Subaru Repair: Brake Light / Battery Light / Major Rain, windshield wipers, appendix rupture

Question
Hi, after driving home in a major rain story earlier this week our Subaru Outback's brake light and battery light came on.  As we had only about three miles left in the trip and the car seemed to be having no problems we continued driving.  By the time we pulled into the yard our ABS light came on as well and the windshield wipers had slowed down.  Thinking it might be rain problems we parked the car for two days to dry out.  When I went out to the car it started right up and I drove it a 2 mile distance to the bank, where I left it running, and to the post office where I turned it off.  When I came back from the post office the brake and battery light came on again.  The car, minus the two lights, is driving fine though the left blinker is flashing a lot faster than the right side, though none of my lights have burnt out.  Any ideas of the problem?  Our regular mechanic just had his appendix rupture and is out of commission for two weeks!

Answer
You probably have a charging system problem. Most likely, your alternator is bad. Check the belt, and the battery first. When an alternator goes bad and cant keep up with the demands of your cars electrical system, the different systems start to shut down. Then the warning lights for each of the respective systems come on, and eventually, the car dies and will not restart without a jump. When the heavy rain happened, you were using just about everything you could - lights, wipers, defrost, and who knows whatever. Call a Subaru dealer with your vin and have a recall check done before you pay someone to put an alternator on - because it might be free! Also, check prices, the Subaru alternator is pretty affordable for most years, compared to aftermarket parts. And, if you would like, you can e-mail me your vin at spwilkins@yahoo.com and I will check for recalls for you.  Good luck. Z