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- Jun 1, 2018
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This is about our 2011 Outback.
We’ve had a very strange couple of days with it & now it is parked where the towing service put it - and will go no farther until it can be fixed somehow.
Monday 11/14 it started & was used to get to work with zero problems - then after work its battery was suddenly too weak for it to crank.
(No interior lights or anything were left on during work time.)
After having a co-worker offer a jump, it did crank over & start.
It got home OK (~20 miles) - and again had not enough juice to re-start.
Oddly, the battery read 12.7V on the DVM...so it was put on to charge for ~3 hours with our 10A charger - after which it was still too weak & again still came up with 12.7V somehow.
The next day that battery was totally flat - as if there had been something draining it all night.
Later a spare, used battery was installed & it started right up with no problems & no trouble lights of any sort.
Since that battery was years old & marginal at best the OB was driven ~45 minutes away to go buy a new battery - again - no problems indicated.
Came out with the brand new battery - swapped it into the car - and that is when the troubles began...
Attempting to start it had the dash lighting up normally, but when cranking was attempted all that was heard was a very quiet relay type sound seeming to be on the passenger side - but zero cranking.
(Sort of like what happens when cranking is attempted with just a plain steel, unchipped key...)
Thinking the new battery was weak somehow, the booster pack was attached - same result.
Swapped the old battery back in - no change.
Our OB has the genuine Subaru remote starter - so the car was locked & that was tried - it made 3-4 attempts with just the same results & quit.
Being totally baffled - the OBD reader was attached & showed 1 code, for CPS bank A as I recall.
At that point, after trying what I could, AAA was called to tow it home.
While waiting, I spoke with a friend who is a trained mechanic (though only seldom works on Subarus) & he said that to his knowledge there was no super secret decoder ring or other arcane stuff needed - just swap the batteries, and all SHOULD be well.
He also commented that most likely the CPS code should not have prevented it from cranking normally - whether it could then start, or not.
At this point all the above has created concern & of course confusion as doing such a simple thing should have been just that - simple - but turned out so badly.
Hopefully someone here can shed some light upon this situation before the OB has to be towed in for service.
Thanks for any helpfuly replies !!
We’ve had a very strange couple of days with it & now it is parked where the towing service put it - and will go no farther until it can be fixed somehow.
Monday 11/14 it started & was used to get to work with zero problems - then after work its battery was suddenly too weak for it to crank.
(No interior lights or anything were left on during work time.)
After having a co-worker offer a jump, it did crank over & start.
It got home OK (~20 miles) - and again had not enough juice to re-start.
Oddly, the battery read 12.7V on the DVM...so it was put on to charge for ~3 hours with our 10A charger - after which it was still too weak & again still came up with 12.7V somehow.
The next day that battery was totally flat - as if there had been something draining it all night.
Later a spare, used battery was installed & it started right up with no problems & no trouble lights of any sort.
Since that battery was years old & marginal at best the OB was driven ~45 minutes away to go buy a new battery - again - no problems indicated.
Came out with the brand new battery - swapped it into the car - and that is when the troubles began...
Attempting to start it had the dash lighting up normally, but when cranking was attempted all that was heard was a very quiet relay type sound seeming to be on the passenger side - but zero cranking.
(Sort of like what happens when cranking is attempted with just a plain steel, unchipped key...)
Thinking the new battery was weak somehow, the booster pack was attached - same result.
Swapped the old battery back in - no change.
Our OB has the genuine Subaru remote starter - so the car was locked & that was tried - it made 3-4 attempts with just the same results & quit.
Being totally baffled - the OBD reader was attached & showed 1 code, for CPS bank A as I recall.
At that point, after trying what I could, AAA was called to tow it home.
While waiting, I spoke with a friend who is a trained mechanic (though only seldom works on Subarus) & he said that to his knowledge there was no super secret decoder ring or other arcane stuff needed - just swap the batteries, and all SHOULD be well.
He also commented that most likely the CPS code should not have prevented it from cranking normally - whether it could then start, or not.
At this point all the above has created concern & of course confusion as doing such a simple thing should have been just that - simple - but turned out so badly.
Hopefully someone here can shed some light upon this situation before the OB has to be towed in for service.
Thanks for any helpfuly replies !!