Howard264 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Hi Subaru Legacy 2017 4 cyl. has most of the electric "bells and whistles". Bought with 5000 miles on it. August 2019 car won't start, battery is low on fluid. Add distilled water & neighbor boost. OK. Oct. 2019 car is so dead electric door locks won't work. Dealer holds car for 2 days - gives us a new battery. Yesterday, again, car is so dead electric door locks won't work. Voltmeter reads 2.5 volts, low fluid. Get a boost and the voltmeter reads 13 plus so alternator seems ok. Car is driven every day - highway for 20 or so miles. Every second week trip to friends house 70 miles away. The dealer can't give us an answer of why the failures. Headlights are off, trunk and cabin lights are off when car is shut. Anyone have a similar issue? Any ideas ? . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NNJLegacy Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I had similar story but my issue was resolved with a new battery. I did put in a larger CC rated battery compared to the original. Before I did that I used a battery tender to keep it charged up which helped me get an extra year out of the OEM battery. From your story seems like the car is not sitting long between use. One thing I don't understand is the low fluid reference as my battery is maintenance free and sealed. Can you confirm if you have a sealed maintenance free battery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tumbleweed 49 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I have had battery problems with mine also but as NNJ mentioned above mine was solved by a new battery from the dealer. If mine goes dead again I will replace it with a Group 24 or 34 probably from Walmart or Costco (or from wherever I can find one on sale). This seems to be a fairly common problem with Subaru, check the Outback site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard264 Posted January 28, 2020 Author Share Posted January 28, 2020 The dealer called the battery a sealed battery yet it has removable vents on top (for refill?). I have had so called sealed batteries on other cars that were smooth on top, no removable vents. Is this only semantics ? Anyway, it took 1 1/2 hours to recharge the battery , and the cca read 518 at the finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chowser51 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Do you have any accessories installed? Do you keep the keyfobs near the car? If so, move them further away from the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amusa Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 (edited) You need to test every fuse in the fuse box with a tester. To see what circuit is drawing power. It have took me months to figure out while brand new battery going dead in (2) different vehicle's. One was the Alarm system (siren) and the other one was a Hand free link. I won't be surprise if it's the Bluetooth or the radio. Edited January 29, 2020 by amusa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard264 Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 Key fobs are a good distance from the car. No additional accessories. I figured there was some sort of draw on the battery even when the car is off. I told the "service advisor" I suspected parasitic draw. He didn't even respond. I'm not sure he knew the term.I am aware that it is time consuming for a tech to check for that so he would probably want to avoid that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tumbleweed 49 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 The dealer called the battery a sealed battery yet it has removable vents on top (for refill?). I have had so called sealed batteries on other cars that were smooth on top, no removable vents. Is this only semantics ? Anyway, it took 1 1/2 hours to recharge the battery , and the cca read 518 at the finish. Definitely not a sealed battery if it has removable vents on it. A lot of battery problems are caused because the battery runs low on water. I check the levels on mine about every 6 months and add distilled water if it gets low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Call me Q Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Key fobs are a good distance from the car. No additional accessories. I figured there was some sort of draw on the battery even when the car is off. I told the "service advisor" I suspected parasitic draw. He didn't even respond. I'm not sure he knew the term.I am aware that it is time consuming for a tech to check for that so he would probably want to avoid that. Not necessarily. When I was having my parasitic draw issues the dealer hooked up a device to measure the draw real time and record it. They hooked it up and monitored it for a day and could see that it would come and go. Tracking down the draw was the time consuming task. At least this way you could get a feel for the level of draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeuEmMaiMai Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) amp clamp it and verify that the draw drops as specified by Subaru.... Definitely not a sealed battery if it has removable vents on it. A lot of battery problems are caused because the battery runs low on water. I check the levels on mine about every 6 months and add distilled water if it gets low. they call it a "sealed" battery because there is no intended maintenance to be done by the end user. In most case you can remove the caps (they cover the holes that were used to add acid to the battery at the end of the manufacturing process) and add distilled water if needed. Key fobs are a good distance from the car. No additional accessories. I figured there was some sort of draw on the battery even when the car is off. I told the "service advisor" I suspected parasitic draw. He didn't even respond. I'm not sure he knew the term.I am aware that it is time consuming for a tech to check for that so he would probably want to avoid that. u got to speak to them in basic terms. Parasitic draw = my battery does dead after 3 days of the car sitting. Edited January 30, 2020 by YeuEmMaiMai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jMeG Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 Allow me to put this to rest. If you live somewhere cold AND park your car outside, the factory battery can't handle it. Get the largest CC (cold cranking amps) battery you can fit in the hole + make sure it's an AGM battery. AGM has different tech that works better in cold weather. The problem can be solved by any PepBoys for $150ish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard264 Posted February 4, 2020 Author Share Posted February 4, 2020 Appreciate the info from all. jMeG, the situation I refer to was a car sitting 3 days, with a battery replaced Oct. 30, 2019. By the way that was the second time the battery went dead. It was not exceedingly cold for the three days the car was sitting this time or the last time. I have another Subaru that has sat, unstarted, for considerably more time in similar weather and I never had the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallowground Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 Is there any king of corrosion on the battery terminal? Could indicate the alternator is overcharging it resulting in degrading the battery quicker. Also corrosion causes crappy connections. This happened in my 2011 legacy and also the place I got the battery gave me one with sub par cold cranking amps... I was ticked when I found out. Because the cca was low, my alternator had to over compensate which wore out the alternator faster. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ammcinnis Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 Because the cca was low, my alternator had to over compensate which wore out the alternator faster. Either you're not expressing yourself well, or you really don't understand how the starting and charging system works. There is no inherent relationship between a battery's CCA rating and alternator load. "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." ~ The Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeuEmMaiMai Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 Allow me to put this to rest. If you live somewhere cold AND park your car outside, the factory battery can't handle it. Get the largest CC (cold cranking amps) battery you can fit in the hole + make sure it's an AGM battery. AGM has different tech that works better in cold weather. The problem can be solved by any PepBoys for $150ish. let me resurrect this from the dead I live somewhere that routinely reaches -30F and the stock battery on my 2014 Legacy started the car with no issues on a day it was -32F... we had a whole month here were the temps were -20F or colder and the car started every single time even though it was outside. The battery when working as spec'd will start the car under pretty cold conditions. I replaced my battery after 5 years because they are not known to live much past that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard264 Posted February 6, 2020 Author Share Posted February 6, 2020 Hi Death, I had a2011 Legacy. Had the original battery for more than 6 years. Only changed it because I figured it was time. I never had a problem with it. That's part of the reason I am so vexed over the problem with this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jMeG Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 let me resurrect this from the dead I live somewhere that routinely reaches -30F and the stock battery on my 2014 Legacy started the car with no issues on a day it was -32F... we had a whole month here were the temps were -20F or colder and the car started every single time even though it was outside. The battery when working as spec'd will start the car under pretty cold conditions. I replaced my battery after 5 years because they are not known to live much past that YeuEmMaiMai -- You had a 2014 Legacy. That's not a 6th generation vehicle. The 6th gen has power draw from Starlink and who knows what else. The battery also could have been a different size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ammcinnis Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 The 6th gen has power draw from Starlink and who knows what else. Per TSB 07-85-14, the design maximum dark current (parasitic battery draw) specified for all Subaru vehicles is 70 mA (0.07 amps). "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." ~ The Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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