Any suggestions on what I can do?

Spending $100 on a new battery would be a good place to start (pun not intended). Subaru might even warranty it for you. Starter failure is unlikely.

 

Agreed. Start with a better battery. 2-3 years is pretty much the life expectancy of the Subaru factory battery...if you are lucky it lasts that long.

I would not be inclined to believe it is a starter issue. Not saying it cannot be a failing starter but pretty unlikely at your cars age.

If you are still having issues after replacing the battery, I would be looking for bad grounds, cables or connections. You just might end up paying someone to troubleshoot the issue.

 

Batteries can have intermittent failures and starter motor issue is highly unlikely, so I agree on the new battery. May also want to run the headlights in the ON position all the time instead of using AUTO setting. That should help keep the battery charged better. I had 5-6 sudden no-start conditions on my 2012 CRV that Honda couldn't rectify with multiple software updates, but since I stopped using AUTO headlight setting, the issue hasn't recurred in the last two years/20K miles. After buying our 2016 OB and reading many complaints about the OEM battery and no-start conditions on these forums, we've begun using the same "no AUTO" headlights on our OB. So far, so good, though we always carry a lithium jump-pack just in case.

 

I don't understand the correlation between dead batteries and auto headlights. My daily drivers for the last 20+ years have had auto headlights. I set the switch to auto the day I pickup up the vehicle and never turn it off. Have yet to have a battery issue.

 

Subaru starters very rarely fail, that's a terrible first suggestion on a Subaru.

1. Check battery terminals and clamps. They should be perfectly clean and tight where the metal surfaces meet - not where you can see. This is probably already the case on a car this new but I can't see it and don't know the car.

Newer cars have notably light battery performance which isn't very forgiving. Yours may test fine but depending on length of trips, electrical demands while driving, age, prior history, etc...it may be weak.

2. Get a better and new battery. batteries have high rates of issues. sure most people don't have issues - but over 100's or thousands of samples you will incur early, low mileage issues with batteries. battery snobs suggest these for the most robust battery performance:
https://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-25-PC1400T-Automotive-LTV-Battery/dp/B00249CS5U/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1538143058&vehicle=2016-13-66-------------0&sr=1-3&ymm=2016%3Asubaru%3Aoutback&keywords=Odyssey+battery+subaru+2016+outback

3. Test for too high of a parasitic drain - a very easy test that doesn't take long, that shouldn't cost much, if anything, by someone who knows what they're doing. It's highly unlikely but if you have any custom installed electronics this because more probable.

If it starts with a jump - that's nearly guaranteeing the battery is the issue - but the additional two points made above should be taken into consideration since we can't see the car and know nothing about it.

 

Any suggestions on what I can do?

Just spend that $145 on a new battery in it that has more CCA than the original factory battery. That will almost certainly solve your problem.

 

In my experience, every new car I’ve owned the OEM battery had to be replaced after 2-3 years. I had a Ford Taurus that lived all of its life in a warm climate (Hawaii) and the battery had to be changed after the 2 year mark because it’s performance was slowly degrading and the car was taking longer to start up. Same with the Mustang I had before my Outback. Mom’s Nissan Rogue batter had to be replaced after a couple of years. I noticed my Outback CCA rating was 490. That seems pretty low considering where I live now winter can occasionally get pretty cold.

 

My father-in-law always turned his radio off before turning the car off, but that's from years of driving VW Beetles that had the radio wired to full time power. My wife's 71 Super Beetle she had when we married was the same way. You have to turn them off or they just stay on full time. But I don't know of any car nowadays that still has the radio powered full time.

Perhaps it's just an old habit, but completely unnecessary with modern cars.

 

LOL, jump ship for Honda just because the stock battery stinks and your mechanic missed the obvious?

 

Seems like he trusts the cashier at pep boys rather than an actual mechanic.

 

I know someone that has a 16 OB that had dead battery issues and took it in to the dealer and they said that there was a issue with the electrical system, Not sure if they replaced or reprogrammed the ECM and battery. It was something that they covered under warranty and stated it was a known issue. I am piping in without getting all the facts straight since the conversation was about a year ago.

I could get more specific info if the "OP" would like.

 

Thanks for your input. I'm taking my car to the dealer tonight to have it diagnosed. We'll see what they say...

 

There was an ECM update to help battery charging for MY2015 and 16 (not sure about later), particularly for folks that do a lot of short trips. While this is always hard on batteries, in an effort to improve fuel economy, the OB's charging system can be extra problematic under such conditions. This is the most recent TSB that I'm aware of:

https://www.subaruoutback.org/forum...138-gen-5-2015-2019/456490-another-annoying-battery-question-3.html#post5202130