phillipsgs

This thread was helpful. My 2003 Forester X exhibited this same problem. The white/yellowish connector near the bottom of the photo was slightly melted and the metal insert that slips into the terminals was corroded. I cleaned up the metal insert and put it back into place and everything was back to normal. I'm gonna check with my local dealership about getting a new connector. It looks like a pretty straightforward replacement if you are at all handy.

Easy Fixer

Interesting! The access port is actually a Gateway. There are two of them for high priority and low priority systems. CAN is basically a computer network which connects sensors, computers (yes, there is more than one computer on cars these days.), and actuators like windows and locks. With all networks they must be properly connected to a single "bus" where they are constantly polled by the Gateways. A simple bad connection can disconnect several devices, a bad gateways will disable the whole network. Funny, the dealer seemed clueless to the problem. However, he did eventually solve it!