alternator installed -no headlights

[blue thunder]

against the advice of my mechanic i started my way home from the subaru shop so i could start work on my starter and alternator replacement. well i got about half way home (about one and a half miles and the engine studdered and stammered and shut off. my battery was really low so i figured it was the battery because of the known alternator problem. after getting a flatbed wrecker to take my car home($55) i just finished putting in the recharged battery and re-built alternator. the car wouldn't start until i pumped the gas pedal, and only for a short time. i was out of gas. i've never run out of gas in over six years driving this vehicle. a friend came by with a gas can and i went to the gas station to fill er up. i still have two problems. my regular beam headlights won't come on. i use the fog lights as my headlights. i have the clear headlight covers from smallcar.com. also, i failed to mention i also just installed a replacement starter that had went bad. i have to jiggle the key to get it to turn over and start. i haven't checked the security bolts someone had mentioned on another thread. will check that tommorrow. i checked for possible blown fuses but i didn't find any reference to headlights. sorry for the length. any suggestions would be great. thanks for reading. mike

[lee]

there are fuses for the headlamp circuits, look in the fuse block under the hood.

[Earthworm]

Also check that your headlights aren't blown.

A loose battery cable will fool the alternator into overcharging and sending out too many volts into the electrical system. I lost a set of headlights and fog lights because of a loose battery cable.

[blue thunder]

thanks for the advice on this matter. i was using aftermarket headlight bulbs and i still had my original ones. the failing alternator caused my bulbs to go out together. i replaced with my old ones and they came back on. i replaced my starter, alternator and had my battery recharged. still when i turn the key most of the time i get nothing not even a click. then the starter turns over and the engine starts. the starter sounds really weak compared to a normal one. i'm wondering if my battery is really fully charged and not suffering from the alternator meltdown. i'm going to have it tested tomorrow to eliminate that cause to my weak starter performance. thanks mike.