*Help alternator problems

so last night i was driving home and the car slowly just died on me. it was late so i decided to leave it there until this morning. well this morning when i got there i tried to start it and it wouldn't turn over so i tried to jump it but my batt was totally gone. so i went and got a new battery. i installed it and it turns over fine but it wont start. there is a weird clicking noise that is coming from the front of the engine bay. does my alternator need to be replaced? cause if thats all it is ill do it myself. if its not the alternator i will have it towed.

 

i dont think its the starter cause it has no problems turning over. and the starter wouldn't have caused the car to die like it did. im almost positive its the alternator just want to bounce that idea off you guys. the clicking sound is while the keys are in the on position not from trying to start the car. im 4 miles from the car now back at home. got to wait til a friend can come get me to go work on it this afternoon.

 

ok next question. the wrx alt is 75amp and the sti is 90. will the sti alt directly bolt up to my bugeye or should i not worry about the extra 15 amps. also the sti alt at autozone is way cheaper than wrx.

 

you said that you replaced the battery and the car will turn over but not start? if that's the case there's another problem somewhere. the car would start with a fresh battery even with a bad alternator...unless the alternator is completely seized up. like alex said once you get the car started check your voltage with a multimeter and make sure its charging..should read around 14v

 

ok but the car wont start. ive tried extensively. to the point of running the new batt low and needing to be jumped and that still didn't work. i should just have it towed somewhere huh. i just dont want a huge bill if all it needs is an alt.

 

It's like Ben said, if you put a new battery in it, and it still won't start, it's not an alternator problem. While there may be an alternator problem, it's not going to keep your car from starting with a new/fresh battery. If it were an alternator problem, the car would start via the battery and run until the battery was discharged (because the alt. isn't recharging the battery).

Have you changed anything lately?? or had any work done?>?

 

You try to push start it? Sounds like the alt to me as well!!

 

new air filter, put the bov that came with car back on cause the one i had wasn't closing properly and replaced the elbow that goes between the turbo inlet pipe and the intake cause it had a hole in it. haven't tried to push start.

 

Might have some teeth messing on the starter? You throwing any cels?

 

no cels. the only thing after market electronics is alarm. the only thing drawing is me trying to start this pos car. im gonna try to push start it when i get back over there. otherwise im just going to have it towed.

 

i was even stepping on the brakes for good measure. you mean im not supposed to have all that stuff running? :fawk:

 

well took it to a shop and they think something is fucked with my utec. so i guess i need a new ecu. man is this turning into a nightmare. if i get a cobb ap2 can topspeed give a limp map so i can get up there and tuned cause im not sure i trust any tuners in florida.

 

pretty stressed. i guess im gonna get it towed back to my house so i can prob around a lil see whats going on. ill be back with an update Mañana.

 

rip the carpet up on the pass side and take out your ecu and try blowing it out with air or something...shit i donno

 

Talk to Doug and he will send you a limp map for a AP so you can make the trek to see them.

 

The good old NES trick. Well played.

 

had a car the other week with a starting problem and it would randomly throw a crack sensor code. the car would not start and was towed to the dealership. long story short the problem was that the utec was causing the problem. i unplugged the utec and plugged the connectores into the stock ecu and the car started rite up.

 

gonna try that king. thanks for the look out.

 

the car also had a aem cai that was causing starting problems for some reason i cant explain. all i know is that the car would not start with the aem cai and then when i put a stock air box or a spt intake on it it started and ran fine

 

well i unplugged the utec and plugged it back in still no start. plugged in stock ecu car starts. plugged utec back in no start. im going to put my old nasty k&n filter back on and see if maybe that helps. ive read of the aem cai problems before but didnt think pertained to me cause i have a short ram. but ill try anything at this point. it's definitely the utec though.

 

Time to call Doug for a limp map to get your arse up here. UTEC FTL.

 

so it runs with out utec, is it running good plugged into stock ecu? if so then your short ram should be fine if filter is clean

 

filter is brand new. yes it runs off the stock ecu. i limped it home instead of towing it and it drove fine a lil rough at idle. but it drives and starts no prob on the stock ecu. im kinda busy today so im not gonna get a bunch of time to look at it before 3 or so. but first thing when i get home im going to do a complete visual inspection of the utec and see if there is an visual damage. then ill put the dmm on it. although with all those wires im not sure where to start.

 

its going to be hard to pin out the utec without any type of wiring schematic. i couldnt see anything visually wrong with the utec fromthe car i was telling you about. also make sure that the maf is sealing correctly. if the seal is messed up and the car is sucking un metered air it can give you that problem. also maybe try cleaning the maf or replacing it.

 

would the unmetered air thing work in reverce. like if i had a hole in the intake after the maf and took care of it could it be cuase me problems cause now its actually metering all the air? anyways ill check the maf. thanks again king for walking me through this.

that is what im leaning towards. mindy was driving me home and i was the passenger. i might have been a lil heavy footed when getting into the car. idk thats the only thing i can think of at this point.

 

definitely toasted some parts on this. my tools are down in the car from installing an avcr before i get tuned tomorrow so i haven't opened it up yet. i decided to do an open ecu tune with a local tuner. post up results tomorrow. at least now i wont have that huge bulge in my passenger side floorboard. :unamused:

 

UTEC FTL.

glad to hear you are getting it up and running again.

 

350whp 328wtq on a mustang dyno with a stock clutch with 108k and still no slippage. hopefully ill get the graph tomorrow in email. car runs great.

 

Nice....UTEC FTL