[shoarussell]

Hello!
I have a Subaru tribeca 7 passenger 2006, about 150k miles, but bought with 130k. I have been having issues while driving recently and need some advice.

I drove ~2 miles to office, an hour later went to start car and it would not turn over. I used a portable car jumper that I had to jump it and it started up. Drove it about 1 mile and it shut off while waiting at a red light, in Drive, so I was unable to push it. Jumped out of the car and jumped it with the portable again and got it restarted and into a parking spot. Once parked I let it idle and I could see the nav system looked like it was turning off and on ever few mins.
After 5 mins I decided to risk it and make the 1 mile home. I turned it off and back on and then pulled into the lane and it died instantly. Again unable to push it, but now I also could not get it to jump. After some time finally got it to jump and pushed it back into parking spot.
Went to the store to get a new battery and came back ~ 1 hr later with multimeter. Car started right up. Battery measured 12V and 14.4v once on. Didn’t replace battery since it is less than 1 yr old and drove home.

Now I’m nervous to continue driving it in case it dies like this on the highway!


Previous work:
Radiator replacement (1month ago)
Alternator replacement (1yr ago)
Cam shaft (1yr ago)
crank shaft sensor (1 yr ago)
Battery ( 1yr ago)
Aftermarket LED headlights(2yrs)
Aftermarket rev cam hooked up to nav and rev lights (2yrs)
New tires (1 month ago)

Also:
I been hearing a wub wub wub noise when the car is idle, could this be the fuel pump?
It recently started getting cold and I live an an area that salts the roads, could this be a factor?

This car has needed so much work in the 3 yrs I’ve owned it!
Thank you all I appreciate this forum!

 

[Flat6er]

to me it sounds like electrical issues - probably parasitic draw and/or charging issues.
your nav system turning on/off sounds like either loosing charging or getting very low (might be simply alternator brushes worn).

I would get to FSM - read about all the main powering cables and go over every connector - disconnect them, clean and spray with deox.
check all ground cables. some might be rusted and torn or just missing.
alternator per se, alternator under load, monitor voltage while driving (cheap elm327 clone and simple app on your phone)
and then check for parasitic draws.

wub-wub-wub - this IS hilarious - where do you hear it? may be that is bearing in a/c compressor(under the hood) or from rear/underneath of car? ))

p.s. 12v battery is way past "needs to be charged"...

 

[shoarussell]

to me it sounds like electrical issues - probably parasitic draw and/or charging issues.
your nav system turning on/off sounds like either loosing charging or getting very low (might be simply alternator brushes worn).

I would get to FSM - read about all the main powering cables and go over every connector - disconnect them, clean and spray with deox.
check all ground cables. some might be rusted and torn or just missing.
alternator per se, alternator under load, monitor voltage while driving (cheap elm327 clone and simple app on your phone)
and then check for parasitic draws.

wub-wub-wub - this IS hilarious - where do you hear it? may be that is bearing in a/c compressor(under the hood) or from rear/underneath of car? ))

p.s. 12v battery is way past "needs to be charged"...

The wub-wub-wub is kinda a mystery for where it’s coming from, initially I thought it was the front driver side but I can only really hear it when I’m in the vehicle. I was thinking maybe it’s the fuel pump, so I bought a replacement but haven’t been able to install anything since there’s a winter vortex right now

I have the FSM, but haven’t gotten the chance to check the cabling or grounding either. I’ll give those a look over once the ice thaws haha.
Thank you for your advice!

 

[Flat6er]

may be your wubwubwubah is from cabin fan?

 

[shoarussell]

I think the wub-wub-wub noise might be related to the aftermarket LED headlights as it’s only happening when I switch them on.
So one thing I did do was a battery drain test, pulling each fuse and testing the amperage that was being drawn with the car off, I could that fuse #5 labeled Backup in the engine was pulling 1.5A. I’m not sure if this could be the cause of my battery’s dying, but this is my third battery in 3 years….
Anyways I bought a nice code tester and had 0 codes, just my luck haha. But I did get an error that the battery was bad, so I replaced that and everything seems to be running fine again 🤷‍♀️.

I’m still going to keep troubleshooting as the Backup fuse turns off my display and the sensor for my FOB. I do have a aftermarket backup camera hooked to my display, so maybe that was the issue? Lots of things going on on this vehicle 😂

 

[lesanekusa12]

I think the wub-wub-wub noise might be related to the aftermarket LED headlights as it’s only happening when I switch them on.
So one thing I did do was a battery drain test, pulling each fuse and testing the amperage that was being drawn with the car off, I could that fuse #5 labeled Backup in the engine was pulling 1.5A. I’m not sure if this could be the cause of my battery’s dying, but this is my third battery in 3 years….
Anyways I bought a nice code tester and had 0 codes, just my luck haha. But I did get an error that the battery was bad, so I replaced that and everything seems to be running fine again 🤷‍♀️.

I’m still going to keep troubleshooting as the Backup fuse turns off my display and the sensor for my FOB. I do have a aftermarket backup camera hooked to my display, so maybe that was the issue? Lots of things going on on this vehicle 😂

How old is your alternator? That would be mine guess to all electrical problems ....

 

[shoarussell]

alternator is only 1 yr old, charges battery to 14.7v when the car is running and test good on the alternator tests. I did buy a new one that’s OEM to install in case the new battery starts acting up. With the distances I was driving and idling I don’t think the alternator had time to charge the battery before it died. I also only used a portable jumper so no idea if that fully jumps the battery?

I think something electrical is just slowly breaking the batteries down. I did only find the one power drain when the car was off though.

 

[Flat6er]

sounds like you have a lot of crap in the car connected...
backup camera might be connected to battery + and here you go.
what led lights - they might as well be wrongly connected.. etc etc
p.s. may be install some kind of monitor for battery voltage and check every time you start the car? that way you will see when you need to get new battery at least

 

[Turtles_ride]

May be completely unrelated if it is a battery issue, but my wifes vehicle had a recall for an ignition issue that caused her car to die while driving on the road. Happened to her 3 or 4 times before the recall was issued, she got the work done and didn't have it happen again, wasn't a Subaru tho....