Welcome! 20 minutes isn't enough driving to charge a very dead battery. It sounds like you need to use your Outback more, or, keep it on a battery tender when it's parked for more than a few days. If you do a search here, you'll have enough info to keep you reading all night

Since it's a three year old car, check out replacement batteries with a high CCA (cold cranking amp) rating. They tend to have a larger reserve capacity and that can help with sitting. Everyone has their personal favorites... maybe just find one with the best warranty (but they are almost always the more expensive option).

Good luck!

 

If you search this forum you will find literally hundreds of posts about the poor quality of the Subaru battery.

Do yourself a favour and go and purchase a quality battery with a higher rating and that will likely be the end of your problems.

On some models, yours may be one of them, Subaru can also program the system to charge the battery quicker but sacrificing some fuel economy. This will help if you are not driving your vehicle very often.

Seagrass

 

hard to say. The other suggestions about maintaining a battery if the car isn't driven often are good ones.

The buildup circled looks a little off. What I would do is remove that battery hold down clamp, clean any of that stuff off - where the paint is peeling I'd just clean that and spray it with krylon or some other paint to help stop any further rust. Then I would wipe down the top of the battery - use something like WD-40 is good enough - get all the dirt and stuff off the top - enough of that contamination on the top of the battery and you'll end up with issues (can create an electrical pathway and accelerated battery drain).

You might even want to check the level of the water in the battery - add some distilled water if they are low (if the plates are about to be exposed - there are plastic tabs/indicators to help see when the electrolyte level is about 1/4" or whatever from the bottom of the opening, the little plastic protrusion will break the surface of the water).

 

That is not corrosion, per say. It is from the acidic gases in the battery leaking out and attacking the metal. The fuzzy crud is corrosive so keep it off your clothes or you'll have holes eaten in them. Try not to breath the dust from it either.

 

Before you go out and purchase a different battery, find out what type of warranty is left on the one the dealer installed.

"A year ago, the battery simply stopped charging (i.e. had to jumpstart each time I turned it off). Took it to the dealership, got it replaced, no problem since. "
The picture shows a 30 month free replacement

 

Thank you for all the helpful responses!

• Yes, replacing this at the dealership will be free, so that's always an option
• I see some other posts too about the "low cca" battery, bummer
• the identification of buildup as acidic gas leakage is particularly worrying :-( ... will try to clean it up later and see if it makes a difference
• For now, will try out a few longer drives before complaining again ... was "grounded at home" during this shelter-in-place period, but now that a few parks are open again, should give an excuse to keep it in regular use

 

Well, that battery isn’t sealed either, so if the vent caps aren’t seated well you’re going to potentially get electrolyte weeping out onto the top of the battery... and venting gasses if it’s not being charged properly. I wipe the top of the battery off periodically to remove any accumulated dirt and contaminants, check the level of electrolyte, and then make sure the caps are seated.

 

Arm & Hammer baking soda - if you can find some in the fridge or the store - neutralizes battery acid very well. Knock off the buildup with a screwdriver, sprinkle the powder, let it sit five minutes and then hose it off....

 

You are part of the battery lawsuit. That being said go to costco and buy a new battery. I have 2 costco batteries and are much better than the garbage car makers put in.

 

A terrible way to die... allow the cells in a battery to go below a certain point, and you won't be able to recharge it. If you can because you don't go quite that low, it probably won't hold the level of charge it once could.

I agree. Get a decent battery. A "free" warranty replacement isn't really free if it leaves you stranded. As someone else indicated, you cannot charge a vehicle's battery on 20min of driving. Won't happen. You've got to drive the car.

I replaced my battery after 1yr with a higher CCA battery purchased at Walmart. I also carry one of those small Li-Ion jump start units and it's come in handy twice with the original OEM battery.

 

I have one of the lithium jump start batteries also. I usually keep it in my 20 Outback. That agm has had problems also. I test all of the batteries weekly so I'll know if one of them is going bad

 

One thing I have is a USB charger with LED display HERE, that allows me to look at the charging activity of the alternator. A device like this is a good diagnostic...

 

Name, link? Please

 

Underlined HERE in above reply

 

Thanks.

 

I was having problems with the OEM battery in my '17. After about a year I had them reprogram the charging voltage to continue charging until the battery is fully charged. I had one of those devices shown in the link above and before the update, the charge would only read 14.5 during deceleration or when you took your foot of the gas. During acceleration or simply driving a steady speed the voltage would read anywhere from 10.9 to 11.5.

With the reprogramming it reads 14.5 most of the time and reduces down to about 12.8 to 13 when fully charged.

And yes, I did get a new battery at Autozone that had a higher CCA and reserve capacity.

By the way, if you have an AGM battery, you must get the reprogramming done. I originally bought an Odyssey AGM battery that I had trouble with. I contacted Odyssey and spoke to a technician who told me that the way the Subarus (this was 2017) come from the factory with their different charging programming, that this may void the Odyssey AGM Warranty because AGMs are not designed for that kind of charging and would likely severely reduce it's life. At that point, I returned it and got a regular battery So if you get an AGM battery I would surely get the charging update done.

 

I was having problems with the OEM battery in my '17. After about a year I had them reprogram the charging voltage to continue charging until the battery is fully charged. I had one of those devices shown in the link above and before the update, the charge would only read 14.5 during deceleration or when you took your foot of the gas. During acceleration or simply driving a steady speed the voltage would read anywhere from 10.9 to 11.5.

The lengths these car manufacturers will go to boost mpg numbers by 0.1% is getting absurd.

 

I purchased a 2020 Outback Limited Feb 2020. Great car until the battery died. After charging it overnight it worked great. Then the same thing happened dead battery the next day. Took it to the dealer . They stated that there was nothing wrong with the battery. I refused to take the car home and told them to keep the car for a couple of days and let me know if it starts after sitting there for a few days. We are 1 hour away so the y gave me a loner. I'll let you in a few days if the problem has been solved.

 

I have read a million different posts about this issue. I can tell you, it's not your battery. I just put a brand new Interstate quality battery in my 2017 Outback last week and this morning, the battery was so dead, the dome light wouldn't even come on. And I always keep the Outback in a garage. Subaru has a problem they are not admitting to. I have seen two main responses to this issue which seem to address it. One was people who replaced their instrument cluster (though I don't see how this would fix the problem) and two, people have the battery charge reprogrammed, which makes more sense. I have also seen reports where some have recorded fa or pump type noise from the rear when the car has just been sitting a long time. First things first - make sure your lights all go off after 10 minutes or so. If any are still on, get them off!

 

@roberthenry181

Soooo, this is 1,000.001???

Things that make a difference for the battery, aside from leaving things on, or a door open, is the connection at the battery. I cannot count on both hands how many times just this year alone someone put in a new battery and the car stalled, or it wouldn't start the next day or a couple days later. Know what it was????

All of them thought they had the cable clamps on the post tight when in reality they were loose; expecially the ground clamp. The clamps stretch a little when they are put in place the first time and every time after that they stretch a little more. One person forgot to plug the battery sensor back up to the clamp.

So I say, make sure the clamps are clean and tight. If you can grab it and twist, too loose. To help get it tight you can remove that plastic spacer from the clamp and this will allow it to close up just that little bit more that it needs for a good connection. Good connection means electricity flows and the alternator will work to keep the battery warm and happy.

 

When you get a new battery these days there's a good chance it's not fully charged when you buy it, whether from Costco, NAPA, or wherever. Best practice is to have your own smart charger at home to at least give the battery a full initial charge, otherwise it will continue to deteriorate in an undercharged condition. When you buy a new battery if your multimeter isn't showing at least 12.6 volts then it's not fully charged. 12.3 volts is approximately half charged. The alternator can recover the energy spent from starting your car, but unless you're taking really long drives it's not likely to charge a significantly undercharged battery.

That pump that turns on when the car is off is normal, typically 5 hours after engine shut-off, and it's a programmed test of the fuel system for leaks. I think all modern cars have that, and most people have simply never heard it so before anyone says "my car doesn't do it" just realize that if you aren't standing next to your car 5 hours after shutoff you won't notice it.

 

Heh, that's a lot of posts, but I think you might need to read a little more carefully. The solution, or at least part of it, for many with Gen 5s was the ECM update (FYI, you are entitled to this under the emissions warranty out to 80k). The cluster defect was rare and totally unrelated. Next, there are things you can do to minimize the potential for problems. For those with PB-start, make sure you understand how the ignition system works. Replace dome, map and cargo lights with LEDs. Forget about any dealer-supplied battery and get a quality aftermarket. Interstate makes batteries for Costco to meet a price point - they are not as good as their MTP product line and would not qualify as good quality from what I've read. And if you didn't confirm that it was fully charged before install then that could easily be your problem right there.

The "noise from the rear" happens 5 hours after parking and lasts 5-10 minutes. This is totally normal and common across many makes - it's the evap system testing for leaks. It has never been shown to put much of a drain on the battery, only speculated to by one member (and with zero evidence).

 

Just to add about Costco batteries - Costco changed battery supplier and the quality is said to have gone down, and the only reason to use Costco for batteries is their generous return/exchange policy, but the batteries themselves are mediocre at best. Interstate doesn't seem to make batteries, but only resell batteries made by other manufacturers, e.g. Exide and Clarios.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Batteries

 

Based on other posts, the main issue seems to be battery drain from the car-stolen-location-device, called the DCM. It uses 3G wireless, being shut down by many carriers. Suggest pulling under-hood fuse #8. Nothing bad happened on my 2016 Outback after pulling it, and it reduced battery drain. Also recommend a solar trickle charger if u dont use the car often ... $20 on Amazon, plus some wiring work bcaz needs an always-on power connection. ... Cliff

 

Hey - these look prfetty stupid comments over time. The subaru discharges bateries when the ignition is off. Open and shut. Why would there be so man;y subarue prolblems unless something lilke this exists! The batteries will not take constantly being discharge to zero, they are not "made" for that, and thus wear out quickly. Problem can be "solved" if yoou left the motor on all the time?! One real solution is a frequent use when needed of lithium batteries. They are cheap and easy to use. Another way is to buy a new batter for the car every year or so!

 

Hey - these look prfetty stupid comments over time. The subaru discharges bateries when the ignition is off. Open and shut...

Nope, you're completely wrong, a properly functioning 2017 Outback doesn't drain the battery any faster than any other modern vehicle. This is a very old thread (typical cause is now known to be the DCM which any competent mechanic can fix) and I'm not sure what you're adding by insulting the community, but congrats on a brilliant first post. We're just trying to help folks. What are you trying to do?