Catbeater Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 So my car has been having some issues... here's a brief rundown: Two months ago my HIDs started flickering badly, wouldn't turn on unless the e-brake was pulled, and when the light switch was "off" they would strobe constantly. I took it to a local shop owned by a friends dad, who came to the conclusion that the HIDs themselves were the issue (bad ballasts). They replaced them with stock HIDs and the system went to how it was stock. However, immediately after getting the car back, the lights experienced another problem. THEY WOULDN'T SHUT OFF! I would drive around, in various settings (either with the Daytime Running Lights on, or Headlights on, Fog Lights on/off, etc.) and then when i parked and turned my car off, the headlights would not turn off. It killed my battery about 6 times in 2 weeks before I finally took it back to that shop. They are now saying that they called a national help number who says that subaru's have issues where anything plugged into the power ports (read: cigarette lighter adapters) caused a feedback that kept the voltage too high to turn the lights off. I don't personally see how that could be possible, since the only thing i have plugged in is my sirius radio, which itself shuts off every time i shut the car off because the power ports aren't powered when the car is off. I want to install a new nav/gps/stereo in my car... but don't want to do it until we find this electrical gremlin. Please let me know if ANYONE has seen or heard of an issue like this or what might be causing it. For now I have left my car at the dealership who is just randomly turning it on/off trying to get the issue to repeat itself so they can test it. Sorry for the long post... but I NEED HELP. THANKS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catbeater Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 Anyone? No one? Sorry if its long, but I do need help with it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murdoc158 Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Assuming your car is a 2005 you did disable the DRL correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetiger Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 he said he want back to stock HIDs. the car does not come with stock HIDs. it uses just halogen bulbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssbtech Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Can you hear the headlight relays switching as you switch through the various headlight positions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catbeater Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 he said he want back to stock HIDs. the car does not come with stock HIDs. it uses just halogen bulbs. Sorry I meant Stock Halogens... and no the DRL are NOT disabled. The place that put it back together basically made it a stock configuration... Could the DRL have caused it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catbeater Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Can you hear the headlight relays switching as you switch through the various headlight positions? Not noticeably.. no... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 You need to disable the DRL on the models that use the low beam for it. I forget what year they went to the high beams. I have used HID's and have them now and they work without a glitch wit the DRL's off. Maybe something did not get connected correctly at some point. Also the Legacy is negative switched, so for the lights to stay on with the car off something is terribly wrong, unless your light switch on top of your steering wheel column is on. X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catbeater Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 You need to disable the DRL on the models that use the low beam for it. I forget what year they went to the high beams. I have used HID's and have them now and they work without a glitch wit the DRL's off. Maybe something did not get connected correctly at some point. Also the Legacy is negative switched, so for the lights to stay on with the car off something is terribly wrong, unless your light switch on top of your steering wheel column is on. X Yeah it was on my to-do list to disable the DRL (actually I was planning on re-installing some new HIDs to take care of that). My concern is exactly that... for the headlights to be staying on, what the hell is going on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssbtech Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 If you're not hearing the headlight relay click when you cycle through the illumination switch I would check the relays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
700watts Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 I agree, it sounds like a relay problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catbeater Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Thanks... I Will make sure to check that out tomorrow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 S I don't personally see how that could be possible, since the only thing i have plugged in is my sirius radio, which itself shuts off every time i shut the car off because the power ports aren't powered when the car is off. I have seen an issue with some satellite radio units with batteries that do backfeed into the cars electrical system. It's enough power to hold some relays closed which keeps power to some things. The solution is to install some diodes in the power feed and ground wires of the radio unit. My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catbeater Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 I have seen an issue with some satellite radio units with batteries that do backfeed into the cars electrical system. It's enough power to hold some relays closed which keeps power to some things. The solution is to install some diodes in the power feed and ground wires of the radio unit. Hmm i guess that's a good point that I didn't think about... mine is the type of unit that has its own battery (its the one that can be used as a portable MP3 player, forget the name of it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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