deanja

Thanks all for your suggestions. Happy to report that the problem was tracked down by the auto electrician after being towed to him for the second time. Very generous of him considering most places are closed btw Christmas and New Year. He found that a wire that leads to one of the exhaust monitoring devices had come away from it's clip and had chaffed against the right CV Joint. Explains why the problem happened sometimes when car was reversing, since the CV axle rotation in the other direction would cause the chaffed wire to short out. The exhaust circuit is connected to the engine control unit and thus the immobiliser. We use the car offroad sometimes so maybe the wire snagged on something at some stage. Thanks again.

Thanks Glen, Would the headlight need to be a particular rating? - 30A is a big fuse. My assumption is that something is shorting while driving the car, but the car can keep running, the immobiliser only causing a problem once the engine is turned off and I attempt to restart. Dean

Hi, I am new to the forum. I am searching for clues about a strange intermittent electrical fault in our 2000 Forester (Australian model, 2.0 litre). The fuse SBF5 (30A) keeps blowing intermittently. Unfortunately this fuse is for the immobiliser, so once it blows the car won't start. A Subaru mechanic recommended that I unplug the tow bar electrics, which I have done, but fuse continues to blow. The fuse is also shared by the reversing lights, indicators etc. We can't narrow the event down to any particular circumstances, except perhaps wind direction and the phase of the moon. Twice we've had the car towed to the auto-electrician, and each time he's replace the fuse and the car has driven perfectly for him. Does anyone know whether this is a known bug in this model Forester? Any help of advice would be appreciated. Dean