Hesitant Handyman Repairs Remix - Programming a 1997 Subaru Outback Car Remote
Anyone who’s been around a while knows that my most popular YouTube video is how to program remotes for a 1997 Subaru Outback station wagon. It was a video I shot before I had an animated logo, even before I had the current theme music version (tune is the same, but it was less orchestrated), and to this day, while I’m happy it’s my most viewed video, it was terribly produced. On top of that, the original blog post wasn’t exactly informative, it just set you to the video.
Well… My nagging perfectionism got the better of me, so I went ahead and remixed it a little. I don’t even own a Subaru anymore, but hopefully someone will find this useful. At the very least, it’s less of me yammering and more to the action, which should be helpful for someone who just wants it fixed. Also, the post below is now instructions, too.
I’m the guy THEY don’t want you to know about…
Hey, buddy… I see you lost that Subaru remote. Wanna get a replacement?
Whoa, whoa, whoa… Settle down, man, I’m not a dealer. I drink coffee and I know things. I’m not going to rip you off. In fact, I’m going to tell you how to do it. Free of charge.
Catch? No catch. Seriously. I just want you to be able to lock the car again. Subaru Station Wagons around the 1997 vintage are surprisingly easy to steal. Did I ever tell you about the time I locked my child in the car with both sets of keys and our assistant pastor was able to open my car with the keys to his 1998? You really need an alarm on that thing…
What you’ll need
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- Your car keys. Or the keys of someone you know whose Subaru key fits in your Subaru. I don’t care whose keys you use, so long as the car you’re programming the remote for is either yours or someone who’s asked you to help them with this issue. Programming car alarm remotes for cars that don’t belong to you is bad, mmkay?
- A Subaru with a factory equipped alarm. (This is kind of implied with the keys, but I figured I should probably make it super obvious.
- A replacement remote (or two. These are the remotes that I bought)
The Process
Step One
Open the car door on the driver’s side. This is the first part of a sequence of seemingly random signals that tells your car you’re doing what you’re doing. How did Subaru decide on a code that starts with leaving your driver’s door open? I have no idea. But this is also a good way to discover that your switch that tells the system the door is open is out–during my first attempt at this I came to this realization and had to swap the door switch with the one on the passenger side for this to work.
Step Two
Turn the ignition key into to “on” position. Don’t turn the engine over, and don’t stop in the accessory position, you’ll just go as far as “on”.
Step Three
Below the dashboard on the left hand side of the steering wheel, there should be an override button. Press and hold it–after about 20 seconds, the car’s alarm will chirp or beep to let you know it is ready for programming, at which point you will continue to hold the button but move on to the next step.
Step Four
While continuing to hold the override button down, press the “lock” button on each of the remotes that you’re looking to pair with your vehicle. The vehicle can be paired with 1-4 remotes, but they all have to be programmed at the same time (starting over this process clears the previously paired remotes, so if you’re just adding a new remote, you’ll still need to do this with your old remote as well. Consequently, this is also why I said you should only be doing this on cars you’re authorized to do it on.
Step Five
Let go of the override button, turn the car off, and close the door. These are the final piece to finish the programming. Once completed…
Step Six
Test the remotes. The car should respond to them if you completed the process correctly.
