Halfmoon

We just returned from a cruise where the car sat parked for eight days and started just fine. I'd be pi**ed if we loaded all the luggage in the trunk jumped in and found a dead battery with a 1000+ mile drive home ahead of us.

BTW 30 MPG @ 78 MPH four people and six suitcases

sapd911

ECU replaced 3 weeks ago, looks like they fixed the battery dying issue!

acidic2015

Having the same problem with my 2012 IS250 - Work from home, so the car sits idle in the garage for a few days at a time - I just went on vacation for 10 days over the holiday, came back this morning and interior lights are fine, unlock beeped, push start button lit up on entry, but pressing it caused that fast-clicking electrical sound - My key fob is typically stored upstairs, on the other side of our apartment building - easily 100 feet away - Last time this happened, my alarm had gone off at night during a storm - I called a tow truck for a jump, and they used one of those portable jump packs - cost me $60 for the jump - I ended up buying one on Amazon for the exact same price, now I keep it in my trunk - fortunately in its box, it slides thru the rear trunk-access arm rest - the first time this happened (about 3 months after purchase [new]), all power was cut off, and I couldn't open the trunk using the release button - Drove 40 miles to dealer, and they said they'd test it - told me it was perfectly fine - really annoying, do hope they get this figured out - really don't like feeling like my 2 year old Lexus is unreliable - That jump pack just paid for itself, definitely recommend it until this gets sorted

Lexi66

Have a garage queen and live in a high rise in the City. Always make a point to take it out
every couple weeks. That said, it's going to be 4 years old in May. Have very low
mikeage, but wonder if I should just pull the trigger on a new battery! Thoughts. Feedback
Please!

bc6152

If it were my car I'd take it to Sears or wherever you can have the battery tested for voltage output.
Voltage should be around 14VDC with car running. Anything substantially lower than that i.e.
10-11 VDC I would can it and get a new one. Gets pretty cold in Illinois...If no symptoms then probably good!

LexBob2

Good idea. Auto Zone or Advance Auto will test the battery at no charge. I bet the Chicago stores have been busy these past couple of days! A good idea to warm up and drive the car more frequently in these kinds of conditions. It's really been brutal around here.

Lexi66

I park in a heated garage so that really isn't an issue.

Arty101

Lexi66- 4 years is a bit premature for battery life. My original battery lasted 7 years, but we have a more moderate climate in the west coast, but you do park in a heated garage.

jollick

The battery in my 2006 GS AWD lasted just under 10 years. (It came out in March 2005) The GS sits in my garage and is driven every other weekend. Once it started not holding a charge for 2 weeks, I replaced it. That was last weekend.

LexBob2

The heated garage is a great bonus especially with our weather right now. It's still good for the battery and other components to take the car on extended drives regularly

Mike728

Or, purchase a battery tender like I did. Not sure if that's a possibility in a high-rise garage, though. I bought one, because my car can sit for weeks at a time, now that I commute to the city. It works great!

lesz

For the last 30 years or so, I've always had a vehicle that was stored for the winter, and, for much of that time, I've been using a battery tender/trickle charger connected to the batteries of those vehicles while they were in storage. Not only has the trickle charger kept the batteries charged but I would think that it has been beneficial to the long-term health of the batteries. With the use of trickle chargers on vehicles that have not been driven regularly for an extended period of time, I've typically been getting 8 or 9 years of use from a battery, and, even then, I probably could have squeezed another year out of those batteries, but it seemed prudent to replace them when I did.

One of the nice features with some/most of the trickle chargers is that there is a separate plug-in connection between the part of the trickle charger that plugs into the wall and the part that connects to the battery terminals. So, you can permanently connect the leads to the battery terminals and leave the pigtail sticking out of the grill a bit where it can easily be reached to connect and disconnect it to charger, itself, which is plugged into the AC outlet. Thus, there is no need to open the hood and clamp or remove the cables to the terminals every time you want to either connect or disconnect the charger.

bc6152

The battery tender is a great tool to have. I own 2 classic cars that are stored from November to April. Before I used a battery tender I was replacing the batteries about every 2 years due to constantly charging the batteries when they went dead. This caused sulphurization internally and killed the battery. With the BT attached I haven't lost a battery in over 6 years on either vehicle. It is a good investment for around $55.00.

lesz

You can pick up trickle chargers from various manufacturers for quite a bit less than $55. I've been using the Battery Tender Junior for about ten years, and it has done fine with keeping up the charge on my car batteries. At the time I bought it, I think I paid about $25 for it. Just a few days ago, I picked up a second Battery Tender Junior to use with the battery on the garden tractor that I use to plow the snow. I paid $30 for it at Wal-Mart, and I suspect that it could be found for a significantly lower price on-line from Amazon or other retailers. Also, at Wal-Mart, they had Schumacher trickle chargers for as little as $15. I'm not sure what a $30 or $55 Battery Tender trickle charger would be doing for you that a $15 Schumacher wouldn't do.

bc6152

My BT are either 6 or 12 volts..Didn't know they had a "junior".