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Hmm really? My Camry made it nearly 10 years, and my Civic still had a good battery 6 years in when I sold it. Regardless, the battery and DCM were both tested

by aftbit 2y ago

Hmm really? My Camry made it nearly 10 years, and my Civic still had a good battery 6 years in when I sold it. Regardless, the battery and DCM were both tested by Subaru. The battery tested bad, and the DCM tested for a high parasitic draw. I drove the car daily, and the battery would die if I didn't drive it for 4 days. I didn't just make this up either, search "DCM parasitic draw" on Google for more. Subaru even sent me a letter outlining my options for repairs.

tedmielczarek 2y ago
I've heard about this being a known issue with cars from other manufacturers, so I can believe it. It's interesting that nobody thought to include a way to let the vehicle know it should stop trying to communicate to handle a potential end-of-service situation like this. It's fairly common for people to keep cars for more than a decade, they're a really expensive necessity for many.
bongodongobob 2y ago
Maybe I'm used to harsher weather in the Midwest.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
anotherhue 2y ago
That's a known issue. Reports all over the subaru forums. I tried to measure it myself with my little multimeter and now I don't have a working multimeter. One suggestion I tried that seemed to work was to not keep the key close to the car, since that'd not physically possible for me I wrap it in an ESD bag. Haven't had much issue since, but no promises.
vel0city 2y ago
Lots of places will say an average car battery's life is somewhere around 3-5 years. It is highly dependent on weather. Here where there are regularly long spans of 100F+ days, a battery will have done pretty good to make it five years; many die in 3-4. Same in very cold climates. If you're in a place with good weather all the time they'll last considerably longer.
- thejazzman 2y ago
  or maybe even more importantly, a garage
MisterTea 2y ago
Depends on the battery and how it was (ab)used. I have seen batteries last only 3 years or as long as 7.

by aftbit 2y ago

tedmielczarek 2y ago

I've heard about this being a known issue with cars from other manufacturers, so I can believe it. It's interesting that nobody thought to include a way to let the vehicle know it should stop trying to communicate to handle a potential end-of-service situation like this. It's fairly common for people to keep cars for more than a decade, they're a really expensive necessity for many.

bongodongobob 2y ago

Maybe I'm used to harsher weather in the Midwest.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

anotherhue 2y ago

That's a known issue. Reports all over the subaru forums. I tried to measure it myself with my little multimeter and now I don't have a working multimeter. One suggestion I tried that seemed to work was to not keep the key close to the car, since that'd not physically possible for me I wrap it in an ESD bag. Haven't had much issue since, but no promises.

vel0city 2y ago

Lots of places will say an average car battery's life is somewhere around 3-5 years. It is highly dependent on weather. Here where there are regularly long spans of 100F+ days, a battery will have done pretty good to make it five years; many die in 3-4. Same in very cold climates. If you're in a place with good weather all the time they'll last considerably longer.

thejazzman 2y ago
or maybe even more importantly, a garage

MisterTea 2y ago

Depends on the battery and how it was (ab)used. I have seen batteries last only 3 years or as long as 7.