wedmonds Posted January 22, 2006 Posted January 22, 2006 Hello People, Had not driven my car in a 3 days and when i tried to this morning it would not start. No lights left on or anything silly but still the battery appeared to be dead. With help from Granby (AGAIN) i contacted Subaru Warranty chaps on 0800-777-127 and a nice young lady agreed to call me back within 5 minutes. 1 Hour later and engineer turns up at my house a jumped started the car. Must have been pretty dead as the charger he tried did not even make it turn over at first. Anyways, 10 mins at idel and 40 minutes drive later i am hoping i should have enough charge to get me through a night. I will drive it each day just to keep it charged but wanted to pass my experience on. Granby said a number of people have had the tracker not shutting off correctly and drain the battery so i am going to contact tracker to find what they can do for me. Engineer also said that it was not a Subaru battery so he doubted that helped the matter. He also said that a number of people get something fitted to stop the battery problems ( isolater ?? ) and it costs around £100. Anyone know of what he was talking about and have any thoughts. Thanks again Granby... another mess you got me out of. At this rate its going to cost me a bloody fortune in drinks when i see you!
granby Posted January 22, 2006 Posted January 22, 2006 << Thanks again Granby... another mess you got me out of. At this rate its going to cost me a bloody fortune in drinks when i see you! >> Another tip i heard and do myself is always drive with you sidelights on as it keeps the charging circuit working
darryl_martin Posted January 23, 2006 Posted January 23, 2006 Bo@#@ks. Cleaned car earlier, remember knocking the sidelight switch but didn't check to see if they were on.................
darryl_martin Posted January 23, 2006 Posted January 23, 2006 They're off!!!!!! Battery lives to fight another day
wedmonds Posted January 26, 2006 Author Posted January 26, 2006 One day without driving and the battery is dead again Calling trackstar customer services in a moment to see if they will send someone out to do some tests.
wedmonds Posted January 26, 2006 Author Posted January 26, 2006 Another update: RAC Trackstar said the following: The battery on the impresya only charges under certain cicumstances i.e side lights on or what ever. The RAC Trackstar pulls on the battery for charge for 6 hours after engine switch off. If you dont get the battery charged when you are driving then the battery will obviously not be full charged. RAC Trackstar are going to come out on Saturday to change the Trackstar over and ammend the time from 6 hours to 1 Hour. Obviously it will help the problem but may not cure it entirely. Would you guys recommend getting a new battery, when subaru assist came out they said it was not the standard one it came with and i am wondering if all these flat battereies could have damaged it. What do you think? Where can i get a cheap quality battery from, Subaru dealer? Thanks all, hope the information above helps others. wedmonds
darryl_martin Posted January 27, 2006 Posted January 27, 2006 Afaik if the battery is dead it wont hold any charge for any length of time so car will start again shortly after a run, but if left for a day or two will be flat. If a battery is only ever half charged it then starts to believe that half charged is fully charged and you wont be able to get a proper full charge into it. Could also be alternator not providing charge for the battery or a relay in between the two not allowing the alternator to charge the battery. Cold weather also affects battery performance. Unfortunately when my battery has been dodgy the only thing I have been able to do is go for a long drive using highish revs to give it some charge Did Subaru assist check the system or just get it started? Normally go to halfords for my batteries
wedmonds Posted January 27, 2006 Author Posted January 27, 2006 They just got it started. Will they do those sort of checks? I am happy to get another battery but dont want it going flat again. What do you think would be the best course of action?
darryl_martin Posted January 27, 2006 Posted January 27, 2006 If the battery is five or so years old (and the original one) I'd probably try a new battery and if this goes flat get the rest checked. If its new then should charge up and hold it no probs. As you say yours isn't original its possible it isn't up to the task and this has killed it. I'd try a new battery, hope it isn't too expensive, and see what happens How old is the car?
wedmonds Posted January 27, 2006 Author Posted January 27, 2006 Its an 53 and bacause the battey has been changed it could only be 2 years old at most. I am happy to purchase a new one but do you think there will be a major difference between an official battery and a halfords one? Would Subaru sell a trickle charger? Thanks for your feedback.
SCOOBYTOO Posted January 27, 2006 Posted January 27, 2006 if your car has any subaru warranty left. take the car back and get them to check it. if the battery is at fault its down to subaru to replace it. imho its probably the tracker draining.
wedmonds Posted January 27, 2006 Author Posted January 27, 2006 Yep it has warranty left on it. The battery thats in it though is not Subaru so i dont think they will want to replace it as it nothing to do with em. I reckon i may purcahse a Subaru one and if it still fecks up i will get Subaru assist out to check the car fully and replace the battery again. At least then i will have an official battery and receipt.
SCOOBYTOO Posted January 27, 2006 Posted January 27, 2006 get subaru to do a waranty check, the battery may have been fitted by them. thet don't always use subaru units if not available sheepie had a varta battery as a warranty replacement
j-k Posted January 27, 2006 Posted January 27, 2006 << get subaru to do a waranty check, the battery may have been fitted by them. thet don't always use subaru units if not available sheepie had a varta battery as a warranty replacement >> Same problem with my 03 STI...and the same outcome as above by a dealer. Once the battery had been changed, the problem went away.. good luck jon
markie Posted January 28, 2006 Posted January 28, 2006 Mmmmmmmmmmm that's new age scoobs for ya should of got a classic they never let you down Mark
shrek Posted January 28, 2006 Posted January 28, 2006 << Mmmmmmmmmmm that's new age scoobs for ya should of got a classic they never let you down Do you still have to wind yours up Mark to start it?
granby Posted January 28, 2006 Posted January 28, 2006 << Mmmmmmmmmmm that's new age scoobs for ya should of got a classic they never let you down Mark >> That's because they are so slow they never get anywhere to let you down
markie Posted January 30, 2006 Posted January 30, 2006 Left myself wide open there didn't i but there is video evidence to prove that my classic beat one of them new age barges of the line, ssssssssssoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo there ok ok i know i might of got a 1000th of second head start but the outcome would still of been the same
SCOOBYTOO Posted January 31, 2006 Posted January 31, 2006 i think you'll find it was minutes head start not seconds
granby Posted January 31, 2006 Posted January 31, 2006 << i think you'll find it was minutes head start not seconds >> More like hours head start
wedmonds Posted February 3, 2006 Author Posted February 3, 2006 Well what a hassle.... Firstly.... Subaru in Badgers Mount are total pants and i will make every effort never to go there again. 1) I went to get a battery from them on Friday. They did not have any ready! and needed to put acid into them and then charge them for one hour. "Can you put one aside for me for the morning please?". "No problem" they said. 2) Saturday morning i go back and ask for my battery. "I hope he has charged them" he said. Comes back 5 minutes later and tells me that "they were on charge but the charger is broken". Nice This adds to the already crap service i received when i originally walked in their showroom with £20k in my pocket to buy a car and got f**k all from them. "They said that they would call me back the next day with available cars etc. Which they never did. I went in again, this time for a test drive. I got the test drive, reiterated how keen i was by telling them that the money was available etc and was told "I will call you tomorrow" (different sales person again) Which they never did. I went in a third time and explained that twice people have said that they would call me back and have not. "Really?, right we will see about that" said the manager and introduced me to his son (who was also a salesmen) Went through it all again.... Still no fecking call as promised..... or the next five days. So, i shop with my feet and go elsewhere.... Twats. DO THEY WANT TO SELL CARS OR WHAT? WHAT SORT OF SERVICE IS THAT! Anyway back to the car not starting problem, Next i hit halfords and get myself a nice new battey and i am heading home at 11:30am with it in hand and i receive a call from Tracker telling me their engineer is outside my house. This is despite me calling them the day before and tracker telling me that it would not be before 1:30pm. Thankfully he hangs on for me and then kindly helps me with pushing the car out of the garage and getting the battery installed. Eventually he replaces it all and all is well. Thumbs up for tracker on this one. So i then call Subaru assist who say that they will call me and update me with a time that they will be with me. They did not call back so i pop up the road to run an errend while i am waiting. So, i call them 40 mins later and get told that "he will be with you in 45 minutes and appolgise for not letting me know". Put the phone down and start heading home when the phone rings again with an answer phone message from Subaru Assist ( who called while i was on the phone to them ) and said "Just a quick call to tell you that the engineer will be with you in 45 minutes". Either way i am happy because at least i know its going to happen. I am in the car 5 minutes when the phone rings again, " hello Subaru assist here, our engineer is outside your house. Where are you?" ArrrrhhhhHH!!!!!!@!@!!!! I am not joking this is exactly what happend Anyways..... if you are still reading this..... 1) Subaru confirm old battery had no acid in it and that it was fecked. 2) Subaru confirm that the Alternator is fine 3) Subaru confirmed that i also had a Varta battery (which makes me think it happend before) 4) Also spent about 30 minutes running some other little test, double checked my new battery, put some nice lube on my new battery. The car appears to be fine so far
granby Posted February 3, 2006 Posted February 3, 2006 << Anyways..... if you are still reading this..... >> Just about Well at least it seems to be fixed now these things are meant to try us It's amazing the attitude that Subaru in Badgers Mount had with you, anyway it's their loss
SCOOBYTOO Posted February 3, 2006 Posted February 3, 2006 two things........................................................... bloody car salesmen surely if your car was under warranty and has a fmdsh, that battery being fukced, should have been replaced foc under warrranty??...........p1ss poor service all round i would say but then what would i know about the above.................................... EX AA man, now car salesman
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