mjeds

so I went out to start my car this afternoon. click, click, click. no start.. hmm car/battery is 17 months old.. no lights left on, battery is dead.. okay.

so I get out my booster, jump start my car, fires up instantly. Dash and Radio are dead.. no dash, no gps screen no radio. hmm, not good.

I turn off the car and leave the charger on the battery for 2 hours on a slow 2amp charge. charger alarm sounds that the battery is charged, remove it, start car. everything dead.

Check all the fuses, nothing blown.
Plug in my ODBII reader, no codes.

decide to disconnect the battery for a bit, about 15 minutes..
plug it back up, start car, Dash comes back, GPS screen says please wait system initializing DO NOT TURN OFF VEHICLE. takes nearly 10 minutes and they everything comes back and is working.


Very, very odd.

paulwall4

iTrader: (1)

damn thats very strange
gonna address it to lexus?

mr2dave

Get a new battery. OEM batteries play weird tricks when they go bad and they go bad prematurely.

NotADood

If you jumped it backwards, it's very common to blow several fuses including the radio fuse

Davew77

You should be able to get a free battery replacement. I believe that my battery states right on it that it has a 60 month Lexus warranty.

mjeds

yes

not good to hear, wife's Camry battery lasted 10 years, and I can't remember ever replacing the battery on any car I have bought new since 2002

I didn't jump it backwards, and no fuses where blows as stated in my original post.

thanks for the info.

CYKBC

iTrader: (2)

That trusty 10 year old relic also likely doesn't have things like a trick e-diff, e-steering, LCD dash this, dash that, ventilated seats, cameras, bumper sensors, e-wing, something like 50+ ECUs that keep you from hitting the cliff walls blah blah blah - batteries have a much shorter life on modern cars based on my experience. Does sound odd, though. Pls keep us posted. gl.

mjeds

well the battery essentially is only used to start the vehicle. once running the alternator is what keeps the electronics going. Some will argue that the battery does assist the alternator as needed, but I know for fact that once the car is started the battery can be disconnected/removed and the car doesn't care about the battery if the motor is running.

with the exception of the electric power steering the RCF doesn't have any other features my last 4 cars haven't had, I do not have the TVD.

Lastly; there are only actually 8 ECUs in the RCF according to the Toyota TIS (techinfo) system. (9 if you have TVD)

ABS/VSC
Anti-Theft
Engine Control
Transmission
Interior Cabin systems (all the interior toys, windows, door locks, mirrors, power seats, memory functions, seat heater/ventilation, etc)
HVAC
Navigation/Radio (Bluetooth, Lexus SOS service, USB, etc.)
Headlamp (LED) and DRL (LED) systems.

-----

That being said, there is something definitely not right with the battery at this point, the vehicle is having a rough time starting, it used to be an instant spin and fire sound, now it appears to take a bit to crank over, so I have an appointment on Wednesday to have it checked out.


oh and my wife's Camry was a hybrid, so it had the same level of electronic gizmos as the RCF.

BluByYou

Very interesting that the system need a full cold reboot. I have heard stories of people attaching jumper cables to both pole on both cars and shorting out the ECU, but this is very strange.

Did the dealership have an explanation for this?????

mjeds

nope they said the battery tested fine.. told me if it happens again to have it towed in and not reboot it so they can troubleshoot the issue.

BluByYou

OK so you heard the starter clicking which means not enough juice is getting to it to activate it, and they said the battery is fine. that makes no sense.
has it happened again ?

mjeds

as I said in the first post, car would not start, so I charged the battery, car started everything was dead.. I had to disconnect the battery for 15 minutes for it to reboot. between the time I recharged the battery and rebooted the car and the appointment with the dealer it was 3 days and I drove 150+ miles to and from work so the battery was fully charged.

Their test simply indicated if the battery is taking a charge or possibly has a dead cell, which apparently it doesn't, so I go the typical "cannot reproduce customer complaint" on the paperwork.

lexusrus

Maybe you left something on in the car overnight and drained the battery?

mjeds

not possible, the power plugs shut off with the car, and the lights both internal and external shut down after 20 minutes if the ignition is off.. The car is protected from power drains of that nature.