Woke up this morning with a startup trouble. It cranked, tried to start, but then shut off. First, I thought maybe I didn't press the brake hard enough. Tried again, same result. Tried third time, and it started. I shut it down and tested the battery. It was extremely weak. It has not been sitting around either. I ran it everyday for at least 60 miles each day for the last month. Was surprised to see a weak battery so soon. My wife's BMW 3 series from 2010 is still on its original battery. Battery in my Corolla usually lasted between 7 to 9 years. I read about the TSB for 2013 and 2014 es, but my car VIN is outside the TSB range. What's going on with Lexus and battery? 3 years is too soon for a battery to go in this area, which is pretty mild year round. Anyhow, I changed the battery. Let's see how long this one lasts.

 

Only once - 1994 LS - did I get three years service from a battery, Lexus or otherwise in the last 25 years.

Dave Mac

 

I don't know if I can agree with this; My 2013 Lexus is in it's 5th. year, the Avalon I traded for it had the original battery and was six years old... Maybe a run of bad luck Dave...

 

That would be a 25 year run of bad luck. Admittedly I am very quick to ask for a new battery and am always accommodated. And I live in Arizona where heat is the main battery killer. I can go back even further to the early eighties when I had a Mercedes with a German battery and they barely lasted a year, but were always replaced for free. And I don't remember why on the 94 LS 400 the dealer replaced the battery at six years after intentionally shorting it out just to make me happy. That car had an extended warranty that must have provided non-prorated batter replacement as I don't recall paying anything for it. I do remember it was a Panasonic battery which is not what the replacements are.

I recently purchased a NOCO GB40 lithium ion jump box and am looking forward to my now two year old battery failing on me and I bet it will last through the 3-year lease.

Dave Mac

 

I also live in AZ and have pretty much the same track record. I usually get around 2 years on a battery, it doesn't matter the battery brand or car. I've had 5 Lexus in a row and they were all about the same with battery life.

But I would gladly swap batteries more often than deal with rust.

 

In my opinion 3 years is too soon for any battery to go out. I live in Louisiana where it is extremely hot, and heat can be a killer on a battery.. I normally replace the battery in my vehicles every 4 to 5 years.. I know I could probably get more out of them, but I'd just prefer to put a new battery in to lower my or my wife's chances of getting stranded somewhere. My ES battery will be 4 years old this January so I'll probably go with another Interstate battery. Have had good luck with them as well as sears die hard... one battery that has never held up for me is Delco. Had them in a cadillac and olds 98 I had and they never lasted 3 years... oh, another battery that did great for me and surprised the heck out of me was a battery made by Continental. It was rated with huge CA's and CCA's. Battery cost me right at 100 bucks and lasted six years in my car, and then 2 years in my boat.

Poppa

 

Having lived in FL for 20 years (now in NC) I can say we had the same problem with heat killing batteries. The least time I ever got out of one was 18 months (a factory Chrysler battery) while the most was about 7 years (Sears Diehard Gold) but that was a rarity. The average has been about 5 years. That being said, I think its a shot in the dark regarding how much time a battery might last before giving up the ghost although warmer climates might hasten their demise. In my opinion after 3 years they all are pretty much on borrowed time. Yours seemed to be right on track. Just my 2 cents.

 

The people in hot weather climates like Arizona and FL will have much shorter battery life than in more northern or temperate areas.

Yes, cold weather makes for hard cranking, but it is actually heat which kills battery life.

I have had 10 years plus on some batteries, but on smaller ones (like in a compact car) 5 to 6 years is the average. Large cars, SUV's, minivan..never have replaced the battery and I keep my cars quite a while.

PS-exception to my never replace rule is when I lived in Northern Alberta where temps go below minus 40 in winter and plugs ins are used. I replaced batteries there without waiting for them to fail, because no one wants to go outside at minus 40 and find a dead car. Could be life threatening depending on where that happens.

 

The typical car battery lasts 3 to 5 years, depending on the type of climate you live in.

If you live in an area that experiences extreme heat or cold, your battery might not make it to its third birthday. If you mostly use your car for short trips (an average run time of less than 20 minutes), your battery may not have a long life because your alternator rarely gets the opportunity to fully recharge it.

I just had to replace the battery in my other car (Mercedes) after it was replaced about 20 months ago. The previous owner (grandma) would only drive it for 5 minute trips around town. Unfortunately service records showed she had it changed at the (Mercedes).dealer, which only offers a warranty for 12 months. I changed it out for one with a 3 year replacement warranty with 2 year pro-rated warranty after the 3 years.

In your situation, I would have the Lexus dealer change the battery if the car was still under 4 years/50K miles warranty. If not, then buy one with a long warranty and change it yourself.

 

Interstate battery at Costco: $74.95... Took 15 minutes to change out the old one. Attached my battery tender to the clamps before disconnecting and didn't lose any radio presets...

 

Thanks everyone for their inputs. I am really surprised at the short life of a Lexus battery. As a comparison, consider that my wife's BMW from 2010 still has original battery. My Corolla battery lasted between 7 and 9 years. Both of those serve as comparisons to even out the environmental effects, like weather. However, BMW's battery is in the trunk, which is not subjected to higher engine temperatures (that location for the battery also helps maintain the 50-50 weight ratio in the rear wheel drive BMW). The Corolla battery is in the engine compartment. I think Lexus engineers went for a smaller capacity battery than needed to save on size (it is pretty packed around the battery area in Lexus and accommodating a larger battery capacity would have required major rearrangement inside the hood). This results in deep discharge cycles at every start, which negatively affects battery lifetime. On top of this, there is no active battery power management, which changes the battery charging profile as it ages, and keeps the battery capacity up. Such systems have a device on battery terminals that communicates to the ECU and then alternator (like the BMW 3 series has). The lack of active system further hastens the battery demise. Just my two cents. I have no proof for this hypothesis, but just my experience is invoking these thoughts.

I called the Lexus dealer for battery change, but one had no opening till Friday and another one was too far for me to fight the LA traffic and waste my entire day on it. So, I changed the battery myself.

 

Living in GA, suburbs of Atlanta, I got 9 years out of the battery in 2006 GS300 AWD. I guess that was a bit of luck. We shall see how long my ES batteries last.