WRX starting problem

[slowsuby]

So I let my wife drive my car to work today and on the way home, the ABS light came on, all the gauges stopped working, and the radio shut off. Thank god this happened right around the corner from our house. After turning it off it wouldn't start up again. Classic symptoms of a dead battery. So I jumped it. Started just fine. The ABS light was off while it still had the jumper cables attached, all the gauges worked fine, and the radio worked fine. Soon as I disconnected it, they all quit again and it wouldn't start. So, where to start? I'm assuming the Alternator is bad. Any way to test this without actually buying a new one?

Also, It just got back from the Subaru dealership yesterday getting the fuel rail replaced due to a recall. Any chance this is related at all? This is literally the first thing that has ever gone wrong with this car. Its weird that all of a sudden it did this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Big Willy]

To test if the alternator is bad turn the car on for a little while, then disconnect the battery from the car, if the car is still running then your car is getting all of its power from the alternator, meaning that it works.

If it does work, your battery may be nearly dead, maybe there is a short somewhere caused by the installation of the fuel rail? Not sure at this point.

[Jdmitr]

All you need to do is start the car and check the voltage. If it is close to 14v at the battery your alternator is charging. If not (like around 10-12v) then it isnt. If it is charging then you prob have a bad cell in the battery or your terminals arent making good enough contact.

[slowsuby]

Thank you. I'll try that.

[slowsuby]

So, I went and invested 15$ in a VOM and tested my battery. I started my car and while I was getting the fucker out of that ridiculously hard-to-open packaging, my car died. So I jumped it with my wife's jeep and it fired right up. I pulled the cables and tested it at a whopping 5.8. It started slowly dropping and the car started stuttering so I shut it off. I'm going to pull the alternator either tonight or tomorrow and get it tested but I'm almost positive that its the alternator. If the alternator tests fine than I know its the connections or something else. But as of now, I'm pretty sure I need a new alternator which leaves me with another question.

Where should I get one? Does VatoZone or Schucks carry something like that? Is there a place that sells rebuilt ones around here? And how much am I looking at? I can probably replace it by myself depending on how the extraction goes. So I'm just looking to buy one. It sucks that I don't have a garage or driveway to work on. I have to do it on the street in front of my house. If anyone wants to come drive by and yell words of encouragement, feel free. lol.

[nomorepoison]

Ive replaced 2 alternators on subies and its very simple. For new prices, you are looking at around 200, used you can get them for $50. If you can wait, get one on ebay, they tend to be in the $75 range and they seem to work just fine, its what I used both times (different cars). And the symptoms I agree point directly at the alternator.

[slowsuby]

Well, I pulled the alternator (yes nomorepoison, it was super easy) and got it tested at vato zone. It tested fine. So I put it back in and brought in the battery. I didn't realize that the battery was 6 and a half years old! They couldn't even test it because it was so dead and old. So I'm sure its the battery. I'm going to take it to Les Schwab seeing as how they are usually pretty decent for batteries, and have them charge it up and test it to make absolutely sure that it is a bad battery.

Funny story, I tried searching for a step by step guide to removing the alternator on a WRX and all I found was "its super easy". lol. It was.

[slowsuby]

So, I bought a new battery. 12.4v while off, 14.5 while car is on. Worked like a charm. Thank you for your help guys.