rcsail

Just recently upgraded my 08 GS for a 13 GS. The '13 GS history shows the battery was replaced after about 6 months in service for a bad battery cell. Hopefully good for me with a newer battery in my newer GS.
But here is my wonder... wife has a '13 ES and on a couple of occasions I have gone into garage
at night to hear some sort of pump or other motor on the ES running. This has been hours after the car was parked. Starting the car and turning off within like 30 seconds has stopped the noise. Now the other night I enter garage later and hear a similar noise now coming from my "new" GS. Start the GS and turn off and the noise stops. A couple posts within these forums suggests the fuel pump is running on. But in any event... I wonder if this motor/pump is running on in your Lexi's causing the battery rundown?
regards.

5PM

My F Sport first refused to start with a near dead battery at 2676 miles on 9/2/13; I'd had it for six weeks. The dealer replaced the $800 Panasonic battery with a good 'ol reliable Interstate. Absolutely no more problems until this morning (19.6K miles) when we found it near dead; a few lights flashed but it wouldn't even unlock. We let it sit as we were in a hurry. By the end of the day it was stone dead and had to be opened with the physical key; I easily jumped it with my kid's 14 year old Honda Civic. Which has never stranded anybody anywhere.

Off to the dealer on Saturday morning, will report back here.

UPDATE: Pretty much as I expected, the dealer found nothing wrong with the battery or the charging system. I will probably put an emergency starter in the trunk until the end of the lease, though.

sapd911

Gateway ECU replaced by the dealer, hopefully , the issue is fixed.

faifai83

Dealership replaced the factory Panasonic 48 month/50k battery with a Lexus 84 month (2 Year Full Replacement + 2 Year 50% replacement) 00544-MF-240-575 under warranty.

Car failed battery load test.

Tried to top off the battery the other day and also charged it multiple times in the last few months.

davidrands

My 18 month old GS 350 was dead one morning and I had to take my wife's RX450h out. My wife, through Lexus, organised the NRMA who jump started the car and it has been fine fo rhe last 2 weeks. There was nothing left on at all and key was not nearby.
The NRMA guy said to lock the car as that would shut down any use of hte battery, and this was repleated yesterday by the Lexus dealer.

Load of runbbish in my view as in over 50 years of car ownership this has NEVER been an instruction to owners. Small draw off to maintain memories would not drain a big battery overnight.

Interesting that so many poeple have had the problem over several years. Lexus local agent didn't want to know about it. They tell me I must have left something on. DEFINITELY not the case. Anyway, most of the electrical accessories automatically turn off after a short time - obviously lights, but also the boot light.

How does one get the message to Lexus in Japan that they have a serious issue?

saikao

Battery completely depleted for second time in six months on 2014 GS350. First occurrence, jumped and brought to dealer who tested battery and gave clean bill of health. I took their word for it. This time I knew there was something else going on with either the battery or electrical system.

Dealer checked battery, charging, did load test and indicated battery was ok. I was adamant that the battery was faulty and should be replaced based on similar incidents on CL. Apparently this issue still recurs even with battery replacement.

Dealer decided to keep the car for 24 hours and liase with a technical assistance center in SoCal. Next day, informed that the foreman decided to change out the Gateway ECU.

This problem on the GSes appears to be similar to IS issues that have been resolved with a new ECU: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...hreads-24.html

Seems reasonable for a TSA to be issued shortly...

Johnny8256

Thank you for the information!

richard203

iTrader: (1)

my gs just died today I was driving yesterday and started fine too but today its dead. for those who have the dead battery is the car unused for few days or same as me died the next following days? ima see tomorrow again if its dead again if it is ima bring it to dealer.

Johnny8256

The battery in my car died even though the car had been used the day before.

CincyBrad

I am now on my THIRD battery on my 2013 GS. Dealer checked for a draw, and of course found nothing. The car is driven daily, I do not plug in any accessories, etc. I bought this car new in February 2013, and it has 28k total miles......third battery. Extremely disappointed, it's left me stranded three times. This was my first Lexus, and will be my last.

bclexus

This is what I've been told by a Lexus Master Technician. Chances are your car has one of the random problematic ECUs that has a low current drain, and this drains the battery to a state where it needs to be either recharged or replaced. I'm told Lexus won't publicly acknowledge this problem and issue a TSB to replace/repair the defective ECUs because they cannot determine which ECUs have the problem since it happens so randomly and not within a group or series of manufacturing dates. The technician thinks the problem is probably a printed circuit board component (e.g. surface mounted capacitor) that is causing the problem. The only time they can be reasonably certain the car has a defective ECU is when the car has multiple dead battery issues within a relatively short period of time. But, even then, I don't believe Lexus will replace the ECU. Instead (I'm told), for those cars with multiple dead battery problems within the first year or two, Lexus has been (was) willing to replace the battery at no-charge or to help defray the cost of a new very expensive Lexus battery. That said, I suspect Lexus has been much more willing to just replace the battery instead of replacing the more costly ECU when this problem crops up. And, I suspect if the car was a lease vehicle, that Lexus has been more likely to replace the battery at no-charge. I do not know what model year or VIN number when this problem ceased, or if the random problem is still continuing with some 2014 and even 2015 models.

CincyBrad

Pathetic if true, especially given the brands reputation and price point of these vehicles. I was a first time buyer with the GS, and I chose Lexus over Benz based on the reputation of reliability. The GS has been anything but, leaving me screwed on 3 separate occasions now in 2.5 years and not even 30k miles. Pretty bad when I am not even averaging 12 months on a battery. I honestly have no interest in keeping the car anymore, and no longer trust it.

bclexus

I can't blame you. If that was my car and I felt that way I'd get rid of it right away and move on to something else. But, just so you'll know, don't think for one micro-second a Mercedes-Benz is any better. In my view a M-B is nowhere close to being as good as Lexus. I can attest to that, as I've had half dozen M-Bs and only one of them was trouble-free. You might say I was a slow learner! Good luck!

russocd

Mine died too without explanation, however, after i received a jump start i have not had any further problems. My car is driven daily and was driven the day before. The problem could be software related too.

tgfoster

August 11th - both my son and I have 2013 GS-350 cars. Last Sat my bat went dead. I charged it enough to start and went to the auto parts store and they checked the bat and said it was good but needed charging. I put it on the charger and fully charged it and also removed and cleaned the battery clamps. So far it is still starting.

Today Aug 11th, my son called to report that his battery was also dead in his garage. He jumped it to get started. Neither us us leave our fob in the car or close to it, nothing is plugged in the aux, however this is off when the car isn't running or at least turned on, the only things we have in common are the two cars were park side by side for a few hours the Friday before the battery problems surfaced and we both have garage door openers.

At this point we have no idea what the problem could be but I will call Lexus and see what their lame excuse will be. I live 90 miles from the dealer and taking it there is a real pain, just to have them tell me that there is no problem.

Is there a method to kick this up the chain to corporate as too many of us seem to have this issue for it to be just a bad battery?