power loss at startup, high idle, rought running weak boost, 1991 RS legacy help

[Guest]

hey guys, so my suby has started running rought, what happens is ill be sitting at the lights and the car is idling fine, then in a matter of 3 seconds it rises to 1500rpm and stays running like that, when that happens my car lights dim and my cd player powers out (ie turns off from loss of power) then when i move off the car kinda splutters but once over 2000 rpm starts running somewhat. Then if in that time i turn the car off and try turning it on it wont start and starter motor only makes clicking sound as thers no power, then i try turning the ignition key on like 5-10 times and then car will start but bearly, last time it went in for service it recieved new battery clamps as mechanic thought it was that, he also mentioned that my starter motor needs to be replaced as even with power the starter motor was making a single click then freezing, may this be the problem for the rought idle? the car is a 1991 facelift RS manual BC5. any expert suggestions for possible fault(s)?

john

[DRFVDR]

Alternator on way out would be my guess ;D

[BC5RA]

 DRFVDR said:

Alternator on way out would be my guess ;D

Yeah, you have any dash lights permanently on?

[Guest]

nope no dash lights showing, I was thinking altelnator also, sometimes car works good for 3 days then starts doing same thing again, but now its getting bad, pretty much does it all the time so im not driving it at all pretty much, who can recommend where i can rebuild the alternator? i dont trust buying second hand i rather rebuild it and have piece of mind. john

[Guest lan_killa]

Check the -ve lead from your battery, sounds like a dodgyish earth somewhere

[BC5RA]

Usually the aforementioned issues occur until the alternator stops working, Hard to say.

Best thing to do would be to source a cheap alternator of another Legacy shouldn't cost you much and swap it over; rather than spending for a rebuild.

[Guest]

the battery clamps are brand new so they are fine but i will check futher down the line

[sickmatesick]

Yeah just get an alternator off a wreck, cheap as. I have 2 sitting in the shed but odds are you live north of where i do lol

[Wiretap]

I have had this problem on two Gen1s so far, both times it was the main relay. one of the contact sets on the relay had become corroded and werent making a good connection.

[Guest boostin]

I've seen this before. It was a bad connection on the back of the alternator. When running the pin was glowing!!

[subypower]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but my RS-RA is doing a similar thing.

It is idling at 2000rpm (Warm & Cold) and is running a bit rough.

Ideas?

[madmike]

Any fault codes dude?

Air leak.

Afm.

Jammed throttle cable.

Could be a few things man..

Or it could of course be missing it's uncle mike.....

[subypower]

Have fixed it now. Went to Palmfields and found it it was throwing code 24, which is the idle control valve.

Thanks go to Sean (YELLOWSUB) for being a legend and providing me with the part! and to Ben (KELTIK) for helping fix it.

Also ran some upper engine cleaner through the RS and purged it, of potentially years worth of shit.

Car is running brilliantly!

Cheers