2016 Forester Touring -Battery Drain

[KayakME]

I have 2016 Forester that has gone through 5 batteries in 3 years. Has had new starter, wiring harness and alternator checked good. Two local Subaru dealerships have run the service bulletin I got for the Starlink module drain and they say it doesn’t meet the requirements for replacement, only drawing 40.3 not the 70 required. We pulled the fuse which seems to fix it but can’t go without that as it controls radio too and we are try to sell now. If it sits for 3 days or more battery is dead. I am at a loss of what to do next. Don’t want to sell as someone did to us. Any suggestions as to what else it could be. I still believe it’s the module with the bulletin but. No one will fix it. Frustrating as we have owned Subarus for many years.

 

[Dick Foster]

As a last gasp you could install a tender charger and plug it in when you park for long periods. A tender charger is just a low Amp output battery charger that keeps the battery topped up. I installed one in my tractor, plugged in my rock crawler and both of my backup generators have them. Be sure to get one that's designed for the type of battery thats in your car. Regular flooded cell lead acid batteries and AGMs are a bit different.

 

[bmart]

Are you dealing with a local shop or Subaru corporate? I'd use the latter.

 

[chasfish]

I have 2016 Forester that has gone through 5 batteries in 3 years. Has had new starter, wiring harness and alternator checked good. Two local Subaru dealerships have run the service bulletin I got for the Starlink module drain and they say it doesn’t meet the requirements for replacement, only drawing 40.3 not the 70 required. We pulled the fuse which seems to fix it but can’t go without that as it controls radio too and we are try to sell now. If it sits for 3 days or more battery is dead. I am at a loss of what to do next. Don’t want to sell as someone did to us. Any suggestions as to what else it could be. I still believe it’s the module with the bulletin but. No one will fix it. Frustrating as we have owned Subarus for many years.

I have 2016 Forester that has gone through 5 batteries in 3 years. Has had new starter, wiring harness and alternator checked good. Two local Subaru dealerships have run the service bulletin I got for the Starlink module drain and they say it doesn’t meet the requirements for replacement, only drawing 40.3 not the 70 required. We pulled the fuse which seems to fix it but can’t go without that as it controls radio too and we are try to sell now. If it sits for 3 days or more battery is dead. I am at a loss of what to do next. Don’t want to sell as someone did to us. Any suggestions as to what else it could be. I still believe it’s the module with the bulletin but. No one will fix it. Frustrating as we have owned Subarus for many years.

I have 2016 Forester that has gone through 5 batteries in 3 years. Has had new starter, wiring harness and alternator checked good. Two local Subaru dealerships have run the service bulletin I got for the Starlink module drain and they say it doesn’t meet the requirements for replacement, only drawing 40.3 not the 70 required. We pulled the fuse which seems to fix it but can’t go without that as it controls radio too and we are try to sell now. If it sits for 3 days or more battery is dead. I am at a loss of what to do next. Don’t want to sell as someone did to us. Any suggestions as to what else it could be. I still believe it’s the module with the bulletin but. No one will fix it. Frustrating as we have owned Subarus for many years.

 

[chasfish]

Check the battery sensor. I think it’s on one of the battery terminals, probably the positive. I’ve read where that sensor is likely cause of battery drain. At the time of my reading about it people were having trouble getting the oem part. Maybe fixed by now. Good luck

Chuck
Reading pa

 

[Howard264]

I had the same problem. Turns out it was a problem with the computer coding.

 

[mbmaniac]

I had a similar issue with my 2017 Outback Touring. It turns out the DCM (Digital Control Module) was drawing three times the amount of current than it was supposed to causing my battery to die after a couple of days. Once the DCM was replaced, I no longer experienced battery draining issues but also Bluetooth for my phone worked much better. It turn out the Gen 1 DCM uses 3G support when the Gen 2 now supports 5G which makes my calls clear again. I hope this helps.

 

[chasfish]

I had the same problem. Turns out it was a problem with the computer coding.

How on earth did you figure that out??

 

[Howard264]

How on earth did you figure that out??

I didn't. One of the techs at the dealer did, after a couple of visits there where I got various answers that didn't make sense.

 

[chasfish]

I didn't. One of the techs at the dealer did, after a couple of visits there where I got various answers that didn't make sense.

That’s one sharp tech!!

 

[Daniel Renaud]

I have 2016 Forester that has gone through 5 batteries in 3 years. Has had new starter, wiring harness and alternator checked good. Two local Subaru dealerships have run the service bulletin I got for the Starlink module drain and they say it doesn’t meet the requirements for replacement, only drawing 40.3 not the 70 required. We pulled the fuse which seems to fix it but can’t go without that as it controls radio too and we are try to sell now. If it sits for 3 days or more battery is dead. I am at a loss of what to do next. Don’t want to sell as someone did to us. Any suggestions as to what else it could be. I still believe it’s the module with the bulletin but. No one will fix it. Frustrating as we have owned Subarus for many years.

I have an Outback 2020 I don't use the car much just for foods shopping use the car every two weeks I add a Battery saver 12v you plug it on the positive and negative poles plug to a 120V outlet of course it convert to 12volts you can get on amazon about 100 buck it's clean the battery and charge 24/7 it's four years i have the car still on my original battery work well I test it with a battery tester no issues since 2020 good luck!

 

[Dick Foster]

I have an Outback 2020 I don't use the car much just for foods shopping use the car every two weeks I add a Battery saver 12v you plug it on the positive and negative poles plug to a 120V outlet of course it convert to 12volts you can get on amazon about 100 buck it's clean the battery and charge 24/7 it's four years i have the car still on my original battery work well I test it with a battery tester no issues since 2020 good luck!

Exactly!
BTW You can find tender chargers from most autoparts sources for less than $100. They are intended just for keeping battery charge topped up, not charging a fully depleted battery. The most important bit is getting one that's matched to the battery chemistry of the target battery.