legacycentral bbs

I have had trouble free motoring from my trusty old 1995 Legacy up until this morning... On my way to local shop I noticed wipers running a lot slower then normal..bucketing with rain here in Ireland. Came out of the shop and found my battery flat..! Its a new battery so I am looking at Alternator issues..have not put a meter on it yet as I have to boost charge the battery first. I decided to pop up to our local breakers yard where there is a 1996 Legacy Wagon that is for parts, bought the alternator on the off-chance it needs to be replaced.

Shock horror I notice the little plug in socket is totally different to the one on my car. Its a little rectangular socket and the one on my car is circular...

My legacy is an import (USA I think) and i may have problems getting the correct replacement.

Any advice on where I can purchase some service exchange Alternators, and are alternator failures common on this model...(silly question I suppose) I am hoping its a battery, or perhaps a fuse which I will check later.

Cheers and thanks for any assistance

Regards

Paul

If you're up to it, you could probably swap out that little fitting on the alternator with the correct one from your car. I've done that, never with different fittings, but replaced a broken one on a brand new unit - very straightforward. Otherwise your best bet for used is probably to buy one off ebay from the states.

The OEM alternators are bullet proof, in my experience. The aftermarket/rebuilt ones are absolute crapola (aside from the performance units, that is).

Hey thanks Morgan...I have done some testing tonight on the car and its all pointing to the Alternator. I will put a photo up later that shows the connection block...three push on spade connectors, looks like two are for warning light and the other is the positive feed wire to the unit itself.

In Ireland so called "Euro" Legacies have a push in rectangular terminal block. What sort of money $$$ are the OEM units on your side of the pond.? I don't want to purchase from scrapyard as the comfort zone is zero.
Cheers and thanks again for your reply

Regards

Paul