827empress

Folks - all good replies - thanks ! Headlight switch was in AUTO - now corrected. The current battery was installed by Lexus / roadside - have to assume its good. When brought to dealership with last outage, they kept car for several days looking for cause of drain - as suspected - nothing. Same was done the first time at different shop. At the last visit, the Service Rep was the one who pulled the history and told me about the previous battery and radio replacements. For what its worth, i have also had a bizarre radio problem - twice, although not lately, when the car was turned off / locked and generally shut down - I have come outside in the morning to find the car stereo blasting away on its own. No key / car locked / alarm on. Again, visits to dealer have resulted in NPF. I fully believe there is something running that is causing a battery drain, and you're advice was appreciated. however, perhaps in a venting mode - I travel a lot and do not have time to do a lot of testing. I guess I could, but the frustrating point is that - why the heck should I be doing this ? This is supposed to be a high end, reliable ( add whatever you want ) sports car. If I am going to pay the amount of money I did for this car, I want to have full confidence that when I want to drive it - regardless of sitting for 1,2,3 or 4 weeks - it will start. For me, when I lose confidence in a car and its ability to do the basic functions, like start, its time to consider moving to something else ! On the other side, i will say that Lexus Service is the best. To finish, traded in a perfectly pristine, new 350Z conv for this - manual - had knee surgery so needed a auto - perhaps a bad move in retrospect. Before that, Boxter, several RX7s, Supra.. thats a good 15 years worth. All wonderful cars - all with their own quirks. None with battery issues though !

Pearlpower

iTrader: (2)

I understand your frustration, but keep in mind that this is your car and not consistent with this model.

Are you looking for assistance to your problem here? Or venting? Or both?

Stereo on with the key very odd as that circuit is shut down once the key is out. As you are not the original owner anything is possible at this point including the prior owner rewiring a few things.

I am not sure how mechanically inclined you are but I would start to rule out the obvious as the case with all autmotive diagnostics, but so far everything you are posting is based on the what the dealer has done and not very specific. If you are willing to try a few things I would be willing to assist.

Look forward to your reply or PM me.
Lee

LeslieRC

I always leave my headlights on my SC430 and GX 470 in the "AUTO" position and have had no electrical/battery problems as a result. The radio should not operate when the key has been removed from the ignition.

SC430_OZ

Can you operate the stereo without the ignition on?

Have you tried an exorcism??

Gojirra99

Yeah, no stereo when the key is off the ignition.

I have left the car unused quite a few times for periods of 2 weeks to 2 months in the past 3 1/2 years of ownership, due to being away for vacation or expiration of insurance ( I deliberately let it lapse when it expires during winter ), & my battery never died, I'm still on my original battery.

Even for the times when it sat for 2 months, I didn't do anything except start it every week to 10 days or so & drive it around briefly within my neighborhood early Sunday mornings when few people are even awake . . .

rominl

iTrader: (4)

first of all, if the battery is new, assuming it's a good one, have you or the dealership checked on the alternator and make sure it's working fine? once the car started everything should be on alternator. if it's bad then it will just keep on draining your battery

second, the radio was replaced before, and you have the problem of radio blasting in the morning with the car shut down and the keys OFF the car. that's very straight and probably a very good suspect for battery draining. maybe something is shorter when the radio was being repalced thus causing
1) radio to turn on and off randomly even with the car shut off
2) constraint power drain

which both could cause the battery to die. bottom line is this sounds like an independent case on your car, and it does seem to have something to do with the radio

sc430blue

Maybe pull the radio fuse and see if you have any drain?

whitels

Probably the easiest first step to do. Good suggestion. Most likely, this will isolate the problem.

827empress

OK - here ya go ...Drove car all week, problem free. Made app't with GM of Service at Dealership where car was bought - whom I like and are very accomodating. Introduced myself and explained the issue(s) and timetable. He waiting 30 seconds and made the following (polite) statements: (1) Battery / power loss on certain Lexus vehicles, especially each year of the 430s is a common problem when the car has been sitting a prolonged period of time without starting (2) Lexus has not officially made a statement on this issue as dictated by frequency. However, the dealership ( and Lexus ) does keep track of this since the dealership must deal with Service issues and Lexus must pay for the replacement of the battery. They know, by frequency, that is an issue. (3) Lexus futher must recognize the issue as they have an official Lexus add-on part in the display case / parts dept. that looks something like a mini-battery charger for $59. Two leads connect to the two battery leads and it plugs into a common power source / outlet. When the voltage gets to a certain level, it will simply turn on and charge accordingly. this is all fine as long as one has access to a power outlet where the car is parked - I do not. So, we pretty much came to the conclusion that I must accept the problem with the vehicle and deal with it accordingly. Givenseveral previous inputs, I may very well look at the PriorityStart component next, as well as make it a point to start / drive it more frequently.Pulling the fuse in easy, however, that again means letting it sit for a pro-longed period of time and watching - again, easy enough. I don't know if it wa mentioned, but there has to be some place that sells a mini volt meter or something that is applicable for car use - another option. However, in summary - it appears I am ....stuck but not defeated. I guess time will tell and then I may have to make a decision ( I know of a very nice, maxed out 2002 CL55 AMG looking for a new home .... ). So, any final comments ??? Oh, the inputs received has been great - keep it up !!

GEE-BEE

Maybe a solar charger would be better ?

I used to keep one pluged into the cig lighter on my plane when I left it outside for a period of time.....

I keep my motorcycles (4)on trickle chargers once a week , along with my four jet-ski's and boat

Gee-Bee

sc430blue

I still think it has something to do with the radio replacement. I would pull the fuse first. Isolate the issue. If it is the radio, the dealership will have someplace to start. If they replaced the radio, it would be up to them to rectify the situation. I havent heard about dead batteries from anyone else on the forum so I find it hard to believe it is an issue that lexus is aware of but will not acknowledge.

tfischer

I agree. If there were some kind of a widespread dead battery issue, we would have heard more about it on this owners' forum. The only thing I recall hearing is the issue about the auto headlight setting, as noted above.

I think there is something strange draining the battery in your electrical system somewhere, as there are a lot of us who don't drive the car a lot and leave it unstarted for weeks at a time without problem. I would continue to try to find the source of this drain and treat the cause rather than just dealing with the symptom.

lex-golf

With my first SC, I had between 07/2001 and 11/2005 to replace the battery every second year. Both times Lexus took care. Here in Germany the Lexus dealers do know about thed Battery problem especially when the cars are not driven during the cold and snowy winter months. I do drive the car only occasionly, too. With the new 06 so far no issue.

Radical350

Sorry your having trouble.
Did the dealer test the vehicle? Focusing on thier previous work (the radio). My 2002 just clicked 31K miles on the original Lexus-Battery. It sounds like it should be easy for a trained tech to narrow it down. Good luck in your efforts.

whitels

Here's my suggestion. Escalate the matter. Ask that someone from Lexus take a look at your car. Lexus has regional tech guys that look at matters not resolved at the dealership level. I don't buy the dealership explanation. I doubt that you did too. Nobody in this forum has that issue. Consider the dealership explanation as unsatisfactory and take it to the next level. You are entitled to this process.