mikeho

I came back from a three week vacation and found my car battery to be dead. So drained that the doors wouldn't even unlock; I had to pry off the cover and unlock manually. After jumping the car, everything seemed fine...

... until my check engine light came on. I have an F-Sport filter, so I checked that and it looked normal.

So I have two separate questions:
1. What to do about the check engine light? Should I take it to the dealer, or is third party fine?
2. Anyone have any recommendations on what new battery to get?

P.S. I just thought of something funny. I believe the powertrain warranty is 72 months or 72,000 miles. I'm at 35.5 months and at 62,000 miles. Would a check engine light be covered by the powertrain warranty?

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

No. Troubleshooting is only covered by warranty when it leads to a warranty repair. If the repair is not warranted, then you pay for everything.

Sounds like your battery is on its last legs. Did you leave your keyfob within 5 meters of the car? Lexus recommends keeping the fob far away when you are gone for a long time so it will put the electronics in a sleep mode to reduce power drain.

New battery? I like Optima as long as you use the car regularly.

mikeho

Thanks, Lobuxracer. No, the fob was in the house, which put it at least 100 ft away. I'm surprised at how short the battery is lasting. Would it have anything to do with aftermarket HIDs? Would that put strain on the battery?

Would having a technician interpret the computer codes count as troubleshooting? I guess I'd have to pay their hourly charge...

mikeho

Turns out the problem with the car may be some intake valve springs and exhaust valve springs... or something like that. They need to keep the car overnight to diagnose.

Is this a common problem? Now I know to never get a car that's the initial model year, but I'm starting to wonder about Lexus' reputation of quality... I didn't expect my car to see so much mechanic time.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

That's a TSIB fix. Yours must be one of the affected units. They're going to reflash your ECM too.

Evitzee

Unless your battery won't hold a charge it could come back to life with a slow charge. I'd try that before running out and getting a new battery. And get a Battery Tender to keep your battery topped up. Three weeks is too long to let these cars sit on a regular basis due to current drain on the standby systems. My battery drained over a three week period last year. Recharged it, hooked it up to BT and no more problems.

VikH

iTrader: (5)

To put the system into sleep mode leave the key fog on top of the door handle for 10 minutes. The car will automatically go to sleep after a certain amount of time with no use, but I do this to prevent unnecessary battery drain when I store my car.

mikeho

Thanks! Anyone have the TSIB handy? I don't want to pay the $10 for techinfo.lexus.com. Also, is the TSIB only for the exhaust valves + springs or also the intake valves + springs?

phatboyc

Are you talking about this TSIB?

Cranking noise at start-up