Just kinda came out of no where. I drive an Aspen White '03 Sedan WRX with less than 35000 miles. I was following my friend into the bottom deck of Newpark Mall's bottom parking when my engine cut, and all the power died out. Power brakes went down, power steering went out, power windows went out. So I e-braked. I tried to leave the car on the on position to see if the lights would light up multiple times. But no lights. I tried to start the engine even after waiting for a little bit to notice that my car didn't even kick over and turn. I tried to jump start the car hoping maybe it was just a battery outage, but to no avail. Got my car on a flatbed and it's sitting in my driveway and I'll be taking it to Carlsen Subaru on Monday.

Why did my alternator go out? Could an aftermarket alarm burn it and void the warranty? What went wrong? What would be your best suggestions to go about fixing this problem? Thanks.

 

with dead alternator, you should still be able to jump start the car.

remember, the batt starts the car, not the alt...

did you check the voltage of the batt? does the CHECK ENGINE light flash?

 

If you have AAA, they have a mobile electricle test system, give them a call

 

Alternators go bad. It's not an uncommon thing. Your car is under warranty still, so Subaru will cover it. You should have called the dealership in the first place because they would have paid for the tow also... hopefully that's what happened though.

Anyway, it's super easy to swap. 3 bolts, one little nut. Like 20 minutes. If you weren't under warranty, you could pick one up at Kragen/AutoZone/junk yard and swap it yourself.

Crazy thing is that this just happened to my 'other car' ('89 mazda 323 hatch) on Friday. The girlfriend was driving it and leaving SF, and I happened to be there in my car also. The car died on 19th right before the 280, and she was in the left lane! hahaha. Anyway we got it over to the right side. I happened to have my tool box in my car. We went to Kragen's, bought an alternator, I swapped it on the side of the road, during rush hour, in like 45 minutes (MUCH more of a PITA than on a Subaru). Then jumped the car off of my 13 lb lightweight race battery (which was totally fine!) and it was good as new.

The one on my Subaru was replaced a couple years ago also at like ~ 60,000 miles. They're just wear-and-tear items and they do go bad occassionally.

Jeremy

 

I can turn on and off my alarm, and the lights still blink. And as I know it, the alternator is what keeps the car running, so if it goes out jumping the car wouldn't work anyhow. Like I said in the previous post, no lights what so ever come on when it is in the on position, not evne the CEL.

 

If the battery is fully charged and the alternator doesn't work, you can expect about 20 minutes of run time. The car (spark plugs, etc) will run off of the battery alone just fine, but not for long... the alternator normally keeps the battery charged. So if you jump started it then yeah, it would start, but it would die pretty much as soon as you unplugged the other car, which would basically be running both cars siamese twins style

 

Not so, professor.

If he's discharged the battery to such a low voltage (8v) that the entire vehicle dies, casual jump starting isn't going to fix it. Nor is it going to start without at least a couple of hours on the jumper cables. How do I know?? Experience. Several times over.

I've been stuck out in the middle of the Mojave desert with a dead alternator, and it's not fun. I wound up finding an Autozone who gave me a new battery *under warranty* even though they pretty much knew it was an alternator. That gave me enough time (with everything non-essential powered off) to make it to somewhere where they could install a new alternator (also under warranty).

I've also been stranded in Laughlin, NV/Bullhead City, AZ where their response to having an alternator in stock is... "What's a Subaru??"

 

well most the time when something of mine brakes i buy a new one...

 

Well I don't know if that's always the case. The Mazda was DEAD... parking lights would come on at about 1/10 the normal brightness and would flicker, but the rest of the electrical system was a write-off. No dash lights, not even a "click" from the starter. The battery was completely discharged.

Anyway, I hooked up the cables to my idling car and let it sit for maybe a minute. The Mazda started right up. Started like normal, even. ...it has a pretty old, pretty cheap battery, too...

...and my car has a 13 lb Odyssey, lol.... which worked shockingly well! Even with the other car's battery charging off of it, it held a solid 14 volts the entire time. I was really impressed.

Jeremy

 

the lights came on at all, then there was some juice left in that battery. The DEAD I'm talking about is so complete, that no lights will light up, you won't have enough juice in the battery to light the cigarette lighter.

Hope this never happens to you.

 

that's why i said he can still jump start the car (the "good" car providing the juice to start the "bad" car).

but when the car is running, the alternator provides all the electrical power to the car, UNLESS it is dead.

in this case, the battery will provice the juice to run the car until the overall load of the car overcomes the batt and then all is dead.

now if the alt is dead and the batt is dead, and you try to jump start the car, as soon as the batt cables are unhook from the good car to the bad car, then the bad car should almost die immediately since that gives power to the ECU and no power = dead car.


just curioous was this on the MOJAVE ROAD?

 

my suggestion.....our stock alternators SUCK. they put out BARELY enough energy to support our stock needs. Add a stereo system of any kind and your hosed.

Basically..it should still be under warranty so you can call your dealership...if you have the 100k warranty like I do they will tow it to the closest dealership and pay for repairs and a rental.

If not...I think you'll have to have it towed. Or tow it yourself if you have the means.

me personally....I'd say screw them and if you can afford the downtime..have your stock one rewound to give you a bit more juice. When mine goes...that's what I plan to do.



As for this whole jumping business. I think the dude got it backwards...you can do a battery bypass jump/alternator jump. You can run WITHOUT an alternator but you batter has to be kick ***. You can run without the battery if your alternator is working...but you can not run without both.

When the alternator goes it starts to draw off the battery. When you're up and running you can go for a while but eventually it will kill the battery.

Least it's that way for older cars. Not sure how the computers of newer cars like alt jumps.



I'd say get it warranteed or buy a better alternator and install it yourself.

 

Heh, another diagnostics from a tow truck guy was a blown 50Amp Fuse! Which cut almost all power. =P Anyone know how much a 50Amp fuse with the model number of D715 costs?

 

depends if you can only get it from a subaru dealer.

otherwise, like $5 or so...

 

you can get those at the parts stores.... like $3.