Ea82t all power goes out with key in start position

[winterbottom321]

So my dad and I replaced the t-plug in the back of the alternator with 2 separate crimp on connectors(they stayed on the posts and didn't touch each other or the alternator housing so I left it hoping all was well since I couldn't come across a good tplug.

 

2 months down the road now I look at one of the wires and see it is a little dirty/ corroded and so without thinking to disconnect the battery first for a closer inspection I accidentally shorted the heavier gauge wire (black and white colored wire) to the alternator housing which caused the red fuse labeled.85 to burn out (red one). Replaced that fuse, found a t-plug and fixed the wiring to the back of the alternator and now I turn the key, everything in the car electrically will turn on (fans, stereo, fan, wipers, ...etc) but as soon as I turn it to start cranking all power goes out. I think I hear a brief click but no cranking. If I pull the key out and immediately try to start again I don't get any power to anything. Have to wait about 20 seconds and then try again. Then I'll get power again to everything inside but will go dead when turning the key to start cranking.

 

86 ea82t gl-10 wagon

[Durania]

Double check your battery connections.

 

Sounds like you have a crappy connection, verify there is no corrosion on your terminals.

[winterbottom321]

They are good, the car has been running great for months like I said and the terminals are great.

 

UPDATE: the starter does click like it is starting to crank but then stops immediately, and all lights go out. With the key still in the on position if I wait about 20 seconds the dash will eventually, slowly light up and all electric stuff will be active again. Weird.

[Durania]

Check your fusible links.

[winterbottom321]

Well the red one burned but I fixed that, pretty sure the other ones are good but I will go double check with the voltmeter. I think from reading other posts it is the igniter that fried, not sure if that is in the disty or if it is the little black cube with a wire coming off the positive of the coil and then grounding on the engine. I know the battery is good, the coil is new, alternator is new, and the starter is new. So that leaves the distributer and that black box. I checked all of the fuses under the dash and one was blown, the "choke", "cruise". I assume that fried in this whole ordeal as I used the cruise as recent as yesterday. Going out to check the voltage from the coil terminals to ground.

[MilesFox]

check the battery cable where it connects to the starter. make sure the cround cable is secure on the starter as well. your symptoms are classic of a loose/bad connection.

 

otherwise if everything checks out, the positive cable itself may have a break inside its insulation.

[Durania]

I take it by "red one" burning out, you mean the positive cable. Those are a fairly inexpensive piece to just pick up at the wal-mart and they take just a minute to replace.

 

How you describe that sounds exactly like a bad connection. Have you tried jumping the car off?

[naru]

If I pull the key out and immediately try to start again I don't get any power to anything. Have to wait about 20 seconds and then try again. Then I'll get power again to everything inside but will go dead when turning the key to start cranking.

 

86 ea82t gl-10 wagon

 

"Have to wait about 20 seconds" = discharged battery

 

Put your voltmeter on the battery and watch the voltage drop while cranking to prove it.

[winterbottom321]

Not the positive red cable off the battery but the red fuse in the fusible link. The black box with four fuses, second one from the front of the car. Says .85 under the black cap. They are just copper wires meant to burn out with so many of an amp loading. I fixed that and all of them in there have continuity across them. I discovered that if I turn the car to start and everything goes black, if I turn it right back to "run" all my lights come back on. That is normal from what I understand that all the devices in the car cut out momentarily until the alternator is turning. But since all I hear is a click of the starter I don't get anything spinning. Coil has +12 from positive and negative posts on the coil. Do these have a starter solenoid? Would that have fried? If so where is it?

[winterbottom321]

Battery reads +12 but does drop to 11.5 when everything is dead in the car. It is not the battery, it is some sort of relay limiting the power to inside the car cause all the voltages at the battery and the coil are good while trying to start.

[MilesFox]

you have voltage until you turn the ket because whatever bad connection you have can carry idle voltage but not the cranking voltage. i bet you a dollar it is the positive cable itself, somewhere inside the insulation or immediately where either end meets the starter terminal or the battery terminal. trust me on this one. also check the negative ground cable where it connects to the water pipe on the motor, and the negative cable at the starter where it gorunds to the bellhousing bolt.

[GeneralDisorder]

There is nothing in the crank circuit to speak of. A few wires, starter switch, and the fusible link.

 

It is one of these:

 

1. Battery.

2. Battery terminals.

3. Ground cable from the negative post to the engine.

4. Positive cable to the starter.

5. Starter switch.

6. Crank circuit wiring.

 

What you have is a problem with the CRANK CIRCUIT. Start with the battery - load test it. Replace the positive and negative terminals and wires on general principle - welding cable works well and is inexpensive.

 

With those replaced and a known good, load tested battery, jumper the positive terminal on the starter to the solenoid spade terminal using a 12 AWG wire. If you have done everything correcty, the engine will turn over.

 

If the starter switch and vehicle wireing are still not making the starter turn, then the switch or harness is not allowing sufficient current to reach the solenoid. Use the existing wireing to run a relay and supply the solenoid with fused, full battery voltage through a 12 AWG from the relay.

 

Troubleshooting this stuff isn't difficult, but you can't do it by shotgunning parts at it or reading tea leaves. Nor can us board members look into some crystal ball and tell you what's wrong with it. Telling us that "you are sure" things are good is frustrating - test what we ask you to, bring us the results, and learn from our knowledge.

 

GD

[MilesFox]

i bet if you run a jumper cable from the pos batt terminal to the starter terminal she will go. if so, this confirms a bad cable

[jonas]

check the battery cable where it connects to the starter.

DO THIS! sounds like the same prob. i was having up until this morning....

[winterbottom321]

you have voltage until you turn the ket because whatever bad connection you have can carry idle voltage but not the cranking voltage. i bet you a dollar it is the positive cable itself, somewhere inside the insulation or immediately where either end meets the starter terminal or the battery terminal. trust me on this one. also check the negative ground cable where it connects to the water pipe on the motor, and the negative cable at the starter where it gorunds to the bellhousing bolt.

 

You were right, wierd, so the connections were fine to the battery before this whole shorting out and once I fixed the short the battery terminals need cleaning? That seems so odd that all of the sudden the terminals are just too corroded to start the car. I just cleaned them and it started right up. Now if I could just get rid of the stumbling and surging in the first 5 minutes of every drive.

[TheSubaruJunkie]

Double check your battery connections.

 

Sounds like you have a crappy connection, verify there is no corrosion on your terminals.

 

Hrm, looks like the very 1st reply knew what the problem was.

[GeneralDisorder]

Hrm, looks like the very 1st reply knew what the problem was.

 

Duh! If people only listened more to the advice they came here seeking - posts wouldn't be very long usually.

 

GD

[nipper]

Possibly a bad starter?

 

Check all the fuseable links with a meter. They can look ok but still be bad to the untrained eye.

 

Can you jump the starter with a (battery) Jumper cable, will it crank?

 

nipper

[Numbchux]

Possibly a bad starter?

 

Check all the fuseable links with a meter. They can look ok but still be bad to the untrained eye.

 

Can you jump the starter with a (battery) Jumper cable, will it crank?

 

nipper

 

wow......seriously, read the whole thread before responding. the problem was solved.

[nipper]

wow......seriously, read the whole thread before responding. the problem was solved.

 

sorry i am only human and make mistakes, no need for the snarkisim.

 

 

nipper

[Durania]

Hrm, looks like the very 1st reply knew what the problem was.

 

Thanks Brian.

 

I try my hardest to help people with Subaru problems. After about the third reply and he mentioned checking the coil, I gave up. Figured he would spend his Saturday checking the entire electrical system of the EA82T and then would come back empty handed. I have seen cars start up fine and run one minute. Then the next not start at all because of corrosion.

[TheSubaruJunkie]

Battery connections are the first place I look to when I have electrical problems. Expecially a problem like this, its OBVIOUSLY a loose connection.

 

No matter how clean your terminals seem to be, it only takes a day or two in the right conditions to cause enough corrosion to stop continuity.

[winterbottom321]

Thanks Brian.

 

I try my hardest to help people with Subaru problems. After about the third reply and he mentioned checking the coil, I gave up. Figured he would spend his Saturday checking the entire electrical system of the EA82T and then would come back empty handed. I have seen cars start up fine and run one minute. Then the next not start at all because of corrosion.

 

Gotta say I'm not too impressed with the sarcasm of a few on this thread. When I go from 6 starts a day, to not being able to crank over at all, having never moved the battery terminals or loosened them, I gotta say I was stumped. True, corrosion can cause these problems but it doesn't happen over night, that is why corrosion is a slow but deadly killer, especially out here in the dry climate. I cleaned the posts just a month ago. Their is something else going on electrical here.

 

I'm thinking a bad ground somewhere as my dash lights still dim a lot with the blinkers on, occasionally losses the trip memory a and b when the car is turned off, and the Bosch o2 and ecu don't get along without surging like mad in the beginning 5 minutes.

 

Aside from the ground from the bat to the engine block, what other grounds can I check to make sure they are clean and where are they? Downpipe does not have the bracket bolt into transmission hooked up. Is that a crucial ground point for the o2 to work right?

[Gloyale]

I cleaned the posts just a month ago. Their is something else going on electrical here.

 

I'm thinking a bad ground somewhere as my dash lights still dim a lot with the blinkers on, occasionally losses the trip memory a and b when the car is turned off, and the Bosch o2 and ecu don't get along without surging like mad in the beginning 5 minutes.

 

Aside from the ground from the bat to the engine block, what other grounds can I check to make sure they are clean and where are they? Downpipe does not have the bracket bolt into transmission hooked up. Is that a crucial ground point for the o2 to work right?

 

I agree some other things might be going on.

 

I have fought with digidash voltage issues before. The dashs are just wacky, espescially the orange ones. Focus on you're voltages everywhere else, that's really all that matters.

 

As far as other grounds, check the one on in the engine harness that bolts to one of the passenger side intake bolts. Be careful taking the bolt out, they like to snap. But that is the main ground for the ECU and all the sensors and solenoids.

 

The ignition switches themselves are prone to failure as well. Not even really *failure* so much as just won't conduct enough amps to power the starter. I'd wire in a fused pushbutton straight to the starter.

 

The O2 sensor may well need a better ground. I'd bolt up the pipe to the trans at anyrate. If anything hits it from underneath without it being bolted firm to the trans, the load will be placed on the turbine flange, and the up-pipe.(I broke the flange of my Up-pipe once this way)

[Cougar]

The dimming dash lights could be due to a bad ground between the dash area and the chassis. Also check the bonding to the chassis at the battery. I recommend you clean these connections with a soft wire brush, even if they "look" ok. This will eliminate them as possible trouble spots. The problem could also be due to bad connections at the fusible links. Make sure the connections are clean and snug. The poor grounding could be causing the engine trouble. Others have cleaned the grounds and reported the engine problems cleared afterwards.