2008 RX350 Electrical Gremlins?!?!?!?
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2008 RX350 Electrical Gremlins?!?!?!?
On December 28th I purchased my wife a well documented, one owner RX350 from a Fiat dealership. We love the car but have experienced a number of "gremlins" in the electrical systems.
The morning after bringing it home, we went to garage and found the marker lights turned on. We both swore that when we parked the car the evening before that the lights were turned off. The light switch was on the automatic setting....keys were out of ignition.
The car was then hesitant starting.....as though the battery was drained but after a few tries turned over and ran just fine. We assumed it was because of the light having been left on.
Couple of days later my wife found the car's radio on when she went out in the morning to head to work. The car again had been parked in the garage overnight and radio was turned off when left the night before. Again, a bit of a headscratcher!!
A few days later I get in the car and back out of garage. dome light would not turn off. I assumed I did not close door properly so I stop and close door again. Dome light stays on. I don't see any warning lights for open doors. As I look closer I notice that both reading lights are on upfront (both buttons pushed in in the ON position). When I went out to get in to car the car was dark inside so I know that the reading lights were off. Hmmmmm?!?!?!?!?!?
Today my wife calls and said that car once again is having a difficult time starting. This time in the afternoon after work....parked outside in cold/snowy environment. When she attempts to start at times it is acting like battery runned down and really struggling to have enough power to turn over, other times it would finally start but for just a few seconds and then die. She tried multiple times. She waited a few minutes and tried again and started.
She drove home and rolled down driver's window to talk to a neighbor. She went to roll window up. Window rolled fully up and then rolled right back down and stopped in the fully down position. Tried it several more times with same result. She then tried to turn car off and remove keys as window went fully up.....BUT....right back down it came (car oof/keys out) to a fully OPEN position. Same thing occurred when she attempted to do same with door open. Finally my 12 year old daughter "messed with it" until it stopped in the CLOSED position. HMMMMMMM?!?!?!?!?
Anyone experience similar issues? Any ideas where to begin to diagnose the "gremlins"?? Want to pick your brains before I run it over to Lexus dealer. Unfortunately the 30 day/3K mile warranty does not cover electric. Appreciate your time and feedback.....
The morning after bringing it home, we went to garage and found the marker lights turned on. We both swore that when we parked the car the evening before that the lights were turned off. The light switch was on the automatic setting....keys were out of ignition.
The car was then hesitant starting.....as though the battery was drained but after a few tries turned over and ran just fine. We assumed it was because of the light having been left on.
Couple of days later my wife found the car's radio on when she went out in the morning to head to work. The car again had been parked in the garage overnight and radio was turned off when left the night before. Again, a bit of a headscratcher!!
A few days later I get in the car and back out of garage. dome light would not turn off. I assumed I did not close door properly so I stop and close door again. Dome light stays on. I don't see any warning lights for open doors. As I look closer I notice that both reading lights are on upfront (both buttons pushed in in the ON position). When I went out to get in to car the car was dark inside so I know that the reading lights were off. Hmmmmm?!?!?!?!?!?
Today my wife calls and said that car once again is having a difficult time starting. This time in the afternoon after work....parked outside in cold/snowy environment. When she attempts to start at times it is acting like battery runned down and really struggling to have enough power to turn over, other times it would finally start but for just a few seconds and then die. She tried multiple times. She waited a few minutes and tried again and started.
She drove home and rolled down driver's window to talk to a neighbor. She went to roll window up. Window rolled fully up and then rolled right back down and stopped in the fully down position. Tried it several more times with same result. She then tried to turn car off and remove keys as window went fully up.....BUT....right back down it came (car oof/keys out) to a fully OPEN position. Same thing occurred when she attempted to do same with door open. Finally my 12 year old daughter "messed with it" until it stopped in the CLOSED position. HMMMMMMM?!?!?!?!?
Anyone experience similar issues? Any ideas where to begin to diagnose the "gremlins"?? Want to pick your brains before I run it over to Lexus dealer. Unfortunately the 30 day/3K mile warranty does not cover electric. Appreciate your time and feedback.....
Last edited by KYLexusXL; 01-16-14 at 05:53 PM.
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Well I got home and checked the car myself. The window (drivers front side) seems to have re-set it's "memory" to stopping the window at the mid point range. It automatically goes to the auto mode and runs the window all the way up and stops half way down. To get it to go back up you have to keep playing with window button until it decides to work on manual mode. You have to inch it up in manual mode because if you keep finger on button it stays in auto mode and goes up and half way back again. This is a tad frustrating!
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Thanks Carver.....battery was replaced after the voltage and cranking amps were found to be sub-par. The battery in the vehicle was not OEM. Everything appears to be back to normal. Thanks for the advice. This is our first Lexus and surprised to see how much electrical demand the car has to effectively operate.
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Glad the new battery cleared up your problems. I had to replace the battery in my 2008 shortly after buying it in 2012. Nothing worse then having to ask your sons friend for a jump start with his $500 Blazer.
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