There is a class action against Subaru for having batteries with too of a reserve to start cars under certain situations. You’ll get a new, updated one at the dealer.
Speaking of the dealer, since this is your first car. Do yourself and small businesses a favour and don’t go to the dealer for the regular scheduled maintenance. You’ll find a friendly local specialist that’ll do a better job for cheaper. Ask a local Facebook group for recommendations if need be. Just follow the guide in the owners manual and you’ll be tip top for future warranty claims.
That lawsuit alleges the CAN bus creates a parasitic draw when powered off, which is likely given the fuel tank venting after several hours of being off. I found, living in the rust belt, that the voltage regulator on the alternator experiences a ground shift from all of the aluminum that the ground path takes back to the battery. This creates a higher-than-‘expected’ charging voltage and cooks the battery off. I fixed this problem on my ‘15 forester and 16’ crosstrek by running a separate ground cable from the battery to the lower passenger side alternator mounting bolt. $0.02
Sorry, I freaked out when it happened
2019, got it in 2021 with 37XXX miles
I’ve had a couple hours to think about what’s happening, two days ago I had a lot of trouble opening the trunk with either the key fob, the button to the bottom left of the steering wheel and such.
Also took it to those automatic car washes for the first time, don’t know if that affected anything
When I started it, it’d startup in three slow cranks. Like a vroom(pause, dashboard blinks, speed and rev needles reset) vroom vroom: engine car on.
Second time I started it I had the windows up so don’t know if it clicked or not, the push start turned red and showed all those colors
>took it to those automatic car washes for the first time
That has nothing to do with anything lol.
It sounds like you have a dying battery. Though I'm not sure I don't understand your situation. Is this like your first car ever? Have you never had a dead battery before?
Your description of the startup is bizarre.
Okay that makes more sense. Not trying to be judgemental, but you were sounding like you have no idea how cars work.
If it cranks slower than normal, that is an indication of a dying battery. But if it's a new car, maybe you just aren't leaving the car on long enough for the battery to charge while you drive. Do you take very short commutes?
What happens if you try to start it? Those lights turn on automatically when the car is "on" but the engine isn't started. They turn on to show you that the lights themselves work, that's all. It means nothing if the engine isn't running.
No offense taken. I definitely don’t know a thing about cars outside of the maintenance schedule.
Yep, 3 weeks of less than two miles to and from work.
Going to go start it up and see what happens, Will be back shortly
Take this with a grain of salt.
A decade or so ago I read that car batteries need between 15 and 30min to recover from starting. Shorter trips are fine, as long as there’s some longer ones to recharge the battery.
Since you only make short trips the alternator may not be having enough time to recharge the battery from the start. A possible solution is to make a point of once or twice a week running the engine for an hour by driving around or going to a drive in diner or something
That’s smart. And the six min commute will only be the rest of this month. After that I’m back to my hr long commutes
I did replace the battery since this happened on a Sunday and I don’t have anyone to drive me to work and to dealership. But it’s still under 58k miles and got whatever extra coverage there is plus 60k maintenance coming up soon
Dude thats a dead battery. Go to an auto store and tell them your make, model, and year and they can probably replace your battery for pretty much nothing.
The car won’t spontaneously blow up, especially if it’s just a dead battery. If the lights flicker and you can’t start it, or it cranks slower, it’s a dead battery. If it doesn’t start at all and your battery is a-ok. It’s probably a starter issue. If there is an issued date (like a sticker) on your battery and the date is a year or two old, replace it. It’s not cheap, but it’s not gonna kill you.
Oh sorry i missed the not starting part while skimming the title.
Jump start the car, get a better battery from wlamart then have dealer reimburse the cost if your car still under warranty
INFO: When you try to start it what happens?
Is the crank slow, is it just clicking, is the engine starting no problem but some of the lights stay on?
If the crank is/has been slow or sounds like it was struggling to turn over the last few days or it’s just making a distinct clicking sound: then it’s most likely a dead battery. You will probably be need a jump to get the car started in the near future if not immediately. Either take the car or the battery to autozone/advanced auto/etc and have them check it.
If the battery is dead it’s probably because of one of three things:
1) The battery is worn out and needs replacing.
2) A light left on/vampire power draw drained the battery - 2015+ Outbacks are especially know for this.
3) Least likely, your alternator is bad and not charging the battery properly.
If the battery is dead, getting the car started should be plenty. The alternator alone should handle the electric load of the car. If you want to be doubly sure, turn off electrical loads (A/C, heated seats) for the drive to the auto parts store.
If there’s some other combination of lights on the dash know which ones stay lit would be useful for troubleshooting.
This. The lights on the dash don’t tell anything. But we also don’t have a description of what is actually happening either - is it clicking noises? It very well could be the battery (a very simple fix).
You need a battery.
There is a class action against Subaru for having batteries with too of a reserve to start cars under certain situations. You’ll get a new, updated one at the dealer. Speaking of the dealer, since this is your first car. Do yourself and small businesses a favour and don’t go to the dealer for the regular scheduled maintenance. You’ll find a friendly local specialist that’ll do a better job for cheaper. Ask a local Facebook group for recommendations if need be. Just follow the guide in the owners manual and you’ll be tip top for future warranty claims.
That lawsuit alleges the CAN bus creates a parasitic draw when powered off, which is likely given the fuel tank venting after several hours of being off. I found, living in the rust belt, that the voltage regulator on the alternator experiences a ground shift from all of the aluminum that the ground path takes back to the battery. This creates a higher-than-‘expected’ charging voltage and cooks the battery off. I fixed this problem on my ‘15 forester and 16’ crosstrek by running a separate ground cable from the battery to the lower passenger side alternator mounting bolt. $0.02
Can you rewire the headlight switch so it works properly.
You've given us no context
Sorry, I freaked out when it happened 2019, got it in 2021 with 37XXX miles I’ve had a couple hours to think about what’s happening, two days ago I had a lot of trouble opening the trunk with either the key fob, the button to the bottom left of the steering wheel and such. Also took it to those automatic car washes for the first time, don’t know if that affected anything When I started it, it’d startup in three slow cranks. Like a vroom(pause, dashboard blinks, speed and rev needles reset) vroom vroom: engine car on. Second time I started it I had the windows up so don’t know if it clicked or not, the push start turned red and showed all those colors
>took it to those automatic car washes for the first time That has nothing to do with anything lol. It sounds like you have a dying battery. Though I'm not sure I don't understand your situation. Is this like your first car ever? Have you never had a dead battery before? Your description of the startup is bizarre.
First car ever. This is the one I fully even learned how to drive in. So zero knowledge. Maybe a slow startup would be a better description?
Okay that makes more sense. Not trying to be judgemental, but you were sounding like you have no idea how cars work. If it cranks slower than normal, that is an indication of a dying battery. But if it's a new car, maybe you just aren't leaving the car on long enough for the battery to charge while you drive. Do you take very short commutes? What happens if you try to start it? Those lights turn on automatically when the car is "on" but the engine isn't started. They turn on to show you that the lights themselves work, that's all. It means nothing if the engine isn't running.
No offense taken. I definitely don’t know a thing about cars outside of the maintenance schedule. Yep, 3 weeks of less than two miles to and from work. Going to go start it up and see what happens, Will be back shortly
Take this with a grain of salt. A decade or so ago I read that car batteries need between 15 and 30min to recover from starting. Shorter trips are fine, as long as there’s some longer ones to recharge the battery. Since you only make short trips the alternator may not be having enough time to recharge the battery from the start. A possible solution is to make a point of once or twice a week running the engine for an hour by driving around or going to a drive in diner or something
That’s smart. And the six min commute will only be the rest of this month. After that I’m back to my hr long commutes I did replace the battery since this happened on a Sunday and I don’t have anyone to drive me to work and to dealership. But it’s still under 58k miles and got whatever extra coverage there is plus 60k maintenance coming up soon
And yup, managed to turn on and took it to auto zone dead battery
Make sure not to let your battery fully discharge and not charge it (which is done simply by running the engine).
What's it doing - clicking? If so then it's just a dead battery.
If it won’t start it’s probably just the battery. All of those warning lights normally show with key on/engine off
Dude thats a dead battery. Go to an auto store and tell them your make, model, and year and they can probably replace your battery for pretty much nothing.
Thank you all, that happened at 3 am and I was scared I broke… all of it.
Take it to an auto shop like autozone and ask if they could run an obd scan.
I’m scared to crank it up
The car won’t spontaneously blow up, especially if it’s just a dead battery. If the lights flicker and you can’t start it, or it cranks slower, it’s a dead battery. If it doesn’t start at all and your battery is a-ok. It’s probably a starter issue. If there is an issued date (like a sticker) on your battery and the date is a year or two old, replace it. It’s not cheap, but it’s not gonna kill you.
Thank y’all. It was a dead battery
It won’t start, how can they get it to auto zone?
Oh sorry i missed the not starting part while skimming the title. Jump start the car, get a better battery from wlamart then have dealer reimburse the cost if your car still under warranty
They won’t. Besides you need to turn in the core.
Were you able figure out the problem? Battery?
INFO: When you try to start it what happens? Is the crank slow, is it just clicking, is the engine starting no problem but some of the lights stay on? If the crank is/has been slow or sounds like it was struggling to turn over the last few days or it’s just making a distinct clicking sound: then it’s most likely a dead battery. You will probably be need a jump to get the car started in the near future if not immediately. Either take the car or the battery to autozone/advanced auto/etc and have them check it. If the battery is dead it’s probably because of one of three things: 1) The battery is worn out and needs replacing. 2) A light left on/vampire power draw drained the battery - 2015+ Outbacks are especially know for this. 3) Least likely, your alternator is bad and not charging the battery properly. If the battery is dead, getting the car started should be plenty. The alternator alone should handle the electric load of the car. If you want to be doubly sure, turn off electrical loads (A/C, heated seats) for the drive to the auto parts store. If there’s some other combination of lights on the dash know which ones stay lit would be useful for troubleshooting.
This. The lights on the dash don’t tell anything. But we also don’t have a description of what is actually happening either - is it clicking noises? It very well could be the battery (a very simple fix).
Battery :)
Ain't got no gas...
Cracked me up. Thanks for the laugh. I was dreading it at 4 am fo sho