PLEASE HELP - GTB Legacy Wagon Stopped Working

[NakiSubaru85]

Hi All.

Any help will be much appreciated as this is our family vehicle and we need it over the Christmas period! :-(

Issue description:

Was driving home today in the very busy Christmas traffic and the stereo started flicking on and off.

I turned the AC off, and went to open the sunroof but it didn\'t work, then the stereo stopped completely.

Traffic was stop start, and as I moved forward there was a clunk of sorts, then I stopped at the red light and the engine felt like it was getting ready to stall.

All the gauges went down to zero as if the car was off (no lights on the dash) but the car was still idling (all be it very rough - so I put it in neutral and gave it some revs to stop it stalling and backing up the traffic until Boxing day...)

Light went green and I went (was only a few minutes from home with no where to stop) gauges still unresponsive

Engine didn\'t want to change gears and doubt it got past second

Made it into the road next to our house and the engine stopped (I had it in neutral) and I managed to roll close enough to home

Pushed car out to front of our house

Engine wouldn\'t turn over at all - when I turned the key there was nothing.

Put my Fluke on the battery and it had 12.2vdc

Hooked up some jumper leads from another vehicle and car starts fine, but when I remove the leads the voltmeter across the battery just drains down very quickly.

Vehicle is 1998 Subaru GTB Legacy Wagon (2L Twin Turbo Auto) with 135,000kms

My first thought was the alternator - but why would the car drive for the last couple of k\'s if that was the case, and why did the gauges die but engine keep working for a while.

Also why would it not change into normal gear (stuck in low gear after gauges died)

I think I will struggle to find a new alternator today but may be able to get a second hand one from the wreckers, but wanted to get opinions first as don\'t want to change if it isn\'t the cause.

Cannot see any damage in the engine or anything and all the belts feel tight.

Appreciate any help

Thanks

Matt

[les666]

To me its sounds like you need a new battery. Similar thing happened to me in my old lancer and again a couple of months ago happened to my sisters diamante.

[Drunkenmonkey]

Jump start The car, leave leads attached, turn off good car, check your getting 13.something volts charge off your car if your no alt is buggered

[MercuryFree]

The auto transmission has a control computer so if that isn\'t getting enough voltage it probably wont change gear, I would assume

[crispy]

sounds like alternator, mine did the exact same thin but was due to a loose wire on the alt, maybe check all connections before replacing it

[NakiSubaru85]

Hi All.

I replaced the battery with one from my ute and car started fine.

With the car going I measured the alternator output voltage (negative probe to battery negative and positive probe to alternator output) and it was stable at about 11.85vdc.

Battery voltage was about the same (11.85vdc with the car going)

I turned the car off again and battery voltage was about 12.23vdc then slowly climbed back up to around 12.3vdc once car had been off for about a minute or so.

That said hopefully that was all the issue was.

Appreciate all the responses from everyone thank you.

Matt ;D

[Guest]

Alternator should charge at 14.2-14.8v dude. Im not an auto sparky but that should be about right. Battery sitting will be 12.5ish.

Voltage is not much of an indication as to the health of the battery if its running go find a garage thats open they will load test your battery for free and check alt charge rate at the same time.

[tebbyj]

Yep, definitely alternator. :\'( Reason it kept running was it was using the power in the battery to keep the car going, would have gone into limp mode (wont go past 2nd gear low boost etc.)

Engine is using all the power from the battery so all your instruments and accessories will stop working. A 2nd hand one will get you up and running, get a new battery too as it would have drained the battery completely and it will never be 100% again, at least give your one a full charge on a good charger with de-sulfation function etc.

[Guest]

Battery will be absolutely fine dude unless it already had a problem. Sulfation happens when you park up a tractor for 9 months of the year and dont start/maintain it. Most batteries these days are calcium so you need a 6/7 stage charger to charge them from dead flat or a quick trip on 24v.

[NakiSubaru85]

Right I managed to source a second hand alternator $40 (brother knew someone that had one and picked it up for me).

Issue is that the pin configuration is different.

Existing alternator is 3-pin.

Replacement is 2-pin.

Existing PN: LR1100-717 (Google search had \'C\'S\'L\' 100Amp)

Replacement PN: LR185-701E (Google search had \'S\'L\' 85Amp)

Both are Hitachi

I assume the \'C\' has something to do with the ECU and that they are not compatible??

[Guest]

You need the same plug config. There is a late option and early with the plugs. Both bolt up but plugs wont work and I dont think you can use an adaptor for early to late.

[NakiSubaru85]

Oh riteo. One of the forums had something about the 3 pin connectors only 2 of the pins were actually used, so was curious as to whether I could insulate the \'C\' wire and connect the other 2 to the pins on the replacement alternator?

Am trying to source a 3 pin replacement all the same but am not having much luck at this time.