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So last year the car was acting up alot, the Gauges would go hay wire and the car would die and refuse to start until it was jumped. Well after data logging with my laptop we found the Alternator was taking a poo. We replaced it in Feb. and all has been well.

Today Im driving down the highway I tap the brakes to slow down. My ABS light comes on and stays on, then my gauges die and come back and die again. Then my radio shuts off, the engine is running still but refuses to hit boost. I pull over and shut her off, only to find, it wont start up again! All my stuff worked, windows, radio, AC. Just no starting power.
Got a jump and it started right back up, No problem, get about a mile down the road, and it does it again. I limp the dead car to the nearest garage and ask them to take a look. So it will be a few days before I hear anything.

So somthing in my car is hungry for Alternators it looks like...
Any Idea's what might cause this?

Possibly a Short in the electrical system. I had an '89 S-10 do this and it turned out to be a bad harness on the coil.

yea sounds like a short somewhere, My friend brandon had that exact same prob with his WRX and I forgot what was exactly wrong with it tho..

As I suspected, They called today and said the new Alt. Was toasted and they couldn't find a reason for it other then the part is junk.

Time to fight with Advanced Auto Parts over getting a new one...

Alright, so they pulled the Advanced Auto Parts AC Delco Alternator off and bench tested it at the store, They said it was benching fine. The Shop the car is at says Its bad because its only pushing 7amps.
After putting there heads together and calling around, there diagnosis is that the car's ECU is the problem and that it will need to be replaced. They think its not telling the Alternator when to charge the battery properly and that is causing it to fail when in the car.
Any thoughts?

^^^^^ honnestly i think you better off taking it to a subaru dealer and have them look at it. i think they know better then any advanced auto parts store. plus if they say it's the ECU that is the problem you still have to order it through subaru.
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Brunette lesbian

Ya so I did call a Subaru Dealership today, ran the problem by the guy on the phone. He educated me that the ECU does NOT control the Alternator on the WRX. And that they see dead aftermarket Alternators on subaru's all the time.

So back to needed a new Alternator, Thank god...

lol, the computer is not telling the alternator to charge the battery hahahhaahhhahahahahahhaahahahhhahhahahahah ahahahahahaahhaah hahaahahahahah ahahaahahahahhahaha ahaaaaa


oh man thank you, that made my morning


when your needles go haywire, there is a short happening... the power gets cut, then back on, then cut again... could be that the computer is seeing the low battery voltage and trying to cut power, but really, you should know right away that either a connection is not right or there's battery problems... even if you still have radio and shit after, you can run that till your battery is completely dead, but that wont give you enough power to start... probably also why it didnt have enough juice to fire the coil/plugs to get you into boost... in my old 96 one time i had problems with the needles and shit, and it was actually a bad ground i left loose.... maybe your alternator ground is bad and that's why it's testing fine but on the car it's only making 7A? or another ground could be bad....

it could also be the battery itself not charging properly, though what's the chance right? start with an OEM alternator and go from there... the last guy you talked to is right, the alternator does its own thing independent of what the engine is doing

Hit NASIOC quick!!!
Just kidding. What he said^