2009 Hatch STi - flat battery every 2-3 days
 

Evening all,
Quick question.

What is a likely parasitic electrical power drain on the car?

Hatch STi 330S 2009, new battery 6 months ago ( yuasa silver YBX5005 65 Ah / 580 A ).
Came back from 2 weeks hols, flat battery - keyfob wouldn't open door, dash just flickered and clicked when pressing the push button start. Lost radio, satnav etc. settings.

Charged up on CTEK smart charger, was OK for a week or so.

3 times since then ( over last 3 weeks ) it has gone flat, if not used for 2-3 days. Usually does a couple of 15 mile runs and a couple 5 mile runs a week at minimum.
NO after market electrics, just std 330s head unit, tracker/alarm and a Blakjax alarm. Most bulbs are LEDs. NO lights left on - boot / interior / map etc.

EDIT: I have the air con on all the time, either cold or warm depending on weather, so some current use during driving.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

UPDATE:
Checked battery voltage on a multimeter, 12.7V. Ran car, was 14.65 V. So seems alternator is OK, and battery!
Put a load on battery while running ( heated rear screen, full beam, air con, radio etc ) and still say 14.6V.
Turned everything off and car off, it read 13.0V falling to 12.7 over a minute or so.
So looks like alternator IS OK, and battery too.
Just to check, took car to battery supplier who used GS Yuasa test tool, said battery good.

Off to auto electric next week to see if there is a parasitic power drain .... I turned off the boot and cabin lights, most things go off on pressing lock ( bar alarm/immobiliser / tracker / Blakjax )

Still flat after 2 days - was charged 24 hours on the smart charger Sunday, ws OK Monday, flat today.

I never leave anything on in my hatch due to batteries failing. I normally go through one a year, but they're much smaller on spec Cs. The last one lasted 6 months!
When they test fine, but then dont hold a charge, in my experience they're just on the edge of failure. Personally I blame my Toad alarm, but I'll be very interested to hear what the drain is.

Probably an old tracker draining the battery, even the smaller batteries from the Spec C last longer than a week so the big batteries should go 2-3 weeks no problem.

Thanks Hedge, Forged.

This has a bigger power than std battery, new about 9 months ago!
Not gone flat until return from hols, then done it more often, flat after 24 hours charge!
Jump boost start and it runs fine, and starts for return journey, but dead next morning. Confused!

Reading around Snet tracker / immobiliser - the std Subaru 2009 hatch ones - can fail and drain.... std alarm/immobi / tracker as delivered. Only addition is anti hijack Blackjax.
Std sat nav head unit, mainly LED bulbs. Nothing on / lit up... and anyway almost all go off when car locked ( except alarm/tracker etc. and map lights! )

Booked in with auto electrical place on 19th.

I'll let you know.
V

had this prob on a sti years ago....mine was a old tracker too

Andycat, this is a Metasat tracker; Std Subaru alarm/immobiliser. So from 2009 yeah old stuff!

Curious and more curious ...

Charged car on smart charger 30 hours ... took off charge Thursday lunchtime, car started, Had a 12 mile run stopped half way, car restarted fine.
Friday afternoon, car started fine - no driving though.
Saturday lunchtime car started OK, but did seem a bit slow / weak turn over but started.

Went back to car 30 mins later to read any DTC error codes and check any sensors / relays etc. via the OBD port, and head unit was on, headlamps worked, but as soon as I tried to start head unit went dark, car would not start and dash lights all just flickered on and off with a loud clicking noise!

No DTC codes, but then the S on the Si Drive lights came on flashing ( no CEL or traction control lights tho ) and could not change Si Drive setting!

Car started on charger - actually fans were on and went faster when I connected the external booster.

Checked error codes again, still none, no obvious issues with sensors or relays etc. so reset ECU

S light went off, car started on own ...

Roll on 19th and auto electrician.

It could be some failure inside battery ,charge it ,disconnect for 3 days and try again.

Cheers JDM, it was a new battery - yuasa silver - about 9 months ago. I have been back to my local garage who supplied it and they tested it on the GS Yuasa test gadget and it said good ... of course could be kidology to avoid warranty on the battery!

It's still doing it - charge fully, leave 2 days, flat.
But when started it runs fine, alternator charges, starts later for return journey etc.

Hope it IS something simple like battery though!


Odd thought, air con is blowing hot on right hand centre vent, cold on left side centre vent, could it be the diverter flaps stuck and trying to move all the time? Worth a look I guess!

Thanks
V

Following…. Have a 330s too, only had it for 4 months though, and just changed battery cos of similar issues. Are the trackers standard? My old RB320 had one (and didn’t drain the battery) but wasn’t sure if the newer ones had them as standard. Does anyone know how to find out? Cos my issue may be the tracker too…

Hi Stu,

Mine came with the Octotelematics MetaSat tracker. Bit basic, and needs £100 / year sub.
Otherwise standard Subaru UK fitted alarm and immobiliser, not sure of make/type.
They sit behind head unit in dash.

I added Blackjax anti hijack alarm on purchase due to previous car being stolen.

AFAIK Metasat trackers were fited from MY07, if not earlier, to at least MY13. Not certain on the newer MY15 onwards they may have changed supplier.
Metasat also fitted with an immobiliser circuit.
Sigma alarm for the 330S having keyless access and push button start should be the S32 model, also with immobiliser circuit.
plus the OEM immobiliser and electronic steering lock.

Cheers Don.


Looking back, this may have started just after MOT and oil change late Sept ... could they have broken something / knocked off some connection while doing that, that would cause this problem?

Auto electrician today, I'll be back!

batteries in alarm/tracker as you have been told many times, stop wasting peoples time and check those.

Thanks Stig,

Didn't know there WERE batteries in the tracker / alarm units, look sealed units when I popped out the head unit. Presume these are rechagable types and worn out, like PC bios battery??

Any clue where they are / what size?

Cheers
V

Right, got car back from auto electrician.
Basically, first thing was main battery was on it's last legs, one bar from dead on his Snap-on battery tester. Said couldn't really carry out all other tests until battery was good. It had been on charge 20+ hours and only taken off charge 10 minutes before going to the garage!

Checked for "Parasitic drain" and found none. Earths were good. Alternator fine. Other things checked came back OK.

Last thing was to set up amp meter and watch it to see if there was an intermittent drain... which he would do when battery sorted. But may take hours / days ... until it occurred if at all!

Despite battery supplier garage checking battery 2 weeks ago and it was good, and battery condition display window showed green = good, he was convinced battery was dead, and likely due to using a booster charger once it was fully flat after holiday. ( bent plate? )
Supplier swapped out the battery under warranty with no problems.

So I'll see how it goes the next few days and hopefully all will be well and reliable again.
If it still goes flat, at least one thing removed from the options.

Then back to auto electrician for more tests...


Ohh, alarm, tracker, immobiliser all still work perfectly so they haven't failed unless drawing excess power for some reason ( not their internal back up battery failing! ), and thanks to some helpful people suggesting this a a possible cause ( I wasn't aware of this likelihood ), I read back and see it was a knackered main battery that was suggested a couple of times NOT batteries in the alarm etc! I was misled by the supplier garage testing saying battery fine!


Thanks for reading and the support/help/suggestions, sorry for wasting your time stig, you don't need to read any more!

V

Hi Hedgecutter, I think you were right ... battery was likely on way out!

let's see how new one goes!


JDMSti2006 - sounds likely now!

Thanks

Thats what I thought than,
I have aa solar charger permanently connected to my Yuasa battery ,its keeping it warm/working all year round,voltage is to small to harm battery and it is never in full charge due to alarm drain etc.

At least you've got somewhere.
Having gone through so many batteries, I've realised that supplier/manufacturers warranties are not worth a scrap of paper.