Subaru - Electrical-wiring - Legacy - Batteries :: Lost Power While Driving
Feb 18, 2011
This evening I drove our Subaru Legacy Wagon (1999) about 3 miles or so to the gym. When I pulled into the lot, I noticed my radio (tuned to NPR, no less) had gone off. Curious! A few seconds later, dashboard lights come on (ABS, maybe others). After that, engine goes quiet, car is dead -- turning the key does nothing at all, and the car is completely without power. Only the dome light works, and barely. I get a jump, and eventually the car starts back up --- but it took a while, and several tries, before I could get the engine going.
On the way home, I kept a careful eye on the RPMs -- when I was close, I noticed the ABS light pop back on, and the RPM needle go down to zero. I tried my best to keep the RPMs up by staying in first, and managed to park. Of course, the car was unresponsive when I immediately tried to restart it. Some quick internet searches suggest alternator, bad connections to the battery, and some other ideas. We've never had this problem before. The twist is that we're literally on the brink of selling this car -- we've got one more than we need. Thus, we'd be pretty bummed if we had to put much, if any, cash into the car just so we can get rid of it days later.
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I have a F250 towing a Big trailer and the RV folks have told me that while the factory seven prong will supply power to the RV, it would take a days to charge the RV batteries. So...
1) Does the connector not really significantly charge the batteries?
2) Is there a faster way to charge the RV batteries while driving?
3) Would instructions something like I found at How to Charge Two 12 Volt Batteries on an RV Towed by a Ford F-150 | etrailer.com work?
4) Would #3 eventually tax my alternator so badly that I kill it?
5) Would #3 fry the electronics in the trailer?
I'm trying to charge 2 6-volt marine deep charge batteries in series.
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My 1999 Ford Ranger XLT, 6 cylinder, auto trans, with 134K miles has an electric problem. When I turn the key to the 'on' position, all dash lights show normal, headlights work, radio plays, etc. But when I turn the key to the 'start' position, all electric power is lost. The power remains lost until I disconnect and reconnect the battery ground wire. After reconnecting, I again have power until the key is turned to the 'start' position. I was able to jump start the truck, so I assumed I needed a new battery. I bought one a week ago, and was back to normal until today. The truck started, I drove 4 miles to the grocery store, and then I found myself back to square 1 (i.e., the no-start situation).
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Was driving one day, and when I came to a stop sign, the car just died.. I couldn't start it up, so I pushed it to the side of the road.. I tried to turn the key again, and it fired right up... No issues for about a week, but then I came outside one morning, and the car was completely dead. No interior lights, dash wouldn't light up, nothing. (no cranking noise when you try to turn the key) I assumed it was because the battery was old, and the car had just been sitting there for about a week without being started up. I was about to give it a jump, but when I opened the door, the lights came on. I put the key in the ignition, the dash lit up, and the car fired right up.. No issues for about a week, until again, came outside, car was completely dead..
I used my other car to run up to the store, and when I came back, decided I would try to start up the DeVille again. Randomly, upon opening the door, the cabin lights lit up, and sure enough, car fired right up... no one had touched the car while I was gone.. I drove the car up to a shop near my house, where they tested the battery, which tested good. Terminals are all clean, and he made note that the ground connection to the car was also firm and clean. He offered to run a diagnostic the following Tuesday for $125. I returned home, drove the car once more over the weekend, but when I went to start the car Monday, it was again, completely dead. It's been over a week now, and I haven't been fortunate enough to get it to start. I again tried this morning in hopes that I would get lucky, but it's still completely dead.
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2002 f250 v10 4x4. Truck will loose all power...
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I bought a great 76' SuperCab with a 390 4 barrel Wednesday (the 30th) and while driving around the neighborhood this evening the truck just lost all power and came to a stop. No lights, no engine, nothing and I cruised to an easy stop (fortunately at the end of my own block). I thought I smelled a bit of electrical burn for a moment after I came to a stop but could not track it down before the smell disappeared.
Some early symptoms - on drive home from purchase, the turn signal light function was in and out. The starter was also turning slowly and sounded tired/weak. The ignition switch was a bit loose and previous owner said you had to make sure the key was not all the way to the right or accessories would not work.
Some early checks/fixes- replaced battery and battery cables and checked grounds. Starter began turning stronger and turn signal lights were back. Thought I had it going well.
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'03 E250 connector C3136 located by the left lower B Pillar---have lost power to the Brown wire which seems to be designated as Circuit 124.
Which fuse controls that circuit? I have a factory EVTM but I can't find what fuse to check. And here I though I knew something?!
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here its is i have a 1986 ford f350 6.9 aftermarket turbo set up i was driving it then i went over rail road tracks lost all power to fuse box no headlights no interior lights no ignition power batteries are good so now when i turn key nothing lights up it just killed my whole truck....
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My AWD 1996 Subaru Legacy Station Wagon suddenly loses power while I'm driving......
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I recently bought a 1969 chevy c10 pickup. I have been having problems with the electrical system, the battery consistently going dead despite a new battery and alternator installed by the previous owner. Is there a step-by-step for diagnosis of this problem?
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My 2001 F350 Super Duty diesel keeps draining my batteries for some reason, wouldn't crank on Friday. Put my battery charger on for a few hours and it started fine. The rest of the day fired up fine, on Saturday it happened again. Had both batteries charged and load tested today, they are good. Short???
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My F250 is acting like the battery is almost dead but its not. I've checked all the grounds I can think of, used jumper cables and clamped right to the body and still nothing. I put my battery charger in place of the battery and my charger almost caught fire! Where are all the ground points at and points to check? It was doing fine then this. I only found 3 ground points on the block and I bypassed all of them and nothing. There are 2 large on the front of the block, I was able to get one loose and "clean" it but not the other. The block to firewall is currently off so I can clean it in the morning.
But it didn't do anything. I can clamp anywhere are get the same results. There are a few threads about this truck and trying to get it back into shape. When it worked, when I turned the key on, gauges worked, RABS, Engine, and Battery light came on, GPs kicked on, etc... now, I get a very faint Batt light, Erie dinging, and not even the stereo now. This truck has been an electrical nightmare since day one. Spent 4 days on just under hood electronics alone. Haven't even moved towards the back. Also, Instead of using a 2/0 AWG wire to the starter, Can I use two 1/0 AWG wires to it instead since they used two separate grounds? It also still has a 2G alt.
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Yet again my honda is doing some new. My mid dash lights don't come on at all anymore (even when i start the car), my power drive and winter drive buttons don't work, I can't stop/start on a hill, I have to get 2rpms going to get anywhere, and my battery volts are over 12 when driving.
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tonight at 1am: I put the key in and turn the ignition, no start, no click, no dashboard warning lights, no nothing. headlights don't turn on at allearlier in the afternoon - didn't check headlights, but no start, no click, no dashboard warning lights. Sliding 1 key into the ignition gave me a somewhat steady buzzing sound from the car, the kind you get to indicate something electrical is happening (I guess that's what it's for.
I wish I were mechanically inclined.) Sliding the other key into the ignition gave me a much more sporadic buzzing sound. Like metal wasn't making contact, when it should. A few hours previous in the morning - car wasn't starting as described above. Someone pushes the car back from the front so we can make way for another car, to come in and give me a jump. I put the car in neutral, and notice that the dashboard lights and buzzer is on, so on a hunch, I try to start the car in neutral and it starts right up. I drive it to the home driveway, no problem.
2 days ago, I bought the car. A 97 nissan sentra. What it could be? Again, never a clicking sound when starting the car to indicate dead battery. I'm familiar with that.
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Driving down the road, vehicle lost all electrical power and died. There doesn't appear to be any juice at all to start it. The battery is fine (along with the terminals), the starter is okay too (although I don't see why that would affect total electrical flow). There were not any alarms on the vehicle. Is it the fuse box (negative terminal) or possibly the alternator? The alternator had been charging, and the battery showed that it had juice left in it. What would cause the vehicle to just die like that, in the middle of driving it? It's an LS type blazer with a 4.3 L engine.
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'98 Dodge Caravan occasionally loses power and dies while driving. No power steering or brakes. Have changed alternator, battery, starter, computer, and starter switch. What else could it be?
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I have a 2011 Ford F150 FX4, And for a while now i have been having a issue with the gauge cluster.
while driving once in a while all of the gauge cluster turns off then back on within a couple of second. all the lights for the traction control, air bag, engine.... turn on and then turn off just like when you start the truck.
The issue only last for a couple of seconds. And it can go for a day before doing it. Brought it to the Ford dealership and they said unless the gauges are completely off there is nothing to go on by. Also once in awhile the check advancetrac comes on and will be off next time i start the truck. Same thing dealer said there was no codes and nothing then can do.
I checked all the connection at the fuse box, gauge cluster. and no issues. had the truck running and try wiggling all of the connectors, in the truck one by one with no success in duplicating the issue.
Also notice that once in awhile my signal light will flas extremely slow when having the blinker on.
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Just bought a 2013 Subaru legacy sport. Within a week the car stopped 5 times while I was driving. There were no dash lights and all gauges were on zero. Had to restart the car each time. I Had it towed back to the dealership. They had the car 4 days and said they drove it 25 miles highway and stop and go. They said the car never just stopped while they were driving and they are giving it back to me tomorrow. I am afraid to drive this car. I will be driving highway to get home.
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Have a 1997 Subaru Legacy 2.2 liter. Having stalling issues after 20-25 minutes of driving. Will restart but gets shorter and ashorter intervals between stalls and then stalls right after start every time until in has sat a while and cools down. Changer ECU.
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Sitting in my living room I noticed that suddenly my headlights on my 97 Subaru ob turned on. First thought was someone was stealing my pos. Knife in hand I went to investigate. No one there. The keys were in the car, in the off position. The headlights all of a sudden turned off. I noticed that the dash lights were flickering on and off. I removed the keys yet the dash lights remained on. Not wanting my battery drained I disconnected the positive cable, which obviously corrected the issue for the time being. When I was disconnecting the battery I heard a mechanical whirring noise coming from the passenger side of the car just behind the headlight. Have never heard this noise before. NOT the intake fan or the AC. Did not investigate extensively due to darkness, wind and rain.
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I have a 2011 Legacy Sedan with 40K miles. Three weeks ago, I drove the car 25 miles in 90+degree heat on the highway. I parked at a store, did not use the electronic parking brake and when I returned to the car 5 minutes later and started it, the dashboard BRAKE light was flashing. The brake was not engaged. I tried to engage and release it, but it would not engage, when I pushed the button the car 'chirped'. I drove the car home and garaged it. The next morning (after a cooler evening) the light no longer flashed. At that time I was able to engage and release the electronic parking brake and it worked as designed.
A similar sequence has occurred on four different occasions. When I start a cool car, no light. When I start the car after it's been run for a while, I'm getting the flashing light.
I've checked the brake fluid and it's fine. I've checked the OBD and it shows no codes.
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