This started yesterday when I got out of school, I go to start my car, I hear one click from behind the dash and the lights on the cluster flash on once, brake light, cel, oil ect, then turn off, at this point I'm like wtf? so I jump start the car and it runs fine I figure oh battery just died, I dont see how though, since on subarus the lights turn off with the car. I get home after driving for about 30 minutes, then try to turn on the car, it works fine so I figure the problem is fixed. Then an hour later I go to pick up a date to go bowling, car starts fine, when when we are about to leave, it happens again! So I had to wait for my buddy to get to the bowling alley with jumper cables, the car doesn't shut down if I let it idle so what the hell could be wrong? I'm not sure if its the battery or alternator maybe it's something else, help me I don't wanna drive a 12mpg ford expedition lol

oh and yes the battery terminals are on tight.

 

Does the car start in the morning after sitting all night?

 

Nope, tried it this morning before I went to school.

 

If once I'm home and my dad hasn't figured out whats wrong then I'll record what happens when I try to start up the car.

 

mileage on the battery?

 

jump it, drive it for a while so that the battery charges... shut it down and restart to make sure the battery has a charge... then shut it down and disconnect the battery and let the car sit for a while (8 hours) then reconnect the battery and see if the car starts.

You might just have something that is draining the battery while the car is off.

 

jump it, then while it's running disconnect the negative end of the battery. that'll tell you if its the alternator or the battery itself

 

You check the parking lights? They get left on more often than you'd think.

 

btw, you can just go to kragen and they can check and see if your battery is still good or not... save you something thinking there...

 

sounds like a battery,

if it runs with a jump start the alternator is working fine.

its the battery that cant hold a charge. i have the same problem right now.

 

yikes.

kinda bad advice dude...

part of the function of the battery is to filter the "noisy" power coming from the alternator...

once you remove that battery in the chain, that function is lost. with computers and stuff in the modern vehicles that have such small tolerances from voltage spikes, you can end up killing really expensive parts.

my vote is the battery is dead.

once way to test the alternator is to see how much voltage it is spitting out. just use a voltmeter. once warmed up, the voltage at the battery should be around 13.5 to 14.4 volts...

 

You should invest in a multimeter or voltmeter; they're like $10-50 at Radio Shaq. Can't tell you how many times that has saved me HOURS in diagnostics.

 

dead battery

 

well perhaps i shouldn't be giving advice or tips with the same things i do to an older car...or i'm just retarded

 

Sounds like your battery is done..