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Battery issues


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Yup....yet another battery problem thread, but before you start flaming me....I did search and read all that I could find...just nothing quite specific enough.

 

The situation....2006 LGT sedan with 58,000 Km...totally stock....only electrical after market accessory is a Garmin GPS running off the cigar lighter(Disconnecting it does not affect the problem) New 550 CCA battery installed a few months ago....all terminals are clean and secure. Battery will go to DEAD in about 4-5 days if not driven.

 

The car has been to the dealer about this numerous times while it was still on warranty....no problem....no solution.

 

Battery readings across the terminals

Running at idle...............14.4V

Running at 2500 rpm........14.4 V

After shut off.................12.7 V

After off 1 hr..................12.4 V

After off 5 hrs................12.2 V

After cold overnight........12.1 V

After start and 2 km drive...12.6 V

 

I did the Dark Current test as outlined in TSB 07-62-07

Milli amp draw down fluctuates between 1 mA and 18 mA...never higher and no where near the suggested max of 150 mA

 

Love to hear from anyone on here with any serious ideas about his problem.

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I have not taken measurments but I have the same issue (car has 40k miles) i just ordered my 2nd optima yellow top battery. My current battery (2 years old) will not hold a charge at all...it got progressively worse over time. I also bought a battery tender in the hopes of saving my current battery but it will not charge it at all. :(
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Have you tried a more generic battery from the auto parts store? It could be as simple as not driving enough to keep the battery in good shape. The average lead acid battery needs to be charged within 30-60 days of sitting idle at standard room temperature to retain its life.
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Thanks for the replies.

All the connections are solid and secure...no fraying

The battery does not drain down when not connected to the car

No alarm on the car...just the OEM immobilizer

The draw down measurement is so low I can't see where pulling fuses will tell me anything.

This is the second battery in the car and it reacts exactly like the original.

You can tell from the ultra low mileage (Barely 35,000 miles in 7 years)that the car does not get a lot of driving...a lot of short trips with occasional holiday drives...but... I do drive it almost everyday.

I am going to leave it for a few days in the garage to see what the voltage drops to.

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There has to be a short somewhere. A nicked wire or even a bad connection. I would check out the alternator as well. If you say the battery is good disconnected over time then there is only one other major part that coincides with the battery.
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Good plan...>I will check that tomorrow.........I suppose it is not impossible that the juice is bleeding back through the alternator, but I think that would show in the "Dark Current" test for amp leakage,,,,as you can see my readings for that are very low compared to recommended specs.

 

Obviously, what I am hoping for is someone who has had the same sort of problem and readings and has found the solution. I hope it is as simple as driving it more........or maybe driving it to the dealership for a new Subaru ;)

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Are you leaving the key in the ignition? Just putting the key in the ignition (even without turning it on) seems to wake up the anti-theft system and it apparently starts polling the chip in the key. This puts a load of about 3/4 amp on the battery. Although this is a small load, over time it is more than enough to run the battery down in a 3-4 day period. Its possible that the contact that senses when the key has been inserted occasionally sticks thus leading to a dead battery.
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No....the key is always out and obviously during the test as prescribed in the Subaru service bulletin....Not sure why, but the bulletin requires that the doors be locked too......Probably to arm the security system, but I don't have an alarm. I tested it with the doors locked and unlocked...same results exactly.

BTW....checked the alternator....no problems there.

It is hard to find a leak when the test shows there is no draw more than normal....in fact the Subaru test shows that my car draws down way lower numbers than normal....The quest continues;)

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The time consuming way to find a parasitic draw is to hook up an ammeter to the battery, negative side cable, and start pulling fuses and see if the reading fluctuates.

 

That is your only choice...or you'll be chasing your tail

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I know it is not a solution - but a battery tender may be a good option if you keep it garaged like me for 4-5 days at a time. It's cheap and effective.

 

I got my new battery today - I plan on keeping it tendered when not in use.

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Are you the original owner?

 

Check the trunk for signs of a tow package or something.

 

I am the original owner and the only driver.......nothing like that on the car.....It has been like this since new and I and/or the dealer just can't find the gremlin.

The odd thing is that the neg side amp test shows lower than normal draw down....BUT it still goes dead in a few days to a week.:confused:

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The time consuming way to find a parasitic draw is to hook up an ammeter to the battery, negative side cable, and start pulling fuses and see if the reading fluctuates.

One thing I find odd is that when I do the neg side amp test (Done it about 6 times so far) the readings fluctuate rapidly but never higher than 18 mA and usually more like 6-7 mA...very low for these cars ....never settles to a steady draw. I would have thought that it would settle down to a steady low draw down ...or if there was a short somewhere then it would be a steady higher reading.........that just never happens.

According to the Subaru bulletin anything over 150mA is BAD and anything less than 20 mA is optimal...they do not mention whether it should be steady or not.

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I honestly don't know why Subaru didn't take the car back.

 

Mostly because I never wanted them to take it back...it is a great car and I have loved driving it for almost 7 years....Just like to fix the battery problem....along with many other LGT owners with this same issue.

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Just a little update.....spend the whole afternoon with the amp meter hooked up to the negative side while I pulled fuses one at a time.......pulled everyone of them and it never even twitched the meter once...The gremlin must have been hiding :(
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Buy an aftermarket battery. I have a Die Hard platinum as my vehicle also has the garmin, but also 2 Alpine amps, subs, Alpine deck and stage 2 mids/reference speakers. No problems ever. $250 battery buys peace of mind and a 3 year warranty.
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What was the scale on your ammeter set to? And what brand is it? My only thought now would be to let the vehicle sit overnight and in the morning do the same test on the milliamp scale. Obviously start with the higher amp fuses as they control more, but letting the vehicle sit overnight might help. Letting the vehicle sit overnight might give all the modules to go into sleep mode, some take quite a while to do so. Sometimes these event trigger different modules to take up and thus use current. Also, do we know that the battery has tested good?

 

I'm stumped from behind my computer. I wish I cold get my hands on the car... Ha

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