our smartarses are some of our more knowledgable and useful people. Turn the other cheek!

And yeah I think the missing belt explains a lot! Including why you couldn't find it. Jeepers...that car needs the service you've got it booked for.

[Guest keltik]

 RSK IT']

[quote name='keltik said:

Surprisingly, its the one which goes to the power steering pump.

The power steering pump is the metal thing on the front left side of the engine with a pulley on the front.

/quote]

Yea right...thanks for that, no need to be such a smart ass about it since most of you here are immature enough to think its funny. Good one.

I know what a belt looks like and where it goes to, I just have no idea where the power steering pump is actually located on a subaru and it was kind of hard using an iphone as a torch last night.

I wasnt being a smart ass. You asked a stupid question. If you looked at it for more than 5 seconds and used your brain you wouldve easily seen which one the power steering pump was.

Fuck helping you next time

[kamineko]

..well some people just arn't mechanical you know

[Guest loren]

Some people like to play dumb as well. The second post gives that away.

[Guest]

 keltik']

[quote name='keltik said:

Surprisingly, its the one which goes to the power steering pump.

The power steering pump is the metal thing on the front left side of the engine with a pulley on the front.

/quote]

Yea right...thanks for that, no need to be such a smart ass about it since most of you here are immature enough to think its funny. Good one.

I know what a belt looks like and where it goes to, I just have no idea where the power steering pump is actually located on a subaru and it was kind of hard using an iphone as a torch last night.

I wasnt being a smart ass. You asked a stupid question. If you looked at it for more than 5 seconds and used your brain you wouldve easily seen which one the power steering pump was.

**** helping you next time

Wow ok, nice.

I have no idea what a power steering pump looks like esp on a Subaru, the likes of which Ive hardly owned much of before.

Do what you like man.

Thanks to all the other peeps.

[DRFVDR]

just as an aside

I would suggest that the belt was also the problem with the battery as it runs the alternator as well and who knows how long it would of been slipping for(they will slip for a while before actually breaking)

just check(and u can do this easily yourself) that that the alternator and power steering pullies/units spin freely just to make sure that the reason for the loss of belt is not caused by a seized alternator

and in keltics defense he did explain in plain english where the powersteering pump was

[Guest]

yeap all is well cars fine replaced all belts while at it anyway when it got serviced running sweet as now