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Comments
Murphy's law being what it is, when it does decide to die it will be at about 1-am, in the middle of nowhere, with the temp about 20 below:-)
Cheers Pat.
Chuck
I'm with Pat - I was living on borrowed time on this one. Went from 425 CCA in the old one to 500 on the new.
Trying to fool Murphy with one of his own tricks
Cheers!
Paul
Steve
Jon
Duh! I have to remember to look for the simpler solution before going after the more expensive, i.e. radiator cap!
Glad you solved it.
Jim
Remember to remove the fill plug BEFORE the drain plug..
Jim
-juice
I've heard stories of batteries lasting 10 years or more, but those were either rare exceptions or urban legends.
Cheers!
Paul
Sly
Batteries all things considered are relatively cheap. If you have to be towed and are not in an Auto Club, then you have blown the cost of a battery on a tow.
Cheers Pat.
Glad to hear you found it, Jon!
Steve
I replaced the OEM battery in my 1992 Sentra in January 1997 with a Die Hard, and it's still in that car, believe it or not. (But it's my cheap brother-in-law's car now, and he doesn't want to change it. I would have, definitely.)
Len
Load testing (done at a shop) will certainly give you an indication when a battery is starting to get weak. It will not produce the CCA's without an appreciable drop in voltage. You need plenty of amps for the starter motor and a minimum of 10.0 or so volts in order for the electronics to remain functional. There is a degredation curve as the plates build up crud.
The other uncertainty is the sudden crash in voltage caused by shorted plates. This is a highly unpredictable end-of-life event. As the crud builds up and breaks off the plates, it settles to the bottom of the case. There is some dead space to accommodate it, but usually well less than an inch. Eventually the sediment touches the end of the plate set and shorts them out. Sometime, you can bounce the battery and get complete short-term recovery by redistributing the crud.
The last issue is the downfall of very high amperage batteries. They typically have more plate sets and thus smaller gaps between them. Sometimes they warp with cycling and short out.
Probably more info than you were looking for!!
Steve
As for testing, I got a little eye dropper thing from walmart with some floating balls in it that's supposed to test whether the battery is good or not. Also, I think they had a little better tester with a gauge for just a little more.
I live in a warmer climate (TN) than most on this board so I'll probably change mine before next winter. It's probably a smart idea to change it out though--just to be on the safe side.
Eric
If there are cell caps, you can buy a battery tester (looks like an anti-freeze tester) that checks the specific gravity of the electrolyte.
Cheers!
Paul
battery only puts out about 60% of its power at
0 degree F.AND a engine at that temp needs 130%
more than when warm to start. Ans.-GET a WARMER..
Deadeye
Sometimes, you can get too much of a good thing! From what I have read, batteries that produce more than say 700 CCA (and it depends on the technology...) in the smaller shell sizes are somewhat suspect in terms of the number of plates used. Large American car sizes can pack the same number of plates, and have some breathing room. Subi size batteries would be a bit crammed, and might be more prone to early failure. I cannot really say what is the magic number - technology changes too fast to put a hard stake in the ground. But I would question the merits of a 900 CCA battery for this size engine.
The tester with little balls is called a hydrometer, IIRC. As Craig said, it measures Specific Gravity. Pure water has a SG = 1.0. The higher the value, the more acidic (H2SO4) the solution. Fully charged batteries have high acid levels. Fully discharged batteries have an electrolyte close to water.
Steve
Anybody figure out a way to deal with the constant squeaking that comes from the dash storage box? I think the box is a nice idea in concept, but it squeaks like all heck. I opened it up and took a look inside; aside from the lid I can't find any screws to tighten. I can make a squeak by pressing on the inside of the box ...
????
Sound like a trip to the dealer?
Jopopsy
Cheers Pat.
Chuck
One more thing, it's been about 90 miles since my last stop at the gas station before this problem reappeared. I'm thinking that the first time I encountered this problem it just happened to coincide with the fill up.
Please tell me more about techonline.subaru.com ?? I cannot seem to find it.
Steve
Sorry about that, the link is http://techinfo.subaru.com. I can't type.
Al
Steve
Eric
~c
Also no danger of acid spills if the battery is upended. Makes them more appealing for trunk mounting when weight distribution is a concern.
Cheers Pat.
You might want to shell over the dineros for the service manual, it's got some useful information in there. Under the fuel injection part, there's a trouble shooting page and it has a section for gasoline smell inside of compartment: loose joints at air breather tube, air vent tube and fuel filler pipe (fix: retightening); defective packing air tightness on the fuel saucer (fix: correct or replace packing); cracked fuel separator (fix: replace separator) and inoperative fuel pump modulator or circuit (fix: replace). I got the 3 day subscription and downloaded most of the manual. It's a bit of a pain since they only allow 20 downloads per hour.
BTW, another cold morning here in St. Louis and the smell of gasoline is gone. Craig, you made the right call. It was the hose on the fuel filter. Thank you.
Al
Ed (out to try and crank it over again in 10)
Craig
-juice
thanks
snowhite1
ps. any suggestion will be greatly appreciated
Craig
-juice
Cheers Pat.
In the USA if you had the conditioner added by a dealer the head Gasket warranty was extended to 100,000 miles.
Cheers Pat.
Jim
Craig
That is not possible! Subaru has legendary reliability! Their reliability is the envy of the industry!
End of sarcasm.
Seriously, sorry to hear about your problem. I've been lucky and had no such problems so far on my OBXT. But I have seen an alarming number of electrical problem reports here and on other forums.
Also seen reports of fit and finish issues. I think the Indiana plant does not produce consistent quality. Generally good, but not very consistent.
Also Subaru's reliability and service ratings have been sliding in customer surveys. Not a good sign.
Sly
pearl: you're doing the right thing, document it all and call 800-SUBARU3 to open a case number. Let them know that you are on the Edmunds boards and will share the outcome of your experience with hundreds of Edmunds members.
-juice
I've already added my $.02 on it, so hopefully your dealer can root it out. From the number of good experiences folks have recounted on here, I'd say it is a very uncommon problem but that doesn't help you any! Good luck with it, sms; here's to hoping it can be resolved quickly!
-Wes-