[Zoe the Wonder Dog]

I just purchased a new 2013 3.6L Outback with Eyesight a few weeks ago. As I was driving, ALL of the car's indicator lights started flashing- check engine, eyesight off, brake light blinking, traction control.....

I (gingerly) drove the car to the dealership. They spent a few hours checking it over and decided that the problem is due to faulty coil pads, which they will replace.

Does this sound right?? I'm blown away by the fact that I'm already having problems with a brand new car that's only a few weeks only, esp. since I've only heard great things about Subaru's reliability.

 

[Hudsoner]

I can't say anything about your problems, but Subaru's are not made by the gods, but by ordinary people. They can come with all kind's of problems. Mine was in the shop for more than 10 days in a row (after several prior repair attempts) when it had less than 7000 miles on the clock!

 

[subiesailor]

First 25,000 miles is called the Honeymoon period for automakers. The first 25K is where nearly 100% of the flawed electronics tend to surface. It's no mistake that the standard vehicle warranty is usually some place between 32,000 and 36,000 miles.

I wouldn't worry about it. Dealer fixes it and you move on.

I had a relay fail on the head lights around 12,000 miles. Its all about new parts and vehicles having lots of parts. Some parts may actually have some type of flaw and fail shortly after they start being used. Not a big deal

 

[Zoe the Wonder Dog]

This makes me feel better, thanks!

 

[connorlikesbikes]

About 3 months after I got my car, we did a 3000 mile road trip from California to Colorado. In the middle of nowhere in Utah, I passed a sign that said "no services for XXX miles". I thought to myself "Thank God I have a Subaru. Ain't nothing gonna happen. " About 30 miles later, I had a similar occurrence. Ended up the fuel cap seal had a tear in it.
It's been 18,000 miles since then, and I haven't had a single problem with the car. With the thousands of sensors and moving parts in a car, chances are something in the car wasn't done exactly in spec during assembly.

 

[Sandroad]

Lots of other threads and posts on this issue........a search on "flashing dash" will have even more.


http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...212-christmas-lights-dash-not-very-merry.html

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums.../40188-my-dash-looks-like-christmas-tree.html

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...ngine-light-brake-light-flashing-3-weeks.html

 

[mikelipke]

Gas cap

 

[catric69]

I had mine all of two days before the dash lights started light up like a night club. It was transmission fluid and valvebody that was replaced. Almost 9000 miles on the vehicle now and no issues what so ever.

 

[DucFanDan]

I had this on a 2011... check engine, flashing cruise, ABS, and traction control.

Turns out it was the gas cap. Had a tear in the seal from where an overzealous Oregon gas station pump guy reefed on it (you aren't allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon... don't get me started on that stupidity).

Subaru seriously needs to reprogram the warning lights. What is the point of having separate engine, ABS, traction control, and other lights if they all go off simultaneously for every stupidly small problem? The gas cap should have lit the "check engine" light only. Then one could calmly get the code pulled, see it's the gas cap, and get it replaced. That many bloody lights should *not* go off unless half the drivetrain is literally falling out of the car.

 

[stw]

Agreed, DucFanDan. I had the same problem on my 2011. Not only did the lights go off (holy crap, it's gonna blow!), but cruise stopped functioning. What a pain. I did a little research here and found out that it was probably the gas cap.

I made an appointment with the dealer - over the phone, he said it was probably the gas cap. I thought this would be easy. A friend of mine has an OBD-II reader, so we pulled the code then reset so I could use cruise again. When I took the car into the dealer, they gave me some crap about how since the code was no longer on the computer, they couldn't help me. Even though I showed them the exact code it gave me. Bah humbug! Had to wait for it to happen again, then took it in. Oh hey, have to replace the gas cap. Grumble.

 

[hallux]

Agreed, DucFanDan. I had the same problem on my 2011. Not only did the lights go off (holy crap, it's gonna blow!), but cruise stopped functioning. What a pain. I did a little research here and found out that it was probably the gas cap.

I made an appointment with the dealer - over the phone, he said it was probably the gas cap. I thought this would be easy. A friend of mine has an OBD-II reader, so we pulled the code then reset so I could use cruise again. When I took the car into the dealer, they gave me some crap about how since the code was no longer on the computer, they couldn't help me. Even though I showed them the exact code it gave me. Bah humbug! Had to wait for it to happen again, then took it in. Oh hey, have to replace the gas cap. Grumble.

If they can't show a code with their computer they can't verify the fault and prove to Subaru that the part replacement was needed. On top of that, if reseating the cap DID fix the issue they would have replaced the cap for no reason if the code never came back. BTW, cruise would have been disabled even with only the CEL on, I think pretty much every modern vehicle does this. On my old car the cruise and the remote start were disabled if there was an active fault.

FWIW, my 2011 has never seen this issue, on the road since Aug. 2011 although it does seem as though the 3.6 is more prone to this than the 2.5.