I have an 03' WRX (stage II w/ 110k miles) and I've been having some weird problems. For the last week my car has seemed like it's been running on battery more than alternator. Yesterday the dash light up like a Christmas tree, the gauges went crazy and the car started stumbling. I pulled over, popped the hood and checked the battery terminals and when I went to start it back up the battery was completely dead. The alternator was bought 3 weeks ago and the battery is brand new as of last night. I brought the alternator back to Discount Auto and they checked it twice and it came back good both times. I limped the car to Subaru and they keep telling me it's the alternator but they didn't have enough time to check it out thoroughly.

I brought the car in a few months ago for a starting issue (battery would die overnight, etc.) and they said it was a bad ground off the negative battery terminal. As of this point the car is running off of battery and the alternator is not charging it at all. Does anyone have any suggests for what to check next?

 

yeah, subaru dealers never really diagnose properly. they just replace stuff until the problem goes away. thats been my experience.

 

^^Tell me about it man, it just sucks living in an apartment because there's really no where to work on it.

I did notice that on the green plug on the alt. the middle pin had a little bit of corrosion/burnt mark on it. It was very faint but it seems like maybe that could potentially be it. Also I forgot to check the ground of the starter which I hear can cause some problems.

 

yeah any corrorsion will screw with your motor running. Clean all of your terminals with wire brush and get it down to the metal. Use a sharp blade if neccessary and scrape the terminals until all corrosion goes away. I just had to do this on my 02 wrx 73k florida car.

corrosion is a worst enemy, and it will throw signs like this. It might be something else, but i think its a good chance your crusty. haha

look like this?




if you look at it close it's quite beautiful how it forms.

 

If you live in the Sarasota area, I can check it out for you... I know it's a stupid question, but you didn't pop a belt, right?

 

The belts are all brand new (less than 3 weeks old).

The green pigtail connector w/ 3 pins that goes to the alternator had a little bit od reddish/brownish coloring on the middle pin, but it was very light. Do you think that this may lead to a problem like this?

 

it's outside of my immediate experience... I've never had that problem (where the alternator plug causes that). Have you checked the fuses/relays? Failing that, it COULD be a short somewhere, or the power to the alternator could be improperly secured...

 

did the problem start AFTER the alternator was replaced?