I have a '97 Outback that I just replaced the battery. I noticed an odd behaviour that has been continuous since I did the replacement. The running lights and interior lights flash. They flash at a 2 second interval for 1 minute and then stop for 10 seconds. After that it repeats the same pattern. It occurs whether the car is started, just the key in the ignition, and without the key in the ignition at all! I'm not much of a mechanic, but I figured either something went belly up or there is something that needs to be reset. The car starts up and runs fine.

 

Baffled....

Sure sounds like alarm behavior.

There is no alarm and it's not the emergency flashers...

 

I didn't put any alarm in, and I assume they don't come from the factory with one.

The factory alarm system on those is partly installed on all vehicles, they just add another module to it when they put the full alarm in. There is some trick to making it stop, if I remember correctly it's cycle the from off to on 5 times or something like that. A dealer should be able to help you, or consult your owners manual. I remember reading about this happening to another board member.

can you search the archives here?

If your car does have keyless entry, then you do have a "crippled" alarm system. You can just hit the "unlock" button on your keyfob. Or you can do this:

Look under the dash for a black box above the fuse box. Follow the wiring from this black box until you find a button taped to the wiring harness about 6 inches from the box. While holding in this button, turn the ingition to ON, wait a second, then release the button. This should reset the system. There should be a yellow sticker next to the battery that explains this.

 

See Russ's page for more information.

locking/unlocking the doors using the keyless remote did the trick.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

I did see that yellow tag on the battery cable, but didn't read it.