Having intermittent trouble starting

[oldbutgood]

Hi: I have a 91 Subaru Legacy wagon with an automatic transmission, and I'm a first time user of this website. For about the last five years, I have had an intermittent problem of my car not starting. We have replaced the starter twice, the alternator 4 years ago, the battery twice (the last time 2 years ago), and the battery cables last month. Since last Spring, it has gotten increasingly worse. Now, about half the time, the car will start right away, and the other half, it will start (without hesitation) on the 3rd or so try of clicking the key, or there will just be nothing. Whenever I get a jump from someone, it starts. I have gotten stuck about 15 times over the last month. If I leave anything on, like the car light, or a door slightly open, it will usually be dead. It seems like something is causing the battery to go down, because sometimes I'll just run in somewhere for five minutes and then it will be dead when I come out, but then for a week it will have been fine. There is no rhyme or reason to it. We will replace something, and it will be better for awhile, but then the problem eventually resurfaces again. Any advice?

[drquasievil]

You need to have the mechanic check for battery charge, battery drain, bad ground. It can be as simple as a light switch stuck open. This sucks.