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Old 12-03-2018, 01:01 PM   #426
Charlie-III
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SirBrass View Post
While I don't doubt this is true, I am scratching my head as to how.

Car batteries, while not light are not significant weight additions to a vehicle. They're, what? 30lbs? That is, a good, solid battery, not a light weight kind.

How much is a <30lb weight gain of a hefty car battery vs a light weight car battery going to influence fuel economy measurably for the EPA and CARB ratings?
A few pounds here, a few pounds there.......lighter car.
Why do they use thinner glass?
High strength thinner steel vs. cheaper thicker steel?
Aluminum vs. steel?
Making the spare tire an option?

They (engineers and bean counters) look at ROI (return on investment). Peeps want more stuff, less weight takes less fuel in a mileage circuit. So, engineers cut weight where they can. The cheaper, the better.

Look at most model years, they get bigger and heavier, mostly due to more stuff.
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Old 12-03-2018, 11:20 PM   #427
rexster
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Just replaces my original battery a couple weeks ago. I bought the car in April ‘14, so 4 1/2 years. The car was still starting but I noticed it was starting rather slow in the cold so wanted to replace it as a precaution. New battery has ~650 cca, much better than the stock battery with 390. Now I can listen to the stereo for more than a few minutes with the engine off.
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Old 12-03-2018, 11:30 PM   #428
rneal55555
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Mine lasted about 40 months of course it failed during a particularly cold period last winter and the only thing I could find on a Sunday was the $50 Value Power one at Walmart they were out of the better one. We'll see how it goes this winter.
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Old 12-04-2018, 10:07 AM   #429
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My 15 wrx batt died within two years. Dealer replaced it for free. Said the factory batteries in the new models are crap, they've replaced almost all of them that were sold.
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Old 12-08-2018, 01:26 PM   #430
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Originally Posted by Boggie1688 View Post
I usually order from autobarn. Both of my batteries have come from here. They usually have a 10% coupon... You just gotta wait and jump on it. Looks like right now it is $10 dollars off. I checked and the two dekas I ordered cost $157 after a 10% coupon with free shipping.
Near me - check out Batteries plus bulbs - near my the Duracell Ultra Gold is like 130ish and supposedly made by Deka/East Penn.
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Old 12-13-2018, 11:19 PM   #431
liahbriz
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My car battery was lasted almost 4 year. Not a bad longevity. But, I have a American Standard ActiClean toilet. It also has a battery. And, it didn't last much and died in quick time.

Last edited by liahbriz; 01-31-2019 at 06:36 AM.
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Old 12-14-2018, 06:55 AM   #432
Norskie
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2016 WRX and 27k.

It never left us stranded ... yet ... but it hasn't been cold here yet. Slow cranking even in a warm'ish (50F) garage drops the voltage to 9V before it starts. Knowing Subaru uses crummy batteries, I figured I'd replace it before the family is sitting in a -10F parking lot holding out jumper cables.

Costco seems to be the best deal ... 640 CCA, $74.99 after $15 core return. They sell Interstate batteries, and we got eight years out of the prior one in the Outback.
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Old 12-14-2018, 07:54 AM   #433
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Norskie View Post
2016 WRX and 27k.

It never left us stranded ... yet ... but it hasn't been cold here yet. Slow cranking even in a warm'ish (50F) garage drops the voltage to 9V before it starts. Knowing Subaru uses crummy batteries, I figured I'd replace it before the family is sitting in a -10F parking lot holding out jumper cables.

Costco seems to be the best deal ... 640 CCA, $74.99 after $15 core return. They sell Interstate batteries, and we got eight years out of the prior one in the Outback.
I got a new battery 2 months ago for my 2015 wrx and now have a piece of mind in cold weather. Everstart or something from walmart. Oem died like 4-5 times last winter but now it starts up everytime without hesitation
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Old 12-26-2018, 10:32 AM   #434
wolf2600
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Just wanted to add my complaint here. Completely stock 2016 WRX in Texas, drove it for 2 years then noticed it become slow to turn over. Plugged into charger overnight, full charge, was fine for about 2 weeks before it started cranking slow again. Charged again, same result... 2 weeks of good starts before slow cranking. Replaced battery with a "gold" battery from Autozone and haven't had issues since.
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Old 12-28-2018, 01:34 PM   #435
YungBoba
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Norskie View Post
2016 WRX and 27k.

It never left us stranded ... yet ... but it hasn't been cold here yet. Slow cranking even in a warm'ish (50F) garage drops the voltage to 9V before it starts. Knowing Subaru uses crummy batteries, I figured I'd replace it before the family is sitting in a -10F parking lot holding out jumper cables.

Costco seems to be the best deal ... 640 CCA, $74.99 after $15 core return. They sell Interstate batteries, and we got eight years out of the prior one in the Outback.
I am in a similar boat. 2017 WRX with 29K. It's been in the low 50s here (which is cold for SoCal) and occasionally it will be sluggish to turn over. I was just looking at the Costco page for their Interstate batteries and the price is pretty attractive. Plus Costco is super easy to deal with as far as returns go in case I happen to get a dud, and I get cashback on my credit card.
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Old 12-30-2018, 02:01 AM   #436
Srtusa1
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I had to pick up a new Napa battery for my 2016 WRX last spring, it was sluggish to start for a few days, and then completely died. At the time I had about 25k miles on the car, and it was in the low 60s outside. The new battery feels way stronger than the old one ever did.
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Old 01-14-2019, 08:01 PM   #437
rustyshackle42d
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Default Factory Battery is Garbage

2.5 years and a little over 18k miles here (17 wrx). Noticed some sluggish starts a few weeks ago, and they’ve continued. For the first time today, it actually failed to start on my first key turn after a short trip to the store and barely started on the second. Definitely don’t trust this battery anymore and I’ll be getting an aftermarket one ASAP.
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Old 01-15-2019, 07:45 AM   #438
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Factory battery is still going in my '15. 33k miles now, used year-round. The only "maintenance" I've done to it is maintain driving with the lights on, toss the thing on the battery charger once a month or so for a top off, and give it a little help using a float charger when the car sits for any length of time. That said, I have a contingency plan in place for when it does finally bite the dust.
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Old 01-15-2019, 11:00 AM   #439
sebak
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I left my car at work and am on a 11 day business trip. I really hope when i land and take an uber there that i wont be stranded.

33k km
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Old 01-15-2019, 11:06 AM   #440
cwp17rex
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After 27k miles and a little over 2 years my ‘17 wrx battery died on 3 separate occasions in the morning before heading to work. Took the car into Subaru the other day and they replaced it under warranty with a new Subaru battery that shows 550 cca compared to the factory 390, car starts up much faster now
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Old 01-15-2019, 02:40 PM   #441
Sir-Knight
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my 07 impreza battery was good for like 4 years and I replaced it preemptively.

My 17 wrx exhibited signs of sluggish start already last winter. I thought I could make it through this winter but 3 days straight of sluggish starts and I went to costco to grab a new battery without hesitation. No messing around with the canadian warranty, I doubt they would've changed it anyways given the warranty card says it doesn't cover batteries plus the day minimum they would've wanted to keep the car to test, and I'm sure they just would've charged it up and sent me home at the end of the day for it to do it again next week. So I said **** it. 135+ 10$ core at costco.

As an added note... you know that sound effect in games and movies when electronics suddenly loose power? that little nnnreeeeeep zippy noise? I thought that was an electronic foley artist noise generated for movies... didn't think a real thing could actually make that noise. lol
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Old 01-15-2019, 07:09 PM   #442
YungBoba
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Quote:
Originally Posted by YungBoba View Post
I am in a similar boat. 2017 WRX with 29K. It's been in the low 50s here (which is cold for SoCal) and occasionally it will be sluggish to turn over. I was just looking at the Costco page for their Interstate batteries and the price is pretty attractive. Plus Costco is super easy to deal with as far as returns go in case I happen to get a dud, and I get cashback on my credit card.
Finally swapped my battery out on Saturday with an interstate from Costco. Starts much faster now. Still need to return the OEM one for the core charge.
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Old 03-02-2019, 06:41 PM   #443
keithatpda
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gro Harlem View Post
I went to start my WRX after it sat for about 10 days and the battery was too low to start the car. It is now on a trickle-charger and should hopefully be fine but seeing how the factory Subaru battery says 7 years on it makes me wonder if these batterys are just complete and utter garbage to begin with? (my car is 30 months old)
......
09 WRX AU similar issue started a month ago.
I have seen the thousands of forum entries related to Subaru and Batteries.

This is possibly the real answer.
I can understand why 1000s of people have tried trickle chargers OR under advice from friends or dealers changed the battery.
Sometime to a bigger capacity, that will take longer to go flat.
Why can't the experts find the problem? I think maybe a few have, but just not passed it on.

The real cause I believe is the Subaru's second computer, the BIU, Body Integrated Unit, this computer stores, "backs up", all settings in the car. Examples, possibly switches, navigation unit, audio system, doors, windows, lights, alarm system, who knows what else, I could find no detailed information.

I investigated, in my case, I found removing the "Back Up" fuse in the engine bay would stop a 1200ma continuous Battery drain. The correct Battery drain when the car is asleep after a couple of minutes from switch off, is around 50-70ma, that will NOT flatten your battery. My battery is 5 years old! I had a flat battery several times over a month, car struggled to start. Jump started easily. With that fuse out, NO issues with the battery, perfect.

BUT you can't leave the fuse out, all the car smarts except the engine, it has its own computer the ecu,the rest goes a bit crazy, car drives ok AC works everything else goes weird. Your battery drain will probably be caused by some device in the car not in it's normal state. In my case the CD player was in some strange mode. You need a slightly technical person to monitor battery drain current and investigate further. Alternatively check the operation of everything in the car, turn it on and off move windows up and down check lights, all audio, navigation, one of those things is probably the cause.

NOT YOUR BATTERY. Subaru and dealers should have identified this issue years ago, the cost in PR and to users has been HUGE.

Last edited by keithatpda; 03-03-2019 at 04:15 PM.
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Old 03-02-2019, 11:20 PM   #444
gathermewool
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Paragraphs!
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Old 03-03-2019, 04:17 PM   #445
keithatpda
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Originally Posted by gathermewool View Post
Paragraphs!
Still rough but better, sorry.
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Old 03-04-2019, 08:25 AM   #446
IronmanDaremo
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Had an incident two weeks ago. Started fine in the morning (typically in the 20's to 30's for temps lately) and drove to work. Came out in the afternoon to go home and the car wouldn't turn over and was draggy to try to start. Turned key off, tried to crank again with no luck. Finally went on the third try.

It was probably in the upper 30's to low 40's, so not that cold. For the first half of the drive home, the car stalled out twice as the idle dropped really low. Not sure what correlation that is to the battery, but I had never had that happen before. No codes or anything or check engine light.

Since then, it has been fine. Even in cold morning starts. :shrugs:
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Old 03-04-2019, 08:29 AM   #447
Charlie-III
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IronmanDaremo View Post
Had an incident two weeks ago. Started fine in the morning (typically in the 20's to 30's for temps lately) and drove to work. Came out in the afternoon to go home and the car wouldn't turn over and was draggy to try to start. Turned key off, tried to crank again with no luck. Finally went on the third try.

It was probably in the upper 30's to low 40's, so not that cold. For the first half of the drive home, the car stalled out twice as the idle dropped really low. Not sure what correlation that is to the battery, but I had never had that happen before. No codes or anything or check engine light.

Since then, it has been fine. Even in cold morning starts. :shrugs:
Likely that the low battery voltage during cranking caused the ECU to lose fine learning.....just like doing a CEL clear, ECU flash or battery disconnect.
Do you do lots of short trips? If so, that, coupled with the cold, could be drawing the battery down but fully recharging.
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Old 03-04-2019, 01:17 PM   #448
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Yeah, my commute is about 20 miles, so not all that long. It has been a while since I've done a long trip of more than an hour or so.
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Old 03-04-2019, 01:38 PM   #449
Buffman
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20 miles is a decently long commute..
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Old 03-04-2019, 02:41 PM   #450
IronmanDaremo
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In the DC area, it is pretty short.
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