flatsix fool

Of course that's not the end of the story. I ran what I thought was a substantial wire from the braided starter ground to the battery negative terminal. The car started, but the insulation melted and the wire burned. Tried it once more with 10 gauge copper house wire connected to the bolt six inches away that's got a direct connection to the battery and it still melted the insulation I know that there's a huge current draw at the starter, but that seems excessive for normal operation. Before I pull the starter out, is there anything else I should consider?

......with no juice flowing to the starter I unbuttoned everything again undid the starter contacts-that appeared to be clean-reattached them and just for the hell of it ran a jumper from the ground connection on the starter directly to the battery and....IT STARTS...with the jumper getting very hot in the process. So it may really be as simple as a bad ground. Cleaning all the contacts thoroughly and will add additional ground wire capable of handling the current. Still have to get the cd changer working, but that's a minor issue now that the car seems to be running again. Thanks to everyone, especially Lucy Texan and Fairtax for their input.

Fairtax, thanks for all the advice. I think the fact that it started after a solenoid tap was coincidental, since that was one of dozens of taps and none of the others helped. I just put a meter on the starter and found no juice flowing to the solenoid when the ignition key was turned. Dash lights up, needles sweep, chimes chime, but no start and no voltage indicated on the meter. And yes, the gear indicator lights in the dash properly display the gear selected at the console. If not a bad relay, I'm back to assuming that the problem lies somewhere in the gearshift/neutral safety switch/interlock. This has been a heavily used family car for a decade, and between kids and dogs and miscellaneous food and drink, there's a lot of accumulated crud beneath the console. I've cleaned it up and found no obvious sticking or binding on movable parts, and no electrical connections that seem to have been affected.

I should add that the problem, as explained to me, is that the stretched cable won't allow the transmission interlock to disengage. If it can be shortened it can be made to do what it's supposed to. But how to shorten, and how to know how much to shorten?

The car is a 2005 Outback LL Bean, 3.0 six and 5 speed automatic (5EAT with 'sportshift' console shifter - not the pushbuttons on the steering wheel), a daily driver for nearly ten years with about 120,000 miles. A few weeks ago, the engine wouldn't crank, even with a fully charged battery. Cleaned up the battery and starter contacts, but no help. Released the gearshift lock and started in neutral, drove for a while, parked in my driveway and couldn't restart. Tapped the solenoid with a stick, it started, but when parked again, couldn't restart. Dash lights up, a few quiet clicks when the key is turned, but no cranking. Others have suggested the gearshift cable has stretched, possibly due to my shifting habits (first automatic in a long time, old habits die hard) but I've yet to determine how to adjust the cable. Since I had a jammed cd changer, I removed the console and radio. Still have it out, hoping that someone might tell me there's something to adjust in the interior. All of the online references show an adjustment for the 4 speed automatic, mounted on the transmission case and only accessible beneath the car. But the cable shown, and the adjusting mechanism are different than what I see on my outback. I'm not about to take any more apart without having some idea of what I'm looking for. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can anyone point me to a source for information on adjusting the gearshift cable on the 5EAT transmission? The 5 speed automatic used in the 6 cylinder Outback and Tribeca has a different cable than the pre-CVT 4 speed automatic used with the 4 cylinder Outback and Forester. All the documentation I find online pertains to the 4 speed.

1 Lucky Texan and CNY_Dave both nailed problem #1. I removed the console and radio and found two CDs jammed in the changer. One was cracked. I wouldn't think the changer motor would have enough torque to crack a disk and assume it must have gone in that way, but however it got there, it jammed the unit. I didn't want to open up the cd player, and was able to cut the two discs apart with metal shears without making too much of a mess. It's partially reassembled, enough to know that the cd player won't accept a disk but everything else seems to work. My bigger concern is the gear shift cable, since I can't drive the car at all without fixing that. If it's stretched and can be fixed with an adjustment, I'll be thrilled. But all of the online materials I've found relate to the much more widely used 4 speed transmissions. Mine's the 5EAT that as far as I know was only used with the 6 cylinder Outbacks and Tribecas (and maybe Outback turbos) and the way cable is connected to the transmission is different from what's used on the 4 speed. Mine has a cotter pin securing the fitting at the cable's end to the transmission casing; every diagram and video I've found so far shows two luck nuts on a cable passing through a clevis-style pivot. That 4 speed style doesn't seem to be well liked, with comments posted about the difficulty of saving the rusty cable and the probability that the cable will have to be replaced. I've been soaking the connections in penetrating oil since Saturday, hoping that when I finally figure out what to do with them, they'll come along willingly. Can anyone enlighten me as to how that cable is adjusted? I can only hope that when Subaru designed the fittings for the 5EAT transmission, they relocated the adjustment to somewhere inside the car where it wouldn't be condemned to rust. Is it possible that isn't a fantasy?

The CD player hasn't been working, but since the radio's been fine, I never suspected a problem there. It certainly does make sense and I feel like a fool for not even considering that the CD mechanicals could be the site of the drain. As for the starting problem, the binding shift cable makes sense too, especially since I'm a committed manual shifter (I've been driving the outback since a knee injury forced me to give up my 5 speed WRX). Will check that out tomorrow. Much thanks.

My 2005 Outback 3.0 ran fine for its first 100,000 miles, but has been plagued by electrical gremlins for the last 20,000. A parasitic drain forces me to disconnect the battery every night or it would be dead in the morning. But the daily reboot is less of an issue than its refusal to crank. Key in the ignition, fully charged battery, and the starter won't even attempt to crank. I cleaned all the battery and starter contacts, but no luck. Yesterday I accessed the gear shift interlock (that functions like a neutral safety switch), moved the gearshift to neutral, turned the key and...it started! Drove for 20 minutes, parked in my driveway, turned it off. Tried to start it, and just like before, no cranking. Left it for an hour, found a long wooden stick, tapped the solenoid a few times and...it started..again! Drove for 10 minutes, parked, turned it off and...dead again. I'm baffled. Could either the interlock or solenoid be the issue, or am I just randomly throwing darts at a target in the dark? I haven't been able to trace the source of the parasitic drain, but I don't think it's related. I'd appreciate any insights anyone out there might offer.