LeslieRC

What that dealer is telling you is a load of crap! I alternate driving my cars; so, my `04 SC430 may sit in the garage for a week or more before I use it. I've been doing this routine for almost a year and have had no such start-up problems with my coupe. It sounds to me like that dealer is avoiding the issue and, thereby, trying to avoid consumer protection laws. My suggestion is to take the car to the dealership where it was purchased and demand that they either repair or replace the car.

KevsSC

I leave my 430 sitting in the garage for more then 3 weeks sometimes without driving it. It starts up fine everytime. One time I left it sitting for a month without starting it, and it started up fine.

tfischer

I've had my '02 since April of '01 and often leave it in the garage for weeks at a time, especially in the winter, and have never had a problem. I still have the original battery and there is no slow cranking on starting yet.

There is no reason any car needs to be driven once a week to keep the battery up. Who could live like that? I have friends who leave a car in Florida all summer long and it starts up after 6 months.

You should find out what the problem is and get it fixed.

Gojirra99

I have had vacations of 2 to 3 weeks in length several times since I got my 03 SC430. Everytime I came back, I have no problem starting it up immediately.

beachdrive

My 2002 sits for a week at a time and has only been driven 7500 miles per year. It has never failed to start and never had the battery replaced. I also keep the headlight control in automatic which I understand can help discharge a battery if car is ot driven enough, and I still dont have a problem.

tfischer

"My 2002 sits for a week at a time and has only been driven 7500 miles per year. It has never failed to start and never had the battery replaced."

I can do better than that. My car is over 5 years old, only has 24,000 miles on it, still has the original battery and starts right up every time. As I and others have mentioned above, it sits for weeks at a time. Many cars do and are designed for that.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the electrical system or the battery in the SC.

JCtx

Hey, hey, are we bragging here for lack of use? Then I win
7,500 miles in 3 years. Well, with my new Blitz (coming today), I might drive it more now < he he>. I actually started driving it more, so will put around 5K a year from now on. Will keep this baby for a long time. Take care guys.

1NICESC430

My '02 SC is just over five years old and has 13,700 miles. I often leave the car for several days at a time with no starting problems. However, I do keep it charged with a Battery Tender from December through March when it hibernates.

No roof rattles either, but I don't expect any complex mobile piece of machinery to be totally quiet, regardless of price.

>anyone noticed how hot the top gets on a 100 degree sunny day when the car is left sitting out even for an hour<
Scubamom, what color is your SC? Incidentally, I can't recall the last time the temp around here got to 100º, so I can't comment on the heat problem.

scubamom

Lexus just picked up my car - we are pretty sure the radio has a short in it. Hubby hooked up some sort of battery tester and started pulling fuses - the radio was pulling a load when the car was off. HOWEVER, only when I turned the car off and did not turn off the radio. If we turned off the radio first, then turned off the car, the draw was much less.

We'll see if this solves the problem. Plus we get a new battery since the original went totally dead twice.

Thanks for telling me to keep hammering the dealer over the problem! Once we got ahold of the service department manager, things finally started happening.

JillBS

I do feel your pain when it comes to the unfortunate inconvenient issues you've been having. By everyone's responses I gather you see that it is so unusual to have many if at all issues with this car. However, I did notice you mentioned due to these Lexus issues you were considering an 02 Mercedes. Speaking from experience... unless you have the bucks to shell out for a new one with a FULL warranty... My opinion, stay clear away ....the words Mercedes & Used ...when put together will give you much more grief than a :Lexus every could!! The whackiest issues you could ever imagine. You dont want to go from bad to worse in making that kinda trade. Also, if you let the car sit becuase its an "extra" & its a Mercedes...you think you have problems now! Lastly, I have found that 4 car dealers ( in the NJ area) for Mercedes.... are NOT as professional or sympathetic (unless you drive BRAND new ones) to fixing your car issues as Lexus is. P.S. if you do consider a Used Mercedes still ..do what i unfortunately ..didnt do first....go to Benzworld.org forums ...read up on the DOZENS of pages of issues many of their USED models & brand NEW models have had similar setup to this website.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

827empress, i know your pain...A good friend of mine has the exact same problem on his SC430. It happened a few months after ownership, and he's the first owner too. He has no choice but to buy a solar panel battery charger for his car. the car is parked outside now since it's not "favorite" car anymore. go figure

__________________

1999 Lexus GS400
-Stock

MUAHAH

scubamom

My battery kept dying too. Hubby put a tester on the battery and found that the radio, if left in the ON position when we turned off the car was drawing a heck of a bunch of power. If we turned it OFF before we turned the car off, the drain was much less (meaning the battery might last a couple weeks instead of a couple days if we didn't drive it.)

Try turning off the radio before you turn off the car and see what happens. If that is the culprit, contact Lexus and get them to fix the radio short.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Found in the audio section. Might be worth a look. Though its a bandaid, there are no permanent fix for the problem right now

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=227195

__________________

1999 Lexus GS400
-Stock

MUAHAH

JCtx

The problem with that gizmo is all your memory settings go down the toilet, and it's a hassle to reset the stupid seats' memories.
As I've said before, the best solution IMO is to just charge the battery every so often. I do that on my motorcycles and cars (which I don't use often) and never had a problem. With so many electronic devices needing juice when ignition is off, it's normal for the battery to lose juice over time. Yes, the SC has been the worst offender, but it still cranks perfectly fine after 2 weeks of non-use, and am sure it'd start longer than that, but I just charge my batteries overnight every 2 or 3 weeks with a Battery Tender II (1.25amps). Later.

827empress

Since my last post, the car died again, 2 weeks after I brought it back from the Dealership with NPF - at the end of June. It had been sitting maybe 8 days, and this time I had it towed and they kept it for about 2 weeks. Am not too sure what their test method was, but the mechanic told me that the Voltmeter would move to the "battery needs charging" category after about 3-4 days. A simple start of the engine is what they apparently did to re-charge it. What baffles me is that after all this time, they could not find, or maybe did not look, at what was causing the drain. In other words, when I was told to pick the car up - they explained this was normal behavior. I am apparently stuck with a car that must be started at least every week or the battery will die. I was met with either blank stares or head shakes when I asked if this was normal behavior, and was even told by one person in the shop that they don't know anyone who lets their car sit for periods of time. Apparently they are not aware of people who take vacations or travel for business. While I was sitting at the dealer, there were two people who were dropping off their 430, and neither of them had ever had or heard of this issue. It appears i am stuck and have a few options. Keep the car and live with this irritating problem, knowing that whenever I have to travel and such, I may come home to a dead car. Trade it in to the Dealer ( they gave me a slightly higher than KBB trade-in value) and hope the problem is unique to my car only. Sell or Trade and get something else. I have also discussed my issue with a lawyer, and may have a good case with a warranty violation. To take this legal action further means keeping the car during the period of litigation. Responding to some of the earlier responses: (A) Battery Brain seems similar to Priority Start. Either might work, but I don't want to take a chance of doing anything to the battery at the moment if I take the legal approach. (B) I make sure every possible thing is turned off in the car after driving it ( radio and heater / AC ) in an attempt to salvage as much power as possible. It has never been an issue with any car I've ever driven. This, as much as anything, seems too stupid to even consider and something I should not have to do - especially for a companies "Flagship" vehicle. (C) - Everyone has their own good / bad history on other vehicles. I had a "C" class Mercedes and recently traded up to a 5 Series BMW - both wonderful cars. Both slightly expensive to maintain, but that is why god invented the "extended warranty" or "Certified" program. The Lexus Certified program was a good selling point when I traded in my perfectly good 350Z for the Lexus. In hindsight, perhaps not a good move. (D) I still intend on having a nice 2 seat convertible and do enjoy the Lexus in general. The options are not that many in this class of car, and this issue could ( and already has ) start a lot of responses. Have recently ruled out the Mercedes 350 and CLK, Audi TT, another 350Z, Z4 BMW. My next coices are the S2000 ( for the heck of it - a bit too small I figure ) and finally the Boxter.