battery light on, car off??

[wolffe69]

So, either I'm blind, or dumb, couldn't find any specific thread topic that covered this. (Unless it's labeled something different, and I didn't catch on. if someone needs to move it to where it should be, feel free.. just leave me a map in case I get lost.)

 

But here's the story (get ready, it's a doozy)

 

I have a 1992 legacy, manual, non turbo. It has a whopping 312,xxx miles on him. (Everyone else calls their rides a female. It's rattle canned primer black. This one's too fugly to be female, so I call him Bones.. short for Boneshaker, I'll explain that later)

 

I have had the car a little over a year, and as of today, (including what was on the car when I got it) I am now on alternator #3 and battery #2.

 

The issue I had today? I replaced the alternator, and when I took the old one out, the 2 wires held on the wire nut (not the plug) looked like a chunk of charcoal. OBVIOUSLY something fried. (NO CLUE what, much less how!)

While I was at the wrecking yard pulling the alternator, I also jacked the wiring for it to replace when I got home.

 

So.. The alternator swap went smoothly, but... The original wiring had one big fat white wire which ended up splitting 3 ways.. 2 for the alternator "nut" one for the plug.

The ONLY wiring that was intact had TWO white wires instead of 1 coming from the fustercluck going through the fender well. Since the power all goes the same way, I didn't see an issue....

Well.. there is one now.

Car off. No key in the ignition...

Battery light is on all by its lonesome little self.

 

Huh?

Didn't do that before!

 

So the question is... WTF?

 

Now.. the rest of the car (here's one for your nightmares)

The kid I got the car from... lowered it..... by cutting the coils.

I got replacements, but can't afford the alignment required after replacing, so it rides low. And rough. Last time I rode on something that thumpity bumpity, was the wooden roller coaster at 6 flags in Cali in the mid 90's. (hence the name Boneshaker)

The fenders in front are rusted and from all the other little rust spots on the car, I fear it was a car that was submerged when the town of Centralia WA flooded a few years back. (Might be why I keep getting the error code 44.. this is NON turbo, I figure the ECU was replaced?) I mean.. the bolts holding the seats are rusted for gosh sake!

The ABS light is always on. I read elsewhere that removing the fuse for ABS would stop that, but nope. (Oh, the Hill Hold was disconnected as well. as in.. the cable leading to it was chopped off.) so there's an issue with the ABS. (It still screeches on a dime though)

 

The big issue here really though is that dang electrical issue. and before anyone asks, yes, I took the negative cable off the battery, and the test light lit up when bridging the terminal and cable. I'm completely stupid at looking for a dead short, and money... well... there's not enough to pay someone to figure it out.

 

Somewhere, I found mention of a possible bad fusible link, but nothing online NOR in this poor excuse of a car manual (Chilton) says where the dang thing is.

 

Does anyone have any idea why the battery light in the dash is lit up with NOTHING else on in the car? And no, it didn't do this before I swapped out the alternator.

[Max Capacity]

I seem to recall the battery light will stay on if there's a problem in the voltage regulator. But that thought is from back in the old day's...1970's.

[wolffe69]

but with the car off, and no key in the ignition the light would remain on?

Isn't the voltage regulator built in to the alternators of today?

I REALLY wish I could afford to have the beast looked at by someone smarter than me, but since I cannot, I am hoping someone that is smarter than I can give me some ideas, or things to look for/at.

[meier motor sports]

has the ignition switch been tampered with so when the key is off it isnt really off?

[wolffe69]

no. The ONLY thing done was replacing the alternator and the burned sections of wire harness going to the alternator. No changes were made anywhere else.

 

Oh, and from the original posting, I found the fusible link. Feel retarded for not looking in the engine bay fuse box, where it was... label and all.

[Osei]

You obviously have juice going when it shouldn't. Look up the wiring diagram and find out. You don't want that bulb to blow. Subaru's are strange in that if that bulb blows the alternator circuit is cut and it won't charge the battery!

 

O.

[wolffe69]

But.. you see... I don't know how to read wiring diagrams. I have disconnected the negative cable, and put a multi-meter from the terminal to the cable, and there IS a power drain somewhere. WHERE I have no clue. When i have the actual time to do so, I was thinking about just leaving that set (multi-meter in between) and pulling one fuse at a time until there is no drain, and see if I can figure it out that way. Problem there is? If I go through them all, and nothing registers, then what? (I know! FOR SALE sign, lol)

[Osei]

Somewhere in those wires which were destroyed before is a bare wire that is grounding out. First remove the two white wires that are connected to the alt post and check them.

Those two white wires eventually go back to 45A fuses in the engine bay #'s 3, 4 and 5.

 

O.

[wolffe69]

like I said, I don't know how to read wiring diagrams. I have that in the haynes manual for it.

[wolffe69]

I'll try what you said though, and let you know what I find, thanks!!