1999 Legacy Outback. Battery has been draining. Last Friday the garage determined it had something to do with the internal lighting. The mechanic removed the fuse for the lighting and the car ran fine over the weekend. I took it back today for more testing and the mechanic said there is no power to the glove compartment light or ashtray light. He did find a missing fuse (not the one he removed Friday). He put in a new one. He told me to take the car home to see if it runs down again.

 

The car is an automatic with floor shift. When I  pressed the shift lever lock button to shift from Park, there was a clicking sound that seemed to come from the dash in the area of the speedometer, etc.

I asked the mechanic about this and he said that was normal, that it was just the shift lever lock releasing. He said if I didn't hear that clicking, I wouldn't be able to shift from Park.

 

I told him it didn't click before and he said maybe that missing fuse that he replaced had something to do with it, but he insisted the clicking is normal.

 

 

Is the clicking normal when the shift lever lock button is pressed to shift from Park?

 

I am not an expert in anyway, but when I was tearing my shifter apart, there is a switch to release your key. That is my guess on what you are hearing.

have the mechanic check circuitry that goes thru the hatch boot. wires in there can abrade/short - not sure if 12V is present all the time back there.