How to Replace Battery 2004-07 Subaru Impreza - WRX

Hi, I’m Mike from 1A Auto. We’ve been selling auto parts for over 30 years!

Disconnect the negative terminal to the battery using a 10 millimeter wrench to loosen it. Just have to get it loose enough to come off the terminal. Put the negative terminal aside. Lift up the protective cover on the positive terminal. Use a 10 millimeter wrench to loosen it.

When you're loosening this with your wrench, be sure to not touch anything else metal while you're touching the positive terminal. It'll cause a short and a spark, so be very careful. Just kind of protect the wrench from touching anything as you're turning it. I'm using my hand to get this loose. Put that aside.

Now remove the bracket holding the battery in. These look rusty, so I'm going to spray some rust penetrant on them. You don't need to undo these the whole way. We’ll get them loose enough and they will unhook from underneath. If you've got a deep socket long enough you could use it, a 10 millimeter. However, that's not deep enough.

I'm going to use a ratcheting wrench. You could also use a closed box wrench. Either way you need to loosen these. I'm just going to hold onto it. Again, I'm also going to be careful, too, using a longer wrench. You don't want to swing this wrench around and touch that positive terminal because it will arc and cause a spark because you're shorting it to ground. Just be aware that that terminal does have positive energy in it. Get this loose. It's almost there. I'm going to loosen the other one a little bit. Once it's loose enough, there's a little hook on the bottom I was able to push it down and unhook it. Just like that. Once one side is loose, typically you can push down the other one and work it out of there. You don't have to loosen them all the way up and out, but just enough to get the hooks undone at the bottom.

We'll lift the battery out of the car and just put it aside. Take the plastic tray out. Reinstall the plastic tray, the arrow points to the front of the car. This round part matches with the round part here. Battery will just sit on top of that and hold it down.

Reinstall the battery. Put the battery tie down back in place. So, we're installing this, we need to get that hook. There's an opening there in the plastic, you're going to reach down and you just kind of feel around for it. I didn't loosen that one that much so it locked right into place. I'm going to get this front one. Okay, we'll tighten this one up a little bit. Battery is nice and tight. Connect the positive terminal, pull the cap up here so I can see what I'm doing. Push it down over. 10 millimeter wrench, tighten it up.

Again, be careful you do not ground this out while you're tightening it. It will cause a spark and short the battery out. Let's get it nice and tight. It's on there solid, we'll put the protective cap back on. I've got my key fob ready because as soon as I connect the negative terminal it's going to set off the alarm. It's very common when you disconnect a batter and reconnect it, the factory alarm might go off.

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