Ever Victorious Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Hey guys - Like an idjit, I've been ignoring a warning sign on the XT for the past few days. For a few days, the Voltmeter on the car fluctuates (fairly quickly) between 12V and 18V. Today, on my way home from work, it went down to just above 8V. I didn't notice it until my stereo started cutting out and the lights started dimming, but when I noticed it, I immediately shut off everything but the headlights and drove it as far as I could. Fortunately, I managed to have JUST enough power to coast into a parking lot at Pep Boys before it stalled and died completely. Now... this sounds to me like the alternator... or, less likely, a battery. Am I correct in my thinking? Any other thoughts? I'm going back to the car in about a half an hour with the battery from Freebie and a set of tools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canajun2eh Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Yup, that's a classic "bad alternator" description. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarian Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 The electronic ignition will work down to about 8.5 volts. I'd say you definitely need an alternator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 yes you can drive for 30-60 min on a good battery, no accessories, and no charging. If the battery is over 3 years old i would consider replacing it ..as they arent made for deep discharges like this, and with winter coming, may just be good insurance. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Did you check and make sure that it wasn't just a loose/broken/slipping belt? Does sound like the alt failed to me though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ever Victorious Posted November 11, 2005 Author Share Posted November 11, 2005 yes you can drive for 30-60 min on a good battery, no accessories, and no charging. If the battery is over 3 years old i would consider replacing it ..as they arent made for deep discharges like this, and with winter coming, may just be good insurance. Unsure how old the battery is, as I just picked up the car 3 weeks ago (got the title in the mail today, too). It's an 84-month Exide, so it should be a good quality one. If this battery does fail when I replace the alt, I'll just use the battery out of Freebie and buy Havoc a new one when she gets back around to working on it. Did you check and make sure that it wasn't just a loose/broken/slipping belt? I'll probably just end up replacing the belt while I'm in there, since they're cheap. Oh, and I took Freebie's battery with me and got the car home without incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 way cool nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 agree with the battery. driving with a bad alternator is terrible for the battery. the damage done to the battery likely started awhile ago, before just the actual last time the car quit on you. i can't tell you how many friends i've replaced alternators for and they had the battery go out shortly after. if reliability is a concern i'd have it replaced, it has likely sustained serious degredation. yes it'll test fine, yes it will work just fine with the new alternator, but not for nearly as long as it could have before. if reliability isn't a big deal, then drive it tills it drops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ever Victorious Posted November 12, 2005 Author Share Posted November 12, 2005 http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=8847&size=big&sort=1&cat=500 One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong... One on the left = correct. One on the right = incorrect, will not fit because of a metal tube welded to the mount frame that protect the mounting screw on the other type of alternator. One from EA82 = does not appear to fit, because the pulley sticks out 1/2" too far. Hopefully Xoomer has the right one... but what next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 swap pulleys maybe? looks like mounting is different, might need the alternator bracket from whatever that alternator came off of...looks like an XT6 aternator. i have a bracket i could send but not sure if the holes are in the block to accept it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ever Victorious Posted November 12, 2005 Author Share Posted November 12, 2005 swap pulleys maybe? looks like mounting is different, might need the alternator bracket from whatever that alternator came off of...looks like an XT6 aternator. i have a bracket i could send but not sure if the holes are in the block to accept it. Well, that does give me another hare-brained idea... Anyone in seattle got a sawzall and a spare alt bracket with the tube? If so, wanna hack it off and send it my direction? Turbone - was this supposed to be an XT or XT6 alt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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