legacycentral bbs

Ok, this past weekend I swapped a 97' 2.5 into my 97' L. So 2.2 out and 2.5 in. For some reason it is constantly blowing the fusible link. I have figured out through trial and error that it blows only when I plug the harness into the alternator. If I leave the alternator plug in disconnected it runs great and doesn't blow, as soon as it's
Plugged in it pops. At first I figured the alternator was messed up, but I swapped it for another and it still does it. I also swapped out all the relays in the fuse box on another hint I got, but that had no affect either. Anyone have any ideas?

maybe some how its sending power directly to the link instead of the battery?

Which alternator plug are you referring to, the two-wire plug just slightly offset to the left of center when standing in front of the car?

Have you looked at the wiring diagrams to see if everything is the same between the engine harnesses?

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... egacy_FSM/

I'm referring to the 2-wire harness offset to the left.

I don't do wiring diagrams, but everything I've read says there is nothing to rewire, people go 2.5-2.2 quite a bit, the reverse shouldn't e any different haha.

I've gotta go buy a volt meter tonight and do some investigation.

Well....something is different between the two harnesses, or something in the wiring harness got damaged during install and is causing your problem.

I can try and take a quick peak at the diagrams and see if I see anything that might be causing it.

Well I still can't figure this out. I tried a third alternator, that had no affect so it's a wiring issue for sure.

I played with the voltmeter, and with the alt unplugged, I'm getting the same volts on the battery as the alternator harness, so it's not giving the regulator the wring reading and causing it to over charge.

When I plug in the alt, the fuse blows, but the alt says it's putting out 13.8-14.2 volts ( car runs after the link is blown for some reason?)

The weird thing to me is that after the fuse blows, I'm still reading like 11.5v(or what ever the battery is at) on the fused side of the link....is that normal?

The alternator should put out about 13-14 volts.

Yeah, that's about what it's putting out.

If you could look at the diagrams and tell me where those wires go I would greatly appreciate it! I don't have a PC, and my iPhone won't let me open the diagram you linked above.

Ok, I'll make myself a reminder to look at it this weekend.

Well, I don't know the science behind it, but I replaced the fusebox and the problem seems to be completely gone. This is the 2nd Subaru I've had to replace the fusebox in...which leads me to believe that I am cursed.

Hmm....that's weird, but there may have been some loose wiring in there. What specific models & years did you have to replace the fuse boxes on?

My 92' SS and my 97' L

That is very weird. They're two completely different generation of cars. You may just have had bad luck/fortune and had two cars with issues in the fuse box.

He has even worse luck with batteries. Every time he buys a vehicle it needs a new battery right away.

New development: it still blows after a night of rain...