Serious Problem with car... WOW WTF?

[cj91legss]

OK i've had a few problems within the last month... and well my girlfriend thinks the legacy is having her period because i've been having a "new bitch" sitting in the car... wtf ever anyways

At first it started with dashboard lights flickering. then just recently it became enging ignition would not shut off with the turn of the key, car would stay running and everything. the battery, oil, and brake lights stay on at all times, but for some reason they're a little dim like they don't have enoug power. also the backlight to my stereo.

now it's real bad. when i went to drive it the other day, it was over boosting, and now the alternator is not charging. i checked all the fuses under the hood and the dashboard and they all seem fine.

as far as having electrical components installed, i "had" an apexi pen turbo timer installed based off of a wiring digram for our ignition i found on this site. I also have a cheapo stereo in.

i thought it might be the turbo timer because it was spliced into my ignition. i was wrong because when i disconnected it, the car still has problems.

My fear is that i might have shorted out some wires, and have to buy a new 5 speed harness.

Any ideas?

[magicmike]

1. When you say "disconnected the turbo timer", what did you do exactly to disable it?
2. Who installed your turbo timer?

Was the car good until you did the stereo or turbo timer?

[cj91legss]

The car worked fine before the turbo timer. I personally installed the turbo Timer. To disconnect the turbo timer, i just pulled the 12v const, Ign 1 and Ign2 wires off their connectors. there's no way for those 3 wires at the ignition to short out anywhere, ive already checked that. But i'm laying my money on that turbo timer tho.

[tahiti350]

sounds like it fried the ignition switch... too much draw thru it?

[cj91legss]

i tried exchanging the ignition switch the last time i had problems and it didn't help at all. i suppose after work i will mess with it again. if that doesn't help any, im going to pull the dashboard and spend my weekend looking at my wiring harness.

[magicmike]

You would pop a fuse or fusable link way before you melted anything in your dash, dont waste your time seaching for a ghost in there. Also, there is only 1 ignition wire needed to keep the car running not 2. If the TT linked these without isolating them then with it connected its possible that something screwy was going on. you need to tell me exactly what wires you connected to at the column, wire colors not 12V and ign.

[cj91legss]

ok so there's 12v const which was BLACK/YELLOW, Ign 1 which was RED, and there was some link on here that said the Accesory/Heater was IGN 2 RED/YELLOW. and since i got it off here, i figured it wa correct. so i think that's where my mistake was. I too thought that there was no IGN 2 but when i saw that i thought oh hmm.... maybe this is correct. It was working for the longest time, then out of nowhere i started having problems. I'm hoping i did no serious damage but obviously something is wrong.

[Aerotech]

Re-check the fusible links, the green ones under the hood; I had one crack, but it looked OK from outside, it even checked good on a multimeter, but it would not carry current.

[magicmike]

ok, there is some confusion here.

Just for some clarification here:
The definition of an ignition wire at the steering column is this:
The wire will turn to 12V with the key in the ON position and remain at 12v durring cranking and until the car is running then probably show the alt voltage from there.
The definition of a accessory or heater wire at the column is such that there will be 12v present with the key in the acc position AND in the on position and then it will DROP OUT during the crank
for a turbo timer to work on your car you only need 1 ignition wire, the red one.

What you saw refferd to as ign 2 ACC/Heater is used for a remote starter to engage the blower motor. Subaru only uses 1 ignition wire so thats all you need here.

The reason I think there may be an issue is because like i said before I don't know if your turbo timer was seperating the two circuits or not.

ONLY hook up 1 ign and see how it goes from there.

[cj91legss]

I have had to take the timer out completely now. Even after not even having the timer in i would still have problems... ignition not turning off at all, lights staying on, no heater at all, and even my boost solenoid making weird ticking noises all the time. also over boosting, which is confusing the hell out of me. and now the alternator will not charge.

My friend was inquiring about this issue at a shop here in town, and they told him that people are often misled by the IGN 2 thing hat is apparently non existant. common problems here were burned up ignition wires, melted wires grounding out or melting other wires and thus leaving power to objects in the car.

so i was "instructed" to follow my IGN wires from start to finish.

[magicmike]

ok, unless someone has put a penny in one of your fuse holders or an actualt piece of wire in your fusable link holder I can basically bet my left nut your not going to find anything. I understand your frustrated. what about the stereo wiring? Was this car ever flood damaged?

[cj91legss]

Nope never been flood damaged. i performed the full turbo legacy swap about 2-2 1/2 years ago. ive had the car for 4.

[evolutionmovement]

It's a long shot, but try pulling the fuses out, checking them and re-installing them. Sounds weird, but my Mazda was just displaying weird issues (though things were going out and it was behaving as if the alternator was going) and it turned out to be a mis-installed fuse from the factory. The fuse was not blown, but one prong was bent and was only barely contacting. For whatever reason, it took almost 78k miles to show itself. Mazda also, apparently, ran every minor accessory through it. Better than losing important shit that would strand me in Roxbury, MA, but still aggravating.

[cj91legss]

The night before last i went thru the fuses. i hope i can figure this out soon...