How Long Until Battery Dies?

[Lelandjt]

How many days have you gone without driving the car and had no problem with the battery? How long do you think it can sit before you risk a dead battery and should have a tender? My car sat in my garage for 5 days and the battery is so dead it won't unlock or even beep when the trunk button is pushed. It was locked and I have proximity keys disabled. It's 1 month old with 700mi.

[soundman98]

it really depends on the state of charge before being unused for an amount of time.

my '14 is my fun car, mostly weekend use. battery lasted about 8 years with some help from a charger. some weeks, i remember to toss it on the maintainer, some weeks i don't.

rarely does it not start within a week, but if there's been extra short trips, and i forgot the maintainer, it will sometimes start hard.

also, my '14 the car doesn't beep for the trunk release

[otter]

Originally Posted by Lelandjt

How many days have you gone without driving the car and had no problem with the battery? How long do you think it can sit before you risk a dead battery and should have a tender? My car sat in my garage for 5 days and the battery is so dead it won't unlock or even beep when the trunk button is pushed. It was locked and I have proximity keys disabled. It's 1 month old with 700mi.

Something was drawing on your battery if it died that quickly. I've let the car sit for a couple weeks without use and it's been fine.

[Lelandjt]

Originally Posted by otter

Something was drawing on your battery if it died that quickly. I've let the car sit for a couple weeks without use and it's been fine.

The only electrical thing aftermarket on the car is the Scangauge II, but I've had that on all my cars and it's never seemed to draw power with the car off. I'm suspecting a defective battery but the dealer will figure it out Wednesday. They said they'll plug in some Subaru battery diagnostic thing that will take a couple hours before they can replace the battery under warranty.
My STi, Mazda 3, and Ford Transit 150 have all sat for as long as 4 weeks and been fine. Longer than that and I disconnect the battery. This car is gonna see regular 7-10 day "rests" so hopefully I'm not dealing with a lemon wiring harness.

[Lelandjt]

Originally Posted by soundman98

My '14 the car doesn't beep for the trunk release

The trunk button beep is part of the Subaru trunk button pin code system. It's so sweet to leave your key in the car and unlock your car with the trunk button. Almost as nice as the number pad on my Ford's door. I put this on the dash just above the start button to hold the key cuz you need to touch the key to the start button before pushing it. I was tired of taking the key out of the arm rest, then putting it back.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/39395138092...mis&media=COPY

It's weird, my Ford has a normal key that goes in the ignition, yet it has a little nook just above the ignition that seems perfect for storing a key. The BRZ and every other car with a push button has no place specific to put the key. I saw Jeremey Clarkson bitching about that years ago and as soon as I got this car I saw what he meant.

[cvx5832ft86]

I just leave mine in my pocket. You’re saying that doesn’t work for you?

[OldBiker]

Aaah, the old days... cars had keys... the keys had keyholes. You put the key in the ignition and turned... the damn car didn't email you, your dash didn't have a frigging tablet... cars didn't try to steer themselves... and drivers were less daft and distracted. The absolute worse thing of all... auto start/stop that you have to reset every time!!

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by OldBiker

Aaah, the old days... cars had keys... the keys had keyholes. You put the key in the ignition and turned... the damn car didn't email you, your dash didn't have a frigging tablet... cars didn't try to steer themselves... and drivers were less daft and distracted. The absolute worse thing of all... auto start/stop that you have to reset every time!!

in other words, exactly why i bought a 2014...

[Lelandjt]

Originally Posted by cvx5832ft86

I just leave mine in my pocket. You’re saying that doesn’t work for you?

Anything in my pocket can be felt against the side bolsters when sitting in the car, and then I've got to carry a key around when not in the car. Nope. So nice to just leave it in its little holder and use the trunk button to get in.

[Lelandjt]

In a normal car with a completely dead battery, or even no battery at all, when you connect jumper cables between it and a running car you immediately get power so dash lights come on, etc. Doing this with my '23 BRZ I'm getting nothing. I checked and reconnected the jumper cables. Any ideas what's happening? A tow truck is on the way to bring it to the dealership but both me and the service manager are at a loss...

UPDATE: Tow truck driver is at a loss as well. He's never seen a car that doesn't get power as soon as the cables are connected. So frustrating that even the "simplest" car available these days still has bullshit like the push button ignition. Who asks for this crap?

[WNDSRFR]

Have you checked your fusable links on the + connector?

[bcj]

There are fuses on the positive (red cap) battery connector.
It those have gone, you don't want to power up the short somewhere in your system.

Could also be an internal break in the battery (no path between poles).

[Lelandjt]

I'll let you guys know what the dealer finds. Doesn't sound like they'll be done with it today.

[Lelandjt]

Dealer said the battery had a bad cell, they've been seeing this some on recent new Subarus. Also, he agreed that if I'd disconnected the battery, then attached the jumper cables only to the BRZ's battery cables I would have had power and been able to jump it and drive it to the dealer. If you have a newish Twin remember this.

Edit: On another thread a member said not having a battery in the loop while the car is running could cause voltage spikes that could damage components. So if your battery has a bad cell, putting a fresh battery in is the only way to get the car running.