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Wacky Warning Lights
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 10:48 pm
by Subaru_Nation555
I was driving today and when I stopped and when I turned the car back on the battery and brake light remained lit. I turned the car off and waited a couple of hours and it didn't make a difference. The brake fluid level and parking brake were not the issue. Anyone have any idea whats going on? Thanks.
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 10:53 pm
by Manarius
Reset the ECU and see if it gives you those again.
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 7:23 am
by Legacy777
More then likely you're alternator is going out.
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 12:15 pm
by Manarius
Legacy777 wrote:More then likely you're alternator is going out.
That's possible, but why would it throw the brake light indicator if the alternator is going? I thought that the brake system didn't run on electricity.
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 5:35 pm
by Legacy777
The alternator is tied into to the dash warning lights some how. I don't recall exactly how it's wired, but there have been several people that have had this happen.
If you d/l the factory manual from me, it has electrical diagrams, and you can probably trace the alternator's wiring to see exactly why it does what it does.
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:36 pm
by professor
the lights come on when the voltage is too high, I measured about 15.5V when the lights would flash on
replace the alternator and it will be fixed, and likely some of the surging you may have been experiencing, will be fixed as well. high voltage (bad regulator) seems to do bad things to idle quality and smoothness of acceleration, it fowls up the sensor signals or ecu output or both
chekc your ground strap first, clean it up, and the wiring harness plug to the alternator. if you lose the ground its the same behavior as a bad regulator, and you'll cook your battery (nice sulfur smell)
Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 5:21 pm
by Subaru_Nation555
Well i started the car again and the lights were still on. On the drive to the car store it seemed really sluggish and the radio lights went off at one point. Got the battery/alternator tested and it is the alternator thats bad. Im getting a new optima battery and the alternator rebuilt tomorrow. Thanks for the help.
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 10:04 pm
by Subaru_Nation555
Well got the new alternater and the optima red top attery today. The car starts up faster and the windows and lights are brighter when the cars off. Glad I got that problem straightned out.
Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:16 am
by rallysam
Just for the archive... I had the exact same problem and it turned out that the alternator connector was broken and hanging slightly loose. So yes, this is pretty common problem.
Lots of unrelated warning lights on the dash =
= bad voltage
= bad alternator or associated wiring.