New (to me) Outback with battery woes.

[Boodyer]

Hello All.

I have recently become the proud owner of a 2006 Outback estate (2.5 petrol, automatic with Auto gas conversion).

I am loving the car and being able to fling it about only to find it stick like glue to the road  ;)

I have a question though.

My Battery is dead, i have sourced a new one and an going to change it tomorrow. However my car has  the cat 1 Thatcham alarm fitted and i am a little concerned about any complications arising from the Battery replacement. Also i have read the locking system can be tricky after Battery disconnection?

Any hints and tips please,

Many Thanks,

Boo :)

[Mr B]

Couple options

1 unlock car with remote, open drivers door and leave open or at least leave window fully down, open bonnet and remove Battery . be ready with remote if alarm does go off on reconnection of Battery.

2 do as above but make your own Battery memory saver, I do this and simplest method for quick Battery swap is a 9v battery with 2 long cables with 9v battery clip and crock clips on ends, clip them securely to + & - car battery cables then remove battery leads, power from the 9V will keep everything alive as long as don't nock lead off, can do same thing with cigarette lighter  adaptor . I used a rechargable 9v for years when doing battery swaps as saves time with clocks and hassle with radios etc .

* Other tip is be sure have your 4pin alarm code tested and working before do anything as PITA plus expensive if remotes fail or loose programming and you got no pin code. If you don't have a code you can program a new one as long as have a working remote .

 

[Boodyer]

Cheers Mr. B.

The old Battery is dead so the car is already "disconnected" from a power source. The door still unlocks on the key. so access is not an issue at the moment. i have the original paperwork from Subaru including pin codes and its only had one owner who seemed a diligent kinda guy, ie I think he would have told me if he had changed the pin code (fingers crossed). Great idea about making a Battery memory saver though, i will note that one away for future use. Love the scooby but sometimes i miss the simplicity of old land rovers and minis. :)

 

[Mr B]

To be honest 06 subaru no real ballache for Battery removal the old fashioned way same as your landy .

Main reason we use memory saver is speed and aftermarket radios and alarms as keeps customer happier than turning up and needing a radio code and tweak lost settings etc . Do get odd times when electronics like body control ecu, alarm modules can go bad with power cut during a swap, Peugeot use to be real bad for that and need mudule flashing after power drains and jump starting as firmware became corrupted but fortunately we don't work on them if can help it and jap electronics way better than french and german :-)

Main reason on leaving car door open or window down is as precaution not lock yourself out if alarm on repower locks car and keys left in car :-S Has happened to me so I have this working practise to save any drama .

 

[Boodyer]

Mr B,

Happy to report Battery change was indeed nice and simple (as it can be in minus 2 conditions :o). I left the door open and the key pad down ready. The alarm did go off but was quickly silenced by the code.

I had a weird incident with it the first couple of days after picking it up. I refuelled when i collected it and 2 days later the engine management light came on and the cruise control was disabled (so blinking green light on the dash -very annoying). After reading up it seemed that if you do not tighten the fuel cap by allowing it to really 'click' a few times the ECU gets in a flap. 

I went and checked and sure enough although the cap was on it was not 'clicked' home.

After going to a local garage to get the light turned off they confirmed there was nothing wrong and the fault reading was relating to a cat mixture issue.

Light has been off quite happily for 3 weeks or so now and although i can feel a very slight misfire on idle, it is running beautifully.

Electronics can be such a curse. (but the heated seats in this weather is such a blessing lol)

[Mr B]

Heated seats are a must lol .

For slight misfire you could review leads and plugs .plug leads on subaru do play up due to way they route/hang and decent replacement set only £20
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VE522141-Ignition-Lead-Set-fits-SUBARU/400913185728 (check part with seller via reg before buy anything)

Plugs could be checked/reset gap or replaced with likes of Denso K20TT,4709  .

Subaru leads and especially plugs get missed off service quite a lot, not expensive parts and if leads look old a very good service step anyway and reduces potential future issues .
Plugs don't get checked much as lot of owners or garages without much experience in the boxer engine leave them as look awkward to do but they not .