Replacing Battery

joffa

Forum Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
35
Location
Northcote, Melb, Aust
Hi Folks,

My parent's have my MY06 Forester at the moment. On Saturday the battery started to play up and went flat. They called the RACV who got the car started again and suggested a drive to recharge the battery and if it continued to give them issues replace it Monday morning (this morning). So mum went down to the local garage (RACV affiliated) to get the battery replace, which they did.

Having left the garage the subi started to play up at low speed including stalling a few times when turning corners. She took it back to the garage who rang Subaru to speak about the issue. Subaru informed them that the battery can only be replaced by a subaru dealer because the engine idle settings for the ECU need to be reset. Subaru refused to tell the folks at the garage how this was done as they insisted on doing it themselves. The garage guys rang the VACC who said that more and more car companies were doing this sort of thing...

Has anyone else encountered this madness??? If so how do you reset the ECU and idle? 'cos I'd hate to be stuck out in the middle of Aus only to be told by the people art Subaru that it needs to be towed to the nearest Subaru dealer to get the battery replaced...

I'm going to be speaking with Subaru in the morning to try and get the car fixed 'cos at the moment it's not running that well at idle, though a long-ish drive seems to have made things a bit better. Though it's not running properly at idle.

Any help or thoughts would be helpful.

Cheers, Joffa.
 
Didn't have a problem when my 05 Outback battery was replaced on a sunday morning in Tamworth, while on tour.

Can't see how what you describe is anything other than a restrictive trade practice.
You purchase the car outright and, as part of 'fit for purpose', you are entitled to all information required to run and maintain the car in a safe manner, including replacement of consumables, as and when required. (Batteries are consumables, after all.)
Especially once the warranty has expired there is no way they can justify these back door methods to force you to contract their services.
 
When you say you rang Subaru do you mean the dealer or Subaru Australia?
 
Not sure at this stage Rally. I'm going 2 find out this morning as I only found about this after COB yesterday.

Joffa.
 
Try this:

1. Disconnect battery - I disconnect both terminals; earth = first off / last on.
2. Disperse current; depress brake pedal / switch ignition on as if cranking - wait 15-30 mins or let it sit overnight.
3. Reconnect battery
4. Switch ignition on - wait 3 secs for the idle air control solenoid valve to initialize.
5. Start car - touch nothing other than the key!
6. Idle to normal operating temperature (radiator fans will come on) then switch off.
7. Switch on again and you're good to go.
 
Kevin seems to understand this issue- so I'll leave it at that and hopefully we'll soon get some good news.
 
joffa said:
Hi Folks,

My parent's have my MY06 Forester at the moment. On Saturday the battery started to play up and went flat. They called the RACV who got the car started again and suggested a drive to recharge the battery and if it continued to give them issues replace it Monday morning (this morning). So mum went down to the local garage (RACV affiliated) to get the battery replace, which they did.

Having left the garage the subi started to play up at low speed including stalling a few times when turning corners. She took it back to the garage who rang Subaru to speak about the issue. Subaru informed them that the battery can only be replaced by a subaru dealer because the engine idle settings for the ECU need to be reset. Subaru refused to tell the folks at the garage how this was done as they insisted on doing it themselves. The garage guys rang the VACC who said that more and more car companies were doing this sort of thing...

Has anyone else encountered this madness??? If so how do you reset the ECU and idle? 'cos I'd hate to be stuck out in the middle of Aus only to be told by the people art Subaru that it needs to be towed to the nearest Subaru dealer to get the battery replaced...

I'm going to be speaking with Subaru in the morning to try and get the car fixed 'cos at the moment it's not running that well at idle, though a long-ish drive seems to have made things a bit better. Though it's not running properly at idle.

Any help or thoughts would be helpful.

Cheers, Joffa.
Click to expand...

all I can say is F.F.S. To say it in full would be impolite.
 
When I replaced the battery in my Forry (MY05) a while ago I had no issues what so ever.

The last time I reset my ECU (which was a while ago now) I used the same method as Kevin.

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Original contact with Subaru was with Eastern Subaru.

Thanks Kevin, I'll give this a go. Sounds the goods.

When speaking with Subaru in Melb they said that the engine idle setting gets lost when the battery is powered off and so the vehicle either needs to learn it again or be reset by Subaru. Otherwise it runs like a dog until it re-learns the settings.

Or you could follow Kevin's instructions. Much better idea. :)

Thanks once again. Joffa.
 
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