My son just bought a used 2001 2.5l Outback as his first car. It needs work and will be a project car for me and him.
I am a retired Navy electrician and am confused by an electrical problem that I have never seen before.
One of the first things I noticed about this car was that the battery voltage was about 12V, and the top of the battery was dirty and the terminals had some corrosion. I would expect more like 13-14 on a healthy battery, but the car starts and runs, and I thought maybe we could make this battery last a little longer with some cleaning and overdue maintenance.
No problem – I thought we’d just clean it up and put some corrosion spray on the terminals, and maybe add some distilled water. The car has been sitting for a few weeks but it started right up and we took it to my car ramps to also check for an exhaust leak which we found easily. But after we brought the battery terminals all together and reconnected – nothing. No beeps, crackles, pops, noises, lights – nothing.
The SBF-1 fuse is good, but does it read ground potential and 0 ohms on the negative battery terminal? How can this be possible? The battery voltage is still around 12 V. But (1) it only started and ran an hour ago at this voltage and I would expect at least SOMETHING to turn on; and (2) It probably just needs to be charged a bit after cleaning the terminals and adding some water. To rule out any problems with the battery terminals we worked with, I separated the negative and positive cables about six inches from the terminals and again got 12V.
I have some radical troubleshooting ideas that will involve a lot of work (like replacing the positive battery cable to rule it out).
But this problem is so strange that I first wanted to find out if there is anything strange about this car that might turn out to be a simple fix – something that just needs to be reset – a “click your heels together three times” ” something specific and special for these cars. But I’ve been searching the internet and the service manual for hours and can’t find anything.
Failing that, I was hoping someone else had had the same problem with this car before and could suggest where the problem might be.
I appreciate any suggestions.
