mentis

Yeah, I'm leaning towards the low water level making the batter act up and frying the alternator... as you said. Hopefully this will be the end of my troubles for a while. Though I should look into getting a new battery sooner rather than later.

Ha ha... for sure!

Hmmm, that's true... the sticker did say Mexico on it and it is from O'Reilly. At least I have a lifetime warranty on it. Then again, the first alt was OEM I think. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Sorry for resurrecting this old thread, but there have been new developments where I thought this issue was resolved. Initially I thought I was having an unrelated problem (so I started a new thread) but as it turned out the alternator I had replaced went bad too. The story continues in this thread... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?p=1019447

Thanks Cougar, I followed your advice and finally have some good news! Tested that battery after getting it charged and it tested good. Got that new alternator in, and put the battery back in as well. Car started up fine and voltage holds steady around 14. So finally was able to get that car home. So relieved! Since this is the second time my alt's gone bad I am still aware that there may be an underlying cause which will make this happen again. Could the fact that the battery was low on water have caused two alts to go bad? Any other suggestions?

Okay, so here's some new developments. While I thought the battery had enough juice, based on having connected a portable jumper and getting the same result, it turns out that the jumper was actually dead (not mine, btw). So the battery was in fact rather low. On top of that, water level inside battery was also very low. So I tried jumping the car using another car, and got it to start up only to have it sputter and die moments later. Tried again, and this time checked voltages. Everything was fine obviously while connected to the other car, but voltage dropped rapidly when disconnected. Took the alternator to have it tested, and sure enough it was bad. I had just put this in a few months ago! Since battery was so low on water however, it's probably bad too. Could the battery have caused two alternators to go bad? Charging the battery with replenished water tonight and will so if it holds a charge. If not then a new battery should hopefully do the trick. It has been a very long day... OTL

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. Sadly I'm not in a place where I can push-start it, but hopefully jumping the starter will do the trick.

Unfortunately I have done all of those things. As mentioned, I have replaced the starter and I also used a portable jumper to make sure battery had enough juice. Still no go .

Hey guys, another electrical starting problem here. Did some searching and seem to be having the same problem as described in this thread. In kind of an urgent situation here... car stuck at a gas station and can't get it to start. There are fast repeating clicking sounds coming from the starter/solenoid. Just replaced the starter and it's still doing the same thing. Also checked the battery, it's fine, and cable connections which are also fine. The ground connector on the starter was pretty dirty and loose, but I think I managed to clean it up enough and tighten it to where it should work. So two questions... first, how can I start the car directly from the battery so that I can at least get it back home before it gets towed? And second, what are my options now? Saw mention of a starter relay in that other thread and if this car has one then maybe that's it? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Hey, the forums are back up! lol... Okay, I guess I misunderstood that somewhat. Either way, I believe I'm just going to go ahead and replace that alt. Figured I'd go with a lifetime warranty one from O'Reilly and call it good. Hopefully the voltage is right though, which I know is not always the case for some reason. Is it supposed to be 13.5V or 14V?

Thanks man . I've replaced alts before, so I'm hoping that's all it is. Did another test today. Turned on the car, then disconnected the alt and and battery light came on. So does this mean that it's not the alt?

While I can't claim to understand this 100%, I do believe I get most of that. This leads me to believe that I still need to do some more testing before determining that it's the alternator. Planning on getting to that tomorrow. Thanks for the education ^_~.

Okay, cool. Of course this is assuming I can even get it there. So hey, that's a great deal on the alt. Why the huge price difference? The 93 model is $200 more!

Hmmm... I see. Will try that tomorrow as well, thank you for the advice. Would the auto-part stores run a better test on these components with their equipment?

Good point ^_~. Thanks!