[SeamusBuck]

Have a little over 3k on my Ascent, which I love still but it is showing some troubling quirks. Twice now it has had trouble starting. It is not the first start of the day either. I press the start button and takes much longer than usual to catch. This has happened twice now. I did kill the battery once already by leaving the rear hatch open while camping (really Subaru, outdoorsey vehicles should allow the hatch to stay open!). Dont know it is a battery issue (killing the battery once should not be the death of the battery?) or bigger system issue. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[xydadx3]

Killing the battery could've killed an individual cell in the battery, reducing its capacity. Or maybe it wasn't perfect from the start and its just starting to show, especially with the weather getting colder.
Wouldn't hurt anything and its pretty quick to get it tested.
Mine cranked longer than usual only once in the 25k miles I've put on it so far, early on. Since it never happened again I didn't think anything of it.

 

[JustinPoe]

Mine cranked longer than usual only once in the 25k miles I've put on it so far, early on. Since it never happened again I didn't think anything of it.

Same here. I remote started mine at 5k miles and happened to be within view/earshot. It cranked for a few seconds (almost like a cold/dying battery) but then kicked right over. I thought it was odd, but hasn't happened since.

 

[10986]

I've had that happen twice so far.

(former fleet mgr for way too many Ford E-series) The E-series powerjoke used to do what we called a "run-in" where the EGR valve would hang get fouled up and hang on a hot-soak start up, and it would continue to crank AND misfire until the engine caught and ran. What would be a 1 second crank could be as long as 5 or 10 (if it was really hung and still started), or not start at all. It felt exactly like that, where the engine would fire on a cyl and the starter would continue to crank and intermittently fire, until the engine ran-in over the course of 5 or 7 seconds. Ran rough as hell for a couple of seconds and then smoothed right back out.

I honestly had flashbacks to that happening, but then I remembered that I wasn't at work, I wasn't in a diesel, it wasn't hot out and this was MY CAR. I called my local dealership that minute, and they said they had no recorded events of it there, but that if it did it again - bring it in. I've even taken to shooting video of the startups in the morning hoping to catch it in action.

Mine didn't at ALL feel like a low-battery issue, as I definitively proved a month prior that the OEM battery had a bad cell in it, and got it replaced under warranty.

 

[Merope]

Somewhere else in these forums I read that there is a service update to address an issue with this. I think it was something Robert Mauro posted. You might search on it or message him. There is also an official Subaru tech on the forum who would know...

 

[roj30]

It happened to me 3 times already. Went to dealership today, they replaced the battery. I believe, the remote start (from app) need more powerful battery. Will update, if it happens again.

 

[Robert.Mauro]

It happened to me 3 times already. Went to dealership today, they replaced the battery. I believe, the remote start (from app) need more powerful battery. Will update, if it happens again.

Regular battery is fine for remote start, whether from app, or from FOB (for those who paid extra for the FOB based remote start), so, hopefully, the new battery will resolve your issue. If not, let me know. I have another idea.

 

[10986]

I believe, the remote start (from app) need more powerful battery.

If you're starting it from the app, the battery in your phone is sending the signal. There is no more powerful battery. If you had been sitting in the vehicle and pushed the button , the same thing would have happened (if it was the OEM battery).