Vasili

Haven't been around these parts in a while. Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the best brand on the planet. I have a question about my 2013 GS.

In January 2016, my GS wouldn't start after sitting for several days. I got it started and took it in to find out the battery was bad already and they changed it.

Flash forward to a few months ago. Same issue, but I started it up and carried on. Didn't bring it to my dealer.

Then yesterday, the same thing. Haven't driven it between Monday and Thursday and viola! Click, click, click when I try to start. I put the charger on for a while and got it to start. Took it to the dealer and they tell me the battery tests fine. However, was told that with "newer cars, if you don't drive them enough (I bought mine in May 2012 and have only 34k miles, so far) the battery drains because of the modules within the vehicle that draw voltage from the battery. If this happens often enough, the battery will drain to the point where the car won't start."

Talked to an independent mechanic I know and he suggested that it is a parasitic drain on the battery from a module probably. To pinpoint where the drain is coming from, a mechanic needs to sit on the issue and watch it with meters. I do have a remote starter that I notice has a blue light on it that is lit all the time, but is that enough to cause this? I looked up a video on YouTube and found that I can do this myself through the process of elimination by using an ammeter and pulling fuses. I would have thought the dealer's mechanic would know this. Or maybe it costs them too much labor to figure it out?

The dealer suggested that when I drive my car, I should hook up a charger at night so the battery will be 100% charged by morning. Really? I have a luxury car that they are suggesting that I should open my hood and charge the battery up at night? Why doesn't that feel right to me? Why didn't this thing happen a couple years ago?

Any ideas or suggestions are helpful.

Mike246

To state the obvious, all modern cars have systems active while parked and locked for example the clock, security and keyfob sensing devices, These take milliamps and you should expect that returning to the car following a month's vacation it would start without a problem.

The logical thing to do is to place an ammeter in series with the battery's supply lead with the ignition off and assess the current drawn. This is a baseline for any further tests. Try this again with your remote starter connected to eliminate whether this is the culprit.

I am tempted to ask if you have checked for any interior or trunk lights which remain on however most if not all of the Lexus lamps are LED and each drawing in the order of 100 mA but I would check for this anyway.

Mike728

See this: http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/TSb/...dPdf?id=195332

Spideyman1

You beat me to it! I just purchased a 2013 that falls into this TSB's VIN range and thought it might be the problem. Luckily, it was a marginal battery that the stealership didn't replace (until I whined a lot after the sale.) Finger's crossed, but so far so good and my car has sat for 10+ days undriven and started fine. Anyway, the dealership is and expensive place to get a battery, but if you do take it there, they will test for prosodic draw and if you vehicle is within the factory warranty would cover the TSB for the ECU replacement if it turns out to be the issue.

ECL

I also have a 2013 GS350 F-Sport RWD, purchased new in May, 2012, now with just under 23,000 miles on the odometer, still with the original battery. On multiple occasions, while I have been traveling, the car has sat without being started for four to five weeks at a time. No battery charger or other precautions. Each time, when I returned home, I tried with some trepidation to start the car, expecting to hear that "click, click, click." On each occasion, it fired right up. Now that I have said that, the battery will probably die tomorrow.

bclexus

Same here - I have the original battery as well in my 2013. After 4+ years of high Dallas summer heat reaching over 100°, I'm a bit surprised the battery hasn't needed replacing already. It's still going strong...

ECL

One hundred degrees is a cool spring day here in Tucson. Today, in the middle of winter, the high is supposed to be 88!

CTNYC

My old ILX Hybrid had this issue, but would happen even in 15 mins while running into CVS or something. There was a glitch with one of the push start ignition components that made the car have a parasitic drain only when the car was parked, off, but not locked. Acura paid a shiny penny to find that issue.

bclexus

88° is the forecast for Dallas today.

Vasili

Thank you all, for the replies.

Spoke to the service dept. about it again and I mentioned the test for a parasitic drain and was told that they could do that but I would be charged. I mentioned how I believe the problem began while the car was still under the 48 month warranty, but instead of fixing it, they just replaced the battery (that probably wasn't a bad battery).

He said, if I did the test and found something wrong, I could bring it in and they would re-test it to confirm my results and they would fix it without charge. I'd like to get that in writing.

nerv81

Can you ask them to check if your car VIN falls under that TSB first before doing anything? This way you'll at least have some hope that you'll get your money back.

Mike728

It's 2017. There's a 99.9% chance they do.

coach1

Just replaced the Factory Battery (Panasonic). 2014 F Sport with 13000 miles.....car sat for 3 weeks. Went to start click, click, click. Charged for two hours and drove to the dealership. They put a joke of a tester on the car and said the battery was good. I then took the car to an Interstate dealership who then tested the battery under load. It tested 400 CCA. The label on the battery indicated it was rated at 580 CCA. I replaced it with an Interstate 800 CCA and they said I should be able to let the car set for 6 months and still have enough to start it. We will see......Lexus Customer Satisfaction did pay for the replacement.

Vasili

I looked at the TSB and my car does fall DOES fall under that VIN number.

Vasili

I called my dealer today and asked for the service manager. I kind of got a little terse and he agreed to get it tested for free tomorrow.