Mookem Posted December 4, 2006 Share Posted December 4, 2006 I have a new Legacy GT MT5. It is about a month old and has approx 1400 miles on it. Dealer installed XM and Subwoofer. I parked it in garage over the Thanksgiving weekend so it sat unused for 4 days. When I got it it wouldn't start. The battery seemed to be stone cold dead - dome light didn't even illuminate and the side interior door lights were very dim. I jumpstarted it with cables and drove it a bit. It started the next day and I went to the dealer. They said they couldn't find anything and suggested maybe I left on the map lights - or perhaps the trunk was ajar and said bring it back if it happens again. Parked the car in my garage this Friday night and started it today (Monday) to go to work. It cranked a bit longer then usual before starting and then I heard the CD Changer rapidly and loudly clicking away - as if it was re-loading the cdroms. I then turned on the FM radio and all my preset stations were lost including all my XM presets same as when the car wouldn't start or if you were to remove the battery cable. I figure this means the battery dishcharged and/or there is an electrical short somewhere. Back to the dealer and I leave the car telling them what happened. They call back in the afternoon saying they still can't find anything. Dealer gave me a loaner and said they will let the car sit for a couple of days and will see if it doesn't start for them. I mentioned lemon law to them and they stated if they can't see a problem and document it then lemon laws don't apply. So essentially, if they can't reproduce the problem in 2 days then I'm SOL. Anything I need to be specifically telling the dealing or checking that they have done? Any insight, advice, guidance, been there done that, etc. is appreciated. To have spent $30k on a car that leaves me stranded due to electrical problems is discouraging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mookem Posted December 4, 2006 Author Share Posted December 4, 2006 Seems like a weird suggestion, but could you have inadvertently hit the parking light switch on the steering column behind the wheel? Many of us have done this accidently, and as it draws electrcity could in theory drain the battery over time. It could obviously be something more serious than this, but you never know. Good suggestion but yup - I checked that, all interior (including map) lights, trunk door ajar leaving on the trunk light etc. Plus the dealer would have spotted that or any other open circuits the first time I brought it in. I also would have noticed the parking lights on in my garage as my garage is pretty dark (no windows). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opie Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 Doesn't sound like an electrical problem...sounds like a battery problem like a dead cell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mookem Posted December 8, 2006 Author Share Posted December 8, 2006 Update: My LGT sat on the dealer lot Monday - Thursday. When they went to start it yesterday (Thursday) battery was dead. They said the clicker didn't even chirp however, they still haven't found the problem. Dealer says they have a call in to Subaru technical help. So good news: Dealer has now verified I'm not crazy and there is a problem. bad news: Dealer still has no idea why and is unable to find source of drain. If my dealer can't find problem then I may have to resolve this via my states lemon law. CT law is 4x for same problem or 30 days without car for same problem. This is the 2nd time car is in for no start and total days in shop for this problem is now 8. My dealer did say they are asking SOA if they are getting any reports of this non-start issue with the 07's and they mentioned maybe the I-drive is a problem. I told them I have posted here and if there were 07 owners with this problem I would have seen it cropping up in these forums!!! Opie - thank you for responding as I appreciate your input. First thing I told them is the battery is probably no good - but they still insist it is fine. I did tell them at this point the battery WILL be replaced as several full discharges has probably decreased battery life due to sulfation. Too bad I can't get my 8 year old Audi back - at least it started Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 I have a new Legacy GT MT5. It is about a month old and has approx 1400 miles on it. Dealer installed XM and Subwoofer. I would start with these. Have them take them off, and see what happens. FYI it is not good for the battery to draines so many times in a short period of time. You may want them to give you a new battery. My bet is on a bad sub staying on, or XM install. X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mookem Posted December 8, 2006 Author Share Posted December 8, 2006 heightsgttld: I'm with you. My wife had an Outback and my daughter has a Forrester so I just blame my bad luck Plus as you said and I told my dealer - no other 07 owners are posting this problem on legacygt.com !!! I'm am hoping that the dealer lets SoA know pretty soon that they can't find the cause and then SoA offers a replacement - without my having to go to lemon law arbitration. If they make me have to file and arbitrate - well, I'll cross that bridge and decide what to do then. Laz - I agree that first place to start is with the dealer installed options and you can be sure I have told them that. The dealer had also removed and re-covered my seat as it had a large circular mark on the leather and they also had to replace the interior door panel as its leather had a cut in it (get the feeling I got a lemon ) They did say they removed the seat to re-check all its connections. I have also asked them to check if the subwoofer and/or XM is always on (ie not turning off). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Have some faith, and let the dealership do their thing. I can completely understand how frustrating and annoying this must be for you. SOA is always going to let the dealership handle it first, and if you are not satisfied with the work, do you have another dealership that you can go to? I always had luck with my delaership in LI. They took care of me right. It should not be too hard to pinpoint what is draining your battery. I think that is like car mechanics 101! And always run on the assumption that the installer at the dealership messed up, and not the assembler. They tend to do more mistakes, specially on new technology such as the MX and remote starters. To check if your car is a lemon, just look for the beer car jammed behind the front bumper! J/K but not far fetched. X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mookem Posted December 10, 2006 Author Share Posted December 10, 2006 It should not be too hard to pinpoint what is draining your battery. I think that is like car mechanics 101! X I agree that this should be a simple thing to fix but the fact that it isn't and dealer has (or says) they have been in constant touch with SoA technician support means this is NO simple thing or else Subaru never took mechanics 101. As far as keeping the faith - I haven't been thrilled with the fit and finish work the dealer has done to date. Now they are tearing through my car hoping to find what the problem is and this can ONLY mean additional trouble with everything they touch. I am sure everyone can understand that I didn't pay 30 large for a brand new car that doesn't start and for which the dealership and SoA is clueless as to why. At this point SoA is either going to replace it with another LGT or I take them to arbitration via lemon law for a full refund. I RUE the day I traded in my A4 for this Subaru. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Hang in there. I think you have a case of an bad service department more than a bad car. Can youtry another delaership? Warranty is warranty no matter where you go. X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddavis Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 I just started noticing the problem recently on mine also. Sounds the exact same. I take the train to work during the week so the car sits 5 days. When i get ready to drive out my garage on the weekend the battery is dead. So I got a hotter brand new battery, and what do you know, this weekend the exact same thing, its dead. Im guessing maybe it has something to do with my alarm system, so i didnt turn on my alarm system, so ill see if it cranks after this week. Talk about annoying. Do they make any kind of testers that show if any volts are being pulled? I know the obvious way is if the cables spark when you are connecting your battery, but for more subtle powerloss there has to be a easy way to track it down right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWDxBOOST Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 the terminal clamps might be loose that was the culprit on my car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mookem Posted December 12, 2006 Author Share Posted December 12, 2006 Latest update - after about a week and half in the shop dealer now says they have found the problem: the instrument panel cluster had a short in its connector from the factory. Service manager said the connector was cracked and was causing a drain. Only time will tell if this is/was the problem but how come they couldn't detect the drain with a meter yet it was enough to completely drain battery in 3 days and how come my instrument panel worked just fine if it was shorting????? I am concerned with the techs at this dealer ripping out my dash to replace the instrument cluster. I base this on the poor job they did recovering my defective leather seat cover and the scratches on my dash after they installled the XM. I'm worried that they will scratch or damage the interior or misplace a screw and/or overtighten and then leave me with a rattle or worse? Worse part of this is how can I trust this car NOT to leave my wife or children stranded if they use it? Called SoA and they are no help. I asked them to replace the car - they said no as lemon law is 4x in for same problem. This new Subaru purchase has become a new car buyers nightmare! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HieroGLFX Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Latest update - after about a week and half in the shop dealer now says they have found the problem: the instrument panel cluster had a short in its connector from the factory. Service manager said the connector was cracked and was causing a drain. Only time will tell if this is/was the problem but how come they couldn't detect the drain with a meter yet it was enough to completely drain battery in 3 days and how come my instrument panel worked just fine if it was shorting????? I am concerned with the techs at this dealer ripping out my dash to replace the instrument cluster. I base this on the poor job they did recovering my defective leather seat cover and the scratches on my dash after they installled the XM. I'm worried that they will scratch or damage the interior or misplace a screw and/or overtighten and then leave me with a rattle or worse? Worse part of this is how can I trust this car NOT to leave my wife or children stranded if they use it? Called SoA and they are no help. I asked them to replace the car - they said no as lemon law is 4x in for same problem. This new Subaru purchase has become a new car buyers nightmare! Is there a way we can put these two postst together? The link to my thread is below. It was the XM module that caused the drain on mine. http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dong Homez Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 REPLACE YOUR BATTERIES!!! I bought my 07 wagon a month and a half ago. I had the same problem starting up. No turn over and a clicking sound could be heard. It was so damn scary and annoying to have my 2 day old car do this. I took it to the dealership and they encountered the same problem right away. They replaced the battery and everything was fine since. The crazy and scary thing is that the battery that was replaced showed a charge of 12 volts. Lesson learned: a 12 volt reading doesn't mean the battery is functioning properly. My 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mookem Posted January 9, 2007 Author Share Posted January 9, 2007 REPLACE YOUR BATTERIES!!! I bought my 07 wagon a month and a half ago. I had the same problem starting up. No turn over and a clicking sound could be heard. It was so damn scary and annoying to have my 2 day old car do this. I took it to the dealership and they encountered the same problem right away. They replaced the battery and everything was fine since. The crazy and scary thing is that the battery that was replaced showed a charge of 12 volts. Lesson learned: a 12 volt reading doesn't mean the battery is functioning properly. My 2 cents. Battery was replaced..still had problem. When not starting no clicking sound - just silence. Not even enough juice to open the doors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhatV8 Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Electrical problems can be a real pain in the a**. They should have started their diagnosis by pulling all your fuses one at a time and hooked up an ammeter to the circuit to narrow down where the drain was. Hopefully this is what they did to trace it down to the instrument cluster. If there was indeed a short in a harness connector, it could easily drain the battery in 3 days. It is a shame that the techs scratched things up with the XM install, hopefully things went better with the instrument cluster repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HieroGLFX Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Just got my car back and it was the actual Radio Head Unit was replaced. The repair advisor told me it was the XM module but I saw my Radio HU on the repair bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrD Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Crap. My car 2006 Legacy GT started having this problem this morning. I did not drive it for four days and now it will not start; dead battery. I jumped it with my wife's car and it started drove it around the block about 15 minutes. Came back turned off the car, and started it again. Tonight when I went to drive the car the battery was dead again. I bought a new battery but I have not put it in yet, maybe there is a bigger problem. -MrD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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