sapd911

Just hit 4000 miles and I replaced the battery per the dealer (I live 250 miles away) after the stock one died 6 times in the last year. Bought the car brand new Sep 2013. Anyway the OEM battery died 6 times in the past year and I finally had enough and replaced it with a very good battery (interstate) per the dealer. Dealer checked it when I went on vacation and said the battery is fine. (probably fully charged since I drove 250 miles). Anyway, I had the new battery in for two weeks and go to start it up today, and its DEAD! WTH!!!!!

Drove 250 miles to the dealer and now have a loaner. Dealer said they need it a few days to look at it in sleep mode? sleep mode? What is draining it when its off? I don't have anything aftermarket or any chargers plugged in.

As you can see by the miles I don't drive it much. It sits for 3-4 days at a time in my garage!

Any clue, what's wrong? Another customer had hers towed in and she had the same problem but had a 2014 IS250. My key fobs always stay in the house, but the garage is next to my master bedroom where I place the keys.

Thoughts? And I don't have the hybrid.

Nelexus88

My '14ES often sits for several days at a time and has always started fine. I expect you have some sort of additional battery drain that the dealer will have to sort out. With all the electronics on these cars, there are several systems (security, etc) that draw small amounts of current even when the car is off. Sleep mode is supposed to be activated several minutes after the car is turned off and is designed to minimize the current draw to prevent a dead battery.

Please see my reply to your other post on keys.

amphipri0n

Lexus needs to get on top of this one. I've read a few of these reports across several models, all brand new, completely stock, driven occasionally, ending up with dead batteries. What a quick way to spoil the honeymoon period... The resolution has almost always been to simply replace the battery. Which is why your post caught my attention because you said you've already tried that.

I've been able to leave my ES for weeks at a time without being started and have the car start up perfectly. my experience should be the expected norm/spec. There is something that's off.. hope they find it quickly for you.

Max707

Sounds like a dead short somewhere they should of fixed it the first time. I hope you did not pay for that new battery on a new Lexus under warranty? If mine did not start I would of had them come to my house and pick it up and leave me a loaner.

Arty101

Agreed. It could be a short or a battery drain. It also could be as simple as a light switch that isn't working properly and leaving an interior light bulb on (trunk?) that you're not aware of.

sapd911

dealer couldn't find anything today. Said they will let it sit for 4 days and test it Monday and see if the battery is draining. They said they will call corporate after that if they cant find the problem. Fingers crossed. I have the ultimate luxury package with every option available but not remote start! The Lexus dealer in San Antonio paid for my second battery, reimbursed me $141.0. Had the new one 2 weeks and it failed! I am so frustrated, at least I have a loaner! Sewell Lexus in Ft Worth is who is looking at my car.

SLH

Where do you keep the key fob? And, the spare one?

These cars turn things on when the key fob is nearby. A number of owners have reported dead batteries on cars when the key fob is kept in the garage or in an adjacent room.

If you keep the keys five or ten yards away, or keep them inside a closed metal box with a tight-fitting lid (like a biscuit tin), the two radios cannot hear each other...

Arty101

You could have also had the unfortunate case of having two bad batteries: first installed in the car, and the replacement. A cell could have been damaged if a light was left on, or your key fob was kept too close and the battery goes bad. Chances aren't too high for that to happen, but things happen.

lesz

I've now seen several threads in which people say that they have experienced failures of multiple batteries, had the inability to start their vehicles with multiple batteries, etc. In most/all of those threads, a common element seems to be that the people took the vehicles to the dealership, and, even if the dealer kept the vehicle for several days, the dealer could not reproduce the failure-to-start issue. Logic would, therefore, seem to indicate that there is likely something different going on when the vehicle is parked at the dealership and when the vehicle is parked at the owner's home. The single possible difference that comes to mind would be related to where the key fob is being stored. I don't know for sure what the "safe" distance from the vehicle for storing the key fobs is, but it would seem to make sense, for those who are having a problem, to try storing the key fob at a greater distance from the vehicle. I know that, when I was given the orientation to my ES by the dealership's delivery specialist, he made a point of telling me that, if the fob is stored in the vehicle or even too close to it, doing so would cause both the vehicle battery and the fob battery to wear down.

sapd911

Dealer said I am fine the way I store my key fobs. They are inside my home separated by two interior walls and at least 15-20 feet away. The dealer said the keyfob is not what is draining my car battery but they cant find a drain yet.

I just have a feeling, the dealer will say nothing is wrong, we shall see.

lesz

I have no way of knowing, with any degree of certainty, what is causing the ES battery to drain, but, if the dealer keeps the vehicle for several days and the battery doesn't discharge the same way that it does in your garage, it can't hurt to try putting the fob at a greater distance from the car in the house. Sometimes, an important part of troubleshooting an issue is to eliminate possible sources of the problem one at a time. If it was my vehicle, I'd probably try keeping the fob further from the vehicle before I even let the dealer start poking around looking for a problem, and, if the dealer couldn't find a problem, I'd definitely try keeping the key further from the car. At a minimum, I'd try following the instructions in the manual for disabling the fob when the fob was in the house.

sapd911

I will certainly do that if and when I get the vehicle home.

sapd911

Just got a call from the dealer service manager. They cannot replicate the problem. He said Lexus was called and are AWARE of the problem on several vehicles and it may be a computer part randomly turning on thus causing the battery to drain. Lexus said they wont have a fix for several months.

He said the temp fix is to put a battery tender at no charge on the vehicle and I would have to plug it to a tender daily.

I have refused that temp. fix and it is currently in the hands of the Lexus Lemon law team, like they are on my side.

What are yalls thoughts to this? What if we go on vacation, park at an airport, ect, ect, ect.

I am currently in a 3 yr lease and I owe $28k at the end of the lease. I currently have zero payments since I had over $20K in equity when I bought the car.

1. Do I just give the car back, have them buy it back?
2. Get a brand new replacement?

My wife does not want another ES and I could not blame her. But I truly think we got a lemon. Thoughts?

lesz

I don't know what your best course of action would be, but I certainly would not find it acceptable to be told that Lexus hopes to have a fix in several months.

I still find it strange that, in your case and in the cases of others who seem to have had the same issue, what is consistent is that, even when the dealer service departments kept the vehicles for several days, they could not duplicate the same battery drain issues that the vehicle owners were experiencing when the cars were not at the dealership.

sapd911

I am going to see what the Lemon Law team at Lexus tells me, then I will proceed from there!