lesz

I've suggested, a couple of times, that, for a good number of people who have had the same battery drain issue, it seems strange that, when the car was kept by the dealer even for several days, the dealer could not replicate the problem, but the problem seemed to be one that only happened when the vehicle was at the owner's home. That would make it seem like there has to be something happening at the owner's home that is not happening at the dealer.

Thus, it seems like what SLH is describing could be a real possibility. If there is any chance that SLH is on the right track, I think that, if it were my vehicle, I'd want to test that out before I let the dealer start experimenting, taking things apart, and possibly not putting them back together properly.

It also strikes me that someone with Lexus should have, somewhere along the line, been thinking along the lines of what SLH has suggested.

grogman

I find your point interesting. For the first 10K miles that we have owned the car, we were living in a different house. No security system on the home, but we did have internet wifi. We had a distance of at least 100 yards between our home and our neighbors(on all sides). We also left the key fob in the car often when it was parked in the garage and never once had an issue with the battery draining.

We have recently moved to our new home close by. The new home has a security system, as does my neighbor's home that is 25 feet away. We also both have internet wifi. We are in a more congested area, with homes behind us as well.

The car now 13K miles on it and since we have lived there since September 15 the battery has now fully drained twice. We have left the key fob in the car at this house as well.

The other thing that I might add, is that I noticed with yesterday's episode that when I got in the car to attempt to start it, and realized that the battery was dead, I was hearing a constant light tapping or thumping noise that was coming from behind the instrument cluster. I sat in the car for several minutes listening to it, as i thought I was losing my mind. After i jumped the battery and started the car, I didn't hear it any more.

Nelexus88

If you have some electronic geek friends, see if they have a portable spectrum analyzer and invite them over to see if there are any 315Mhz signals are floating around in your home and garage.
I do see some analyzers for sale on E-bay for about $140 shipped, but not sure how much experience is required to understand the data.

Glad I dont have the battery drain problem at least at the present time.

SLH

Seems like you have the makings of a good experiment. Twice in one week is often enough, that parking outside for a week or two might be enough to confirm the theory.

Was the tapping noise at a rate of about once per second?

sapd911

Dealer called today and Lexus found the issue and it's on all 13 model ES. They said the issue is the Ecu ECM. Anyway, they r replacing the ecu and waiting the new part from Japan. Hopefully this fixes the issue. They r also hardwiring a battery tender in the interim and if it re occurs after the ecu is installed then they will deal with it then. They r confident the ecu replacement is the issue. I am happy with this outcome!

williakz

Maybe they'll name the TSB after you like they do for those who discover new species, or comets, or diseases...

sapd911

lol, I am just glad its over and I get my car back. I am confident this will fix it. Lexus is a great corporation.

bc6152

Whew! your saying that this issue exists on all 2013 ES 350's makes me very nervous. I'm wondering what their next move will be for the rest of us and when the factory warranty expires.

lesz

If they are being straight with you and if, in fact, this is an issue with all 2013 ES vehicles, there has to be some other factor involved that determines whether the issue manifests itself because, certainly, only a very small fraction of 2013 ES owners have experienced a problem.

grogman

First, I was going to take the key fob out of the car, and keep it a good distance from the car for about a week. Yes, the tapping wad about 1 per second. Very steady.

sapd911

I retract, they didn't say all models, just narrowed down to that year and model.

Nelexus88

It will be interesting to see what Lexus finds regarding the similar problem reported by IS owners.
Apparently Lexus is replacing the "Gateway" computer in some of those models to see if that fixes their battery drain problem. The long IS thread linked in post #28 is an interesting read as some Lexus techs are reporting on their findings.

ALIGN

So Lexus Tech really have not found the culprit on the battery drain issue.

Before I traded in my MB E500, I also have battery drain issue until MB Tech run a full system diagnostics on the car. The car would go to low voltage and disable non-essential system to save battery to ignition until the battery charge up.

MB's STAR diagnosis can diagnose each and every component on the car. Every sensors voltage, amp draw and ohms reading are displayed and tells you if it is on spec or not. They were able to pin point it right away the source of the voltage drop. It was my seat control module. Similar to the Lexus easy-exit feature, the faulty module can't sync the motor. So basically when you exit, the seat goes far back but the motor is stuck running.
They replace the module and sync the seat to program the module. Problem solve.

Replacing battery is just a lame excuse. You can easily test a fault battery.

The car has built in diagnostics on the hidden menu. It can diagnose the gateway (GW).

Cerulean99

It's probably not the fob. Last week, I unknowingly left my fob inside the car before I went on a 7 day trip overseas. When I got back, the car started fine without any problems. I have a '13 ES.

GIG123

I have a 2014 ES 350 with the same problem with the battery draining. After I'd had the car for four months I left it in the garage for four days and the battery was completely dead. Like everyone else they checked the battery, said nothing was wrong with it, and I wasn't driving enough. (A month later a retest of the battery revealed a bad cell, and the battery wax replaced.) They set me up with a trickle charger (battery tender) which I have used ever since. If I don't drive the car for two or three days, I hook up the trickle charger. It's very inconvenient but it has worked, that is until recently.

Just before Thanksgiving after having the trickle charger attached for more than 24 hours, the battery was not charged. I took it to the dealer. They said the battery had drained down to 30%. They said the battery was fine and the trickle charger was fine. They could not explain why the battery had lost 70% of its charge.

I later spoke with the service manager who proposed having someone come to the house to check the charge on the battery, one day for a baseline and then again after 4 days, leaving the trickle charger off. That seemed like a good plan to me. Unfortunately two days later, after using the trickle charger for 26 hours, the battery again was not charged. I took the car and the trickle charger back to the dealer and they have kept them to see if they can isolate the problem.

I am waiting to hear back. Will post again if they find something.