Car Won't Start
 

I'm sure this question has been addressed somewhere on this forum before, but I have an 09 ES, last Thursday I couldn't start it, no power at all. Went out of town came back today and tried to jump it with wife's car, car tried to crank, ( lights on, etc), but it just didn't turn over. Okay so I'm thinking, battery might have a dead cell or just be too drained to crank from my wife's battery. So I called a tow truck to give me a jump. As soon as he plugged me up everything came on, interior lights, Nav, HID lights, so I'm thinking this is it, press the start button and zip, nada, nobody home, not even a click, mind you the green start LED is lit and from my perspective it should crank, but nothing, tow driver let battery charge for a good 10 minutes.

I held the key fob against the start button, after several attempts I gave up. Anyway, I'm having the car towed to the Lexus dealer tomorrow, but has anyone else experienced this problem before?, sounds like a dead starter or maybe even the ignition switch, but I kind of doubt it, because the start LED came on. This car has very low miles and is still under warranty, never had any issues before now. I couldn't find where a similar problem had been addressed before on this forum, but I'm sure it has. Thanks for whatever input and thoughts you can share, I hate to recycle old problems......:egads:

One possibility is that you didn't apply enough pressure to the brake pedal. Once the brake vacuum reserve is depleted it takes significant pressure on the brake pedal to over ride the brake interlock switch. People often make the mistake of not putting enough pressure on the brake pedal in situations like you described. They use up the vacuum reserve trying to get started when the battery is dead and then when they get enough battery back they fail to apply the extra force needed to get started. After you get your car back try operating the brake pedal several times, with the engine off and then try to start the car and you will have a feel for what I am talking about.

Did you shut the door before trying to crank it?

Yes I had the door closed all the time

I will try that when the tow truck arrives in the morning. Thanks

The fact that "every thing came on" when the jump battery was connected makes me think that the battery was drained because the ignition was left on. It's a common mistake with the pushbutton system. There are several ways you can leave the ignition on without starting the car such as turning it on to program the radio and then leaving it on when you exit the car. So, the first thing you want to do is connect the jump source, then turn the ignition OFF. The design will not allow you to turn the Ignition OFF when the battery is dead and you can't get enough of a charge on a dead battery to start the car when the Ignition is ON. With the Ignition off and the jump source connected for about 10 minutes then put extra pressure on the brake pedal and you should be able to start the car.

Thanks very much for the input, the battery was completely dead, dealer replaced it at no charge. I was a bit surprised that the battery was dead after only 12k miles. It is possible that I could have left the switch on, although I always try to make sure that its off. Thanks again....:thumbup:

Good news on the battery replacement. At least it wasn't something mechanical.

Thanks!!, yeah I know I was worried about something more 'electrical'.....:)

Makes no difference, the car will start with the driver door open.

I had this problem with my 2007 ES when it had hardly 8K miles no it. After 2 or 3 calls to AAA, finally took it to dealer. He mentioned that they identified a few dead cells and changed the battery.

Basically it would not hold charge sufficiently.