Neighbors rolled the dice on a manufacturer buyback vehicle... and lost.

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

A friend is a service writer for a Subaru dealership...her husband is a master tech for Subaru and is a regional specialist with a job you describe. I think he only travels within one state...but has a regular route he travels each month. He assists Subaru dealerships with troublesome cars that have unresolved issues.

I think most car manufacturers use their intranet to run their own internal dealer diagnostic forums to help each other...its cheaper.

Yeah. Like a lot of things in many industries, the internet has erased several jobs that once existed and at same time saved people and industries some $$$$ they can get by without spending due to nearly unlimited access to all sorts of information people need. It is a
good thing. Change is inevitable and usually for the better.

 

[Sumboodie]

Id just put a night switch on it. Good idea for any vehicle if it sits more than a couple days.

What i did on my Dodge that kept killing batteries.

 

[f355spider]

Id just put a night switch on it. Good idea for any vehicle if it sits more than a couple days.

What i did on my Dodge that kept killing batteries.

A seasoned "old school" service technician told me this is not advisable to install a battery cut off switch on modern cars (last decade) anymore due to all the various computers and ECUs spread out all over the car. When you completely power them down, they lose some important memory information for engine idle parameters, and transmission shifting history (they will run on the default settings until they build up drive history again). In addition to drivability issues, you can lose radio presets, clock, bluetooth and other memory stuff....he recommended the use of a microprocessor controlled battery tender. He said they are ideal for such situations and help maintain a healthy battery as well.

 

[Sumboodie]

A seasoned "old school" service technician told me this is not advisable to install a battery cut off switch on modern cars (last decade) anymore due to all the various computers and ECUs spread out all over the car. When you completely power them down, they lose some important memory information for engine idle parameters, and transmission shifting history (they will run on the default settings until they build up drive history again). In addition to drivability issues, you can lose radio presets, clock, bluetooth and other memory stuff....he recommended the use of a microprocessor controlled battery tender. He said they are ideal for such situations and help maintain a healthy battery as well.

Dunno.

As far as radio settings, I've never programmed one to begin with. Very rare I put music on while driving.
Don't have Bluetooth either.

 

[Bullet]

Intermittent problems can be a royal pain. Divide and conquer still works. It might be slow, but it is methodical and yields results. Think weeks, not days.

If I had a garage to keep something like that in while I had my digital storage scope connected to it, I could trouble shoot it. It might take quite a while, but problems like that can be found. I have seen worse. A chip that only failed if the temperature was within a certain range. Hotter or cooler than that range, it ran fine.

Again, intermittent problems are a royal pain, and can take quite a while to find. In one way, they are a challenge, if you have good enough equipment to capture what is going on, the room for the vehicle and equipment, and the time.

Many years ago, I made my living trouble-shooting electronic equipment. I solved a few hard to fix problems back then.

I agree. My mon had a Camry and the battery would fully discharge if left for three days. You would never knew it had a problem if it was driven daily. A google search lots of mentions of the alarm was the problem, expect the off key electrical load was normal when an amp meter was put inline with the battery. Finally I found a short mention to follow the wire on the in car alarm light to the module and to unplug the module. When I did the batter never discharged when left three or more days without use.

 

[Shel_B]

Paging South Main Auto… This is right up his alley, although it’s still under GM warranty.

DiagnoseDan is another good diagnostician.

 

[Randy_R]

You'd think a dealership would send a troublemaker like that back to the auction (which is where they found it) while they had the chance, but apparently not. It is somewhat amazing what some of these dealers will put themselves and their customers through, to try and make a buck.

And if it goes back to the auction it doesn’t disappear. It becomes somebody else’s headache. A manufacturer buyback is supposed to have the issue resolved. Years ago I worked at a dealer that had several buybacks. They had a window sticker from the manufacturer stating it was a buyback as required by law. They usually had only hundreds of miles on them. We sold them to satisfied customers as far as I know. That doesn’t mean they didn’t come back for warranty repairs like any other new car but for whatever reason they were returned was never an issue.

 

[mikeduf]

Yeah electrical problems in these new cars can be a real nightmare. They have to have power constantly. I had a 24 Mercedes GLC 300 that exhibited many different symptoms and problems. All from all alarms going off, error codes flashing, car wouldn't start left me stranded, you name it after four times at the dealership, I called Mercedes corporate and asked for a buyback. They acknowledge the buyback penny for Penny. The only thing I lost was my time and stress. And yes there is a stigma that follows any car that was a lemon law buyback. It goes to auction and you buy it as is or if you're lucky you might get a 30-day warranty. But again that's here in California every state might have some different lemon laws.

 

[RitcheyRch]

Many years ago, I had an Isuzu small truck. It was in an out of the shop every month for a catalytic converter replacement. After 6 converter replacements, Isuzu bought it back and sent it back to the manufacturer. They exchanged my first Isuzu regular cab truck for an extended model. Well, this one ended up having the same issue with going through catalytic converters. Isuzu would not buy this one back so traded it in on a Nissan Hardbody.

I remember driving on the freeway in both Isuzu trucks and looking in the drivers side mirror and you could see the red glow from the converter.

 

[Jetronic]

I agree. My mon had a Camry and the battery would fully discharge if left for three days. You would never knew it had a problem if it was driven daily. A google search lots of mentions of the alarm was the problem, expect the off key electrical load was normal when an amp meter was put inline with the battery. Finally I found a short mention to follow the wire on the in car alarm light to the module and to unplug the module. When I did the batter never discharged when left three or more days without use.

if you put an amp meter inline, you have to disconnect it first, and that is enough to stop the current draw. seen it before. Until of course the ignition gets switched on/off again but most meters can't take that surge.

 

[Patrick0525]

Try Amp Hound and a clamp-on ammeter with milliamp resolution.

 

[mikeduf]

All this just tans my hide,
The point here is is that when a manufacturer makes something that is defective a consumer should not have to do all of these fiddly upgrades or add-ons to make it work right.

And as soon as changes are made to Electronics or anything really, the red flag goes up and the dealer reports it to a manufacturer and warranty is immediately voided.

They will be first to point the finger at that change, and say that is the reason why you're having a problem now.

At my age now if I buy a new car and I have any problems it goes right back for repair and after the fourth time I am writing it off and pulling in a lemon law attorney.
Car manufacturers are moving fast with technology and not doing enough trial and error with these foreign chips that they purchase before they release it to the consumer.
Forums are littered with many of the same problems as described with 12 volt issues.
These systems require power to be running through them all the time. You cannot just shut off the 12 volt battery to the car with a switch you will go down a rabbit hole of endless errors. Just my two cents here.