scoobcabbie

Had my 54 sti impreza since october 1994 car has only done 3000 miles has I don't get out in it as much as I like to. Yesterday being one of those days when i was going to use the car goes to the garage noting the battery flat alarm goes off could not stop with the key so had to punch in pin number . Call subaru assistant for help and the man form Ontine rescue turns up a 1 and a half hour later jumps the battery then checks the voltage, not getting any charge from alternator but alternator is getting rather hot which he said "this was not right".
Has anynone had a problem with a low mileage car and their alternator.

PS Im new to this forum .

corradoboy

There is a well documented problem with new-age (post 2000) Scoobs and battery failure. It has been isolated down to the so-called "smart" alternator, which only charges the battery when there is enough detectable current draw. Unfortunately, the way the system is set up, when the engine is running and there are no electrical devices being used (lights, fans, aircon, ICE) then the battery gets no charge, and for many people, this can be for a long time. Also, STi's fitted with the RAC Trackstar system suffer the worst, as the Trackstar unit remains active for many hours after parking before going into sleep mode, and can be woken from that mode by strong vibration. If you live near a busy road, this means that it may never actually go into sleep mode, and thus be permanently creating a small draw. These small current draws combined with no regular charge kill the battery regularly on these cars.

The most successful solution seems to be to simply leave the sidelights on all the time. This creates a noticable draw and thus the alternator allows charge to the battery, permanently. There is also a revision to the Trackstar system available which changes the delay time on the sleep setting, and reduces the vibration sensitivity.

In the first instance, I'd contact the dealer with the "Assist" guys comments on the alternator possibly being faulty, and ask them to inspect and possibly replace both the alternator and battery. I'd contact RAC Trackstar and enquire about the chip upgrade, and then switch the sidelights on, and leave 'em on !

HTH, and welcome to SNet