2016 Subaru Impreza Battery drain - It's new

Drain on new battery

A little more info might help…

How long has this been happening, how long does the drain take to keep the vehicle from starting???
Did this happen only with the new battery? How old is the new battery, why did you replace he battery?

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Since you did not say if the battery drains overnight or while driving it, i will leave you with a few things.
if it drains while driving it is most likely a defective alternator.
if it drains overnight, it is a parasitic draw.
a bad brake light switch could cause the brake lights to stay on draining the battery. also, a glovebox light or a under hood light if you have one can also kill a battery. among a lot of other things.

The BEST Way TO Perform a Parasitic Draw Test - YouTube

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Good ideas above. I think we’ve had a few posts on this topic before, applying to Subaru’s. OP can read them using the forum search feature, link upper right this page…

New battery, old battery, a drain does not depend on a battery’s age. It is on the car side. If you have an aftermarket radio, remote start, sub-woofers or ANYthing electrical not factory installed, assume that component is bad. Unplug it and see if it goes away.

If you only drive 5 miles a week, THAT is your problem. You need a battery-charger maintainer to keep the battery charged.

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I have installed new battery’s that would not hold a charge before, my bad for not checking the condition of the new battery so that is on me lol… And I have had old battery’s (sulfated plates) that stopped holding a charge after sitting for hours…
Both could seem like a “battery drain” to a DIYer that doesn’t realize new battery’s can be defective and or know how to check one…

But I agree a battery drain is a drain on the battery not the battery itself…
And remember the guy that got mad at us for not asking him if he had gas in the car or if he trusted his gauges??? :grinning: Just CYA… lol

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This is a problem on newer vehicles. It was not a problem in the past. I remember my family having cars which were rarely driven, including a 1991 Toyota Camry and 1993 Chevrolet Caprice, and battery drain was not an issue. The company which I work for has a 2001 Tundra, which is not assigned to any employee, and is driven every few weeks, yet it has never failed to start for us. I realize that you could not get away with that on a modern vehicle…and that’s a shame.

This IS a 2016 vehicle, easily classified as a “newer” vehicle… long past the days of cars with a single computer.

Even cars from the 1990s had this issue… the more expensive cars were more susceptible, less the basic models.

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