Subaru - Outback :: 2005 - Battery / Alternator / Starter / Parasitic Drain Fine But Dies?
Jun 26, 2016
What is wrong with her car. It is an 05 subaru outback 3.0. She bought it 4 months ago. A week ago the battery died at red light. It tested bad and was replaced. Then yesterday it died at stop sign. Jumped it and died in 5 seconds. Before dying, car would not rev. Jumped it leaving cables on for 5 minutes since battery was almost drained. She made it half mile back to office and coasted into lot. Battery tested good but drained and was fully charged. Alternator tested 7 times to be certain. We bought a 10A multimeter (our town has no 20A).
Tested for parasitic drain. No results. We took Alternator off and tested a couple more times. We took out non essential fuses to be safe. Nothing was left running. There was a phone charger that has been plugged in for the whole four months. She took it out for good measure. Starter tested good. 3 people said battery cables are good. They appear to be non corroded and tight imo as well. They checked fuel pump. All was well.
She wants to go on vacation for the 4th but is scared to try. Mechanic friend said wait until it happens again, go to o reileys and demand them replace the battery as it has to be bad even if testing good. I'm not sure of this is the correct approach, but what else is there? One online mechanic said a voltage test on electrical system is next step but only a few select mechanics even know how to do it such as one that specializes in electrical wiring or something like that.
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I have a a 2003 or 2004 Nissan Pathfinder (can't remember which at the moment). For the past few months, it's been having the same problem. One morning, I'll go out to start the car and the radio will have stopped working, but everything else is fine. A few days later, however, the car won't start in the morning. I'll jump it off, and the car and radio will be fine again for a few weeks. This doesn't last for long though.
Eventually, the radio will go out, and a few days later the car won't start again. I took it to my local mechanic and they tested the alternator/battery/ starter and said they were all fine, and that the battery cables just needed to be cleaned. After the cleanup, the car and radio worked fine for a few weeks...but sure enough, a few days ago, the radio went out. This morning I had to jump my car off again. What the real problem is? I'm taking it to the shop again today, but what else it could be...
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I have a parasitic drain on my battery. 4.5 amps to be exact. I've tracked it down to the CTSY fuse or Fuse 3 in the fuse block. When I pull the fuse it drops to 40 mA which is pretty normal.
What is the most likely cause of this drain since my lights seems to be working and shut off when the doors are shut? I've almost got the dash ripped apart to get at the wiring harness but hopefully I can find it before taking the whole dash out.
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I have a 2006 Suzuki Forenza with original battery, so it's been about 9.5 years now. Yesterday, I couldn't start the car, and it made a few rapid clicks on trying to start it. I didn't have time to deal with it so took a spare car to work. Came home to check/try the car and it had so little charge that dashboard lights, automatic door locks, etc. didn't work, the warning indicator lights that light up on turning power on barely lit up. Seems like the battery was nearly discharged. I'm attempting to have it charged with an external charger right now to check on the car later (and try to check for parasitic drain), have the battery tested, and bring the car to mechanic for a more thorough inspection (I'm not a car person).
I was just wondering though in the meantime: did I get lucky to get nearly 10 years of life out of a car's factory installed battery? and that it's likely time for a new battery regardless of whether the battery still holds charge? The car was working fine the previous day, I never had to jump start the car. Although I had trouble starting car once or twice in the past, but that just required waiting a bit and attempting to start car again - may have been warm weather related. It just failed yesterday, and I don't recall leaving headlights on or things like that. I'm just wondering had my car been parasitically draining already and just hit a critical point yesterday (slow drain before but faster drain at some point like yesterday), or can parasitic drain just happen all of a sudden like fine one day, then some drain/short the next that kills the battery.
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I have a 2005 Subaru Outback. I will be driving and lose all power to the car and it dies. I will try to restart the car and all the battery power will be on (lights, radio, power windows, etc.) however there is no sound when trying to crank the key. If I wait a little while or push the car, it will start back up with the check engine light on and cruise light blinking. I can drive it a block or so with decreased acceleration and it will die again. Brought it to my local shop and they could not recreate the issue (sat overnight). They cleaned the battery terminals and cleaned the throttle body. I drove it for about 3 weeks with no issues and the same exact thing happened again.
The shop told me the codes they got from the check engine were all communication codes (??). The only thing know about the two days the car broke down 3 weeks apart is I filled up the tank with gas on those days (but that doesnt seem like it would matter).
After sitting for an hour waiting for the tow truck. The car started up and he was able to drive it off the truck with no issue. I am totally lost here.
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I have been suffering from LH battery drain for some time now. sometimes its random I will park it for 10 min. come back and the battery is drained (I have to use the key to gain entry). sometimes it only happens over night, where other times the battery doesn't go dead overnight. so last weekend I decided to change the brakes...That was easy but then I forgot to hook up my battery maintainer...so you know what happened! now the problem is I charged the battery and hooked it back up. No start! everything works fine the battery is fully charged and only 1 year old.
But this is the weird part if I disconnect the starter battery the car starts up fine. I hook both batteries back up and try the parallel start way (turn to start then full counter clockwise then full clockwise several times no luck). the LH battery is drained now after a few start and stops (no driving) and the starter battery is fully charged. but with both batteries hooked up it wont even attempt to start and now I also have no power to the power trunk!!! this car is starting to suck balls.
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I have a 1997 Subaru Legacy Outback that has a brake light that comes on, then turns off under certain conditions. I have checked to make sure the brake fluid reservoir is full and there are no apparent fluid leaks from the calipers, lines or master cylinder. Also, the fluid reservoir level stays consistent. Braking power is normal and the ABS system seems operable (just got to test it with the arrival of Wisconsin winter).
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I've traced a 0.3-amp parasitic drain to the audio power amp (fuse #16, 20A). Pulling the fuse, the radio still works (it's on fuse #15) but then there's no sound from the speakers. (There's also no current drain. I'm weighing if it's more important for the truck to run or to sound good.)
I replaced the radio a month ago. It was definitely not working right, and the new radio definitely is. With the #16 fuse in place, the sound out of front and back speakers was great. "Was" because if I leave the fuse in, the battery gets drained in a few days, so the fuse is now out.
Where the audio amp is. My Haynes manual doesn't say. The amp has no user controls. It just takes the radio's output and feeds audio to the front and back speakers. The #16 fuse is what gives the amp power. Some online posts say it's under the glove box, some say behind the rear right speaker. All agree it's a bear to access.
So a few questions:
Why the power amp would be drawing current even when the truck and radio are powered off?
How does one troubleshoot this, short of replacing the power amp, which of course I don't have an extra lying around and wouldn't want to replace anyway as it's otherwise working great.
What do you think of installing a switch on the audio power amp circuit so that when the truck is parked, I switch it off, and no current drain, but when the truck is driven, I switch it on, letting me hear the radio or CD. This is obviously a kludge/ghetto solution, but the advantage is that I don't have to access or replace the audio amp. I want to keep using the fuse, of course, so am looking for a way to wire a switch into the fuse box while keeping the fuse in the circuit. If I knew which wire goes between the fuse and the audio amp, I'd splice a switch there, but I don't, and again, the Haynes manual is not useful.
1994 B4000, extended cab, bought in 1996....
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1999 Outback 2.5, idles fine but bogs or loss of power when stepping on throttle. Can "feather" or tease to get going and will hold rpm once it gets there...
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So 3 times in the last 2 days, my car has needed a jump start. Took it to pepboys and they told me to replace the battery, a new battery later, my car wouldn't start again and I needed to get it jump started again. Took it back to pepboys, they say everything checks out fine including the battery and the alternator and that it should work fine. This happens to be exactly what they said the last time.
The car is a 2012 Ford Mustang V6 convertible.
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My Subaru Outback is dying on me when I come to a stop and has happened when just idling. I have been told it is the torque converter and replacement is 2 thousand.
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The Subaru as 260k miles on it and I live in Georgia. When I attempt to start the car, it turns over and sounds like the engine catches and then dies out without getting over 200 rpms or so. Its a manual and I made sure the floor mat isn't impeding the clutchsensor.
The car has been doing this the past three days and finally today after driving around for a few hours and multiple times shutting the engine off with at least two start attempts before it fires, I get home and shut off the car.
I then attempt to restart it about two hours later and after 7 tries, all with the car sounding like the the engine has fired but not yet fully running , then the engine dies. I would push start it but am parked on an uphill slope.
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Is the remote starter going to drain your battery faster? is it why a lot of CL members having a battery problem? My friend said his dealer told him so that he didn't get a remote starter for his car. Is it true?
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I recently parked my 2013 Prius in a concrete parking structure near LAX for 8 days. When I returned, the battery was dead - car was completely nonresponsive. AAA had to "resync" the hybrid system along with jumper cables to get me going. The technician said it was because the concrete drained the battery. I have previously left the car in underground garages for longer periods of time with no problem. Is this an urban legend?
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What would cause the vechile to die randomly, while driving? have check all ground wires, coolant, spark plugs, air filter, and changed fuel filter. no check engine lights come on.
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My wife has a 2002 Thunderbird. Sometimes it won’t start when you turn the key. I don’t mean it doesn’t crank or cranks slowly, nothing happens. You can hear relays clicking but obviously no power is getting to the starter - the lights don’t dim when this happens. We’ve had the starter motor replaced. My mechanic is baffled. Sometimes this happens hourly, sometimes it will go weeks without happening – it’s been doing this for at least a year. To get it started, you just need to sit there and keep turning the key 10 to 40 times. It will eventually start. She just informed me that sometimes she shuts off the car in something other than Park, them moves to Park. Can this mess up the xmission lever position lockout to cause this? How can it just start by turning the key, only, multiple times? Remember, you can hear relays clicking when the key is turned.
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My 05 Ford Focus just suddenly died. I had it jumped and moments later it died again. Jumped it again and it died again. Could this be an alternator problem?
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Having problem with corrosion of the tie down on a battery? The terminals are fine. It's just the metal plate that holds the battery in place with bolts. The paint has corroded off. I clean it up and cover it with dielectric grease. I have to do this every 4 to 6 months or so, because the corrosion keeps coming back. I had the same problem with my 2004 Subaru Legacy, and had to replace the battery holder as a result.
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My battery has been dying intermittently. Twice after a week long vacation I have come home to a dead battery. No lights were on in the car and no clear source of a leak. It charged up but would die again after 12 to 24 hours of sitting in the driveway. After the 1st episode mechanics said the alternator and all voltage testing was normal so they just replaced the battery. After the 2nd incident I took my car to a new mechanic and they are saying again the alternator is fine but noticed the battery is shorting (alternator output amperage too high and voltage too low - they put in the shop battery and all returned to normal) and they say I need ANOTHER new battery. I have a hard time believing this but no one can figure out why my car battery keeps dying????
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My OBXT is running way too hot when heading up hill. Recently have had the caps and cooling system pressure tested and all passed. I had the head gasket replaced, water pump, timing belt, pulleys, etc. The engine was also pressure tested and passed.The Subaru techs and I are at a loss.
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Riding on the highway to the summit of Vail Pass, car loses power, check engine light goes on, by the time I maneuver it past huge trucks to right shoulder, BAM!!!! White steam radiator fluid explosion dead car....mechanic says "small block" (I think) broken, need new engine. Towing it back to my guys who sold me the car about 2 months ago with reconditioned engine & brand new head gaskets.
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